Word
Han læser en russisk roman.
Meaning
He is reading a Russian novel.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Han læser en russisk roman.
Why is the translation "He is reading" instead of "He reads"?
Danish does not have a separate continuous tense like English does. The present tense verb læser covers both "reads" in general and "is reading" right now. You rely on context to know which one is meant.
Does roman mean a person from Rome?
No, roman is a classic false friend for English speakers. In Danish, en roman means "a novel". If you want to talk about a Roman person, the word is en romer.
Why isn't russisk capitalized here like it would be in English?
Unlike English, Danish does not capitalize adjectives relating to nationalities or languages. You only capitalize the actual name of the country, which in this case would be Rusland.
Why doesn't the adjective russisk have a special ending in this sentence?
Adjectives need to match the gender and number of the noun they describe. Because roman is a singular common gender noun (en word), the adjective stays in its base form russisk. If the noun were plural, it would be russiske.