Breakdown of Han skal opereres i morgen.
han
he
skulle
to have to / must / to be going to
i morgen
tomorrow
operere
to operate (surgically)
Questions & Answers about Han skal opereres i morgen.
Why does the verb end in -s (opereres)?
This is the Danish s-passive form. When a verb ends in -s, it means the action is being done to the subject rather than the subject doing it. Here, he is not operating on someone else; he is the one receiving the surgery.
Why use the s-passive (opereres) instead of the blive-passive (blive opereret)?
While both passive forms exist, it is a strong rule of thumb in Danish to use the s-passive after modal verbs like skal, kan, and må. You could technically say Han skal blive opereret, but Han skal opereres is much more standard and natural for a planned future action.
Why use skal here when the English translation says "is being"?
Danish does not have a direct equivalent to the English continuous tense ("is being"). Because the surgery is a planned event happening in the future (i morgen), Danish uses the modal verb skal to show this scheduled intent. A more literal translation would be "He shall be operated tomorrow."
The English translation says "operated on". Where is the word for "on" in the Danish sentence?
In Danish, the verb operere does not take an extra preposition like "on" when referring to the patient. You simply say the person is operated (opereres), making the Danish phrasing slightly more direct than the English version.
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