Breakdown of Hun friede til sin kæreste på en restaurant.
hun
she
en
a / an (common)
sin
his/her/its own (common)
til
to (preposition) / for (purpose) / at (an event or occasion) / at (good at something)
Questions & Answers about Hun friede til sin kæreste på en restaurant.
Why does this sentence use the verb friede? Doesn't fri mean 'free'?
While the adjective fri means "free", the verb at fri specifically means "to propose" (for marriage). When you want to say someone proposed to someone else, you always use it with the preposition til, as in friede til.
Why is it sin kæreste and not hendes kæreste?
Danish requires the reflexive possessive pronoun sin (or sit/sine) when the object belongs to the third-person subject of the same clause. Here, sin refers back to Hun, meaning it is her own boyfriend. If you used hendes kæreste, it would mean she proposed to some other woman's boyfriend!
Why do we use the preposition på instead of i for "at a restaurant"?
In Danish, på is commonly used for public places, hospitality venues, and institutions where you go for a specific service or experience (like på en restaurant, på en café, or på hotel). If you used i en restaurant, it would heavily emphasize being physically inside the building walls rather than dining there.