Lykken er vigtig.

to be

Breakdown of Lykken er vigtig.

• vigtig: important
• lykken: happiness

Questions & Answers about Lykken er vigtig.

Why is it lykken and not lykke?

Lykke is the basic dictionary form, meaning happiness or luck depending on context.

Lykken is the definite singular form:

• lykke = happiness
• lykken = the happiness

In Danish, abstract nouns are often used in the definite form where English would just say happiness in a general sense. So Lykken er vigtig is very natural Danish, even though a word-for-word translation looks like The happiness is important.

Why is there no separate word for the?

Because Danish usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun as a suffix.

So instead of:

• English: the happiness

Danish uses:

• lykken

This -en ending is the definite article for many common-gender nouns.

How do I know that lykke is a common-gender noun?

You can tell from the definite ending:

• common gender: often takes -en in the definite singular
• neuter gender: often takes -et in the definite singular

So:

• lykke → lykken = common gender
• if it were neuter, you would expect something like -et instead

That matters because adjectives can agree differently with common and neuter nouns.