Byen er smuk om natten.

to be

Breakdown of Byen er smuk om natten.

• natten: the night
• om: in
• smuk: beautiful
• byen: the city

Questions & Answers about Byen er smuk om natten.

Why is it Byen and not By in this sentence?

Byen is the definite form of By (city). In Danish, you add an ending (here, -en) to the noun to indicate that it is definite. So By means a city, while Byen means the city.

What is the role of er in the sentence?

Er is the present tense form of the verb at være (to be). It’s used just like is in English, so Byen er smuk om natten translates to The city is beautiful at night.

Can smuk be modified or made stronger, like saying very beautiful?

Yes, you can use adverbs in front of smuk. For example, Byen er meget smuk om natten (The city is very beautiful at night). Meget means very.

Why is it om natten instead of something like i nat?

Om natten literally means during the night, and it’s a common way in Danish to talk about something that happens in general at night. I nat means tonight or last night, depending on context, and refers to a specific night rather than nights in general.

Why not just say Byen er smuk natten?

You need a preposition to indicate the time period when something happens. In Danish, om is used before parts of the day, like om natten, om morgenen (in the morning), and so on. Saying Byen er smuk natten would be ungrammatical.