Word
Hun kom for sent med vilje.
Meaning
She came late on purpose.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Hun kom for sent med vilje.
Why does the sentence use for sent instead of just sent?
In Danish, when someone misses an agreed time or appointment, you almost always say they arrived for sent (literally "too late"), even if in English you just say "late". If you only used sent, it would mean she arrived late in the day or late at night, not necessarily that she was overdue.
Why do we use the verb kom here instead of var (was)?
English speakers usually say "she was late", but Danish focuses on the action of arriving. Therefore, you normally use kom. If you really want to use the verb for "was", you have to use the idiom på den, making it hun var for sent på den. Just saying hun var for sent sounds unnatural in Danish.
What is the literal translation of med vilje?
It literally translates to "with will". This is the standard Danish fixed expression for doing something "on purpose" or "intentionally".
Why does sent end in a -t in this sentence?
It is acting as an adverb here because it describes how she arrived, modifying the verb kom. The base word is the adjective sen. In Danish, you generally add a -t to an adjective to turn it into an adverb, much like adding "-ly" in English.