Jeg drikker frisk vand fra glasset.

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Breakdown of Jeg drikker frisk vand fra glasset.

• drikke: to drink
• vandet: the water
• glasset: the glass
• frisk: fresh
• fra: from

Questions & Answers about Jeg drikker frisk vand fra glasset.

Why is drikker used instead of drikke in this sentence?

In Danish, drikke is the infinitive form of the verb (meaning to drink), while drikker is the present tense form (meaning drink/drinks). Since the sentence describes an ongoing action (I drink fresh water...), you use drikker.

Why is glasset in the definite form rather than et glas?

Using glasset (the definite form of glas) indicates you’re talking about a specific glass. In Danish, you usually place the definite article at the end of the noun (e.g., glas → glasset). Saying et glas would mean a glass, referring to any random glass, but here we want the glass.

Why do we say frisk vand instead of friske vand?

In Danish, adjectives follow specific patterns depending on the noun’s gender and number. For singular neuter nouns in an indefinite context, you typically add -t (e.g., et friskt æble). However, vand is treated as a mass noun and often just pairs with frisk instead of friskt in common usage, especially when talking about water in general. The phrase frisk vand is a set expression referring to fresh water.

How does the word order work here: Jeg drikker frisk vand fra glasset?

Danish typically follows Subject–Verb–Object word order. After Jeg (subject) and drikker (verb), you have the direct object frisk vand. The prepositional phrase fra glasset (from the glass) comes after that. This ordering is the most natural way to say it in Danish, although in more complex sentences you could see variations due to emphasis or fronting.

When would I use fra versus something like i or på?

• fra means from, indicating the point of origin (as in taking water from a glass).
• i means in, usually indicating something is inside something else (e.g., i glasset = in the glass).
• på means on or upon, but can also refer to being at or on top of something, depending on context (e.g., på bordet = on the table).
In this sentence, fra is correct because you’re emphasizing that you are drinking the water that is coming from (out of) the glass.