Min ven planlægger en stor overraskelse til min næste fødselsdag.

a

Breakdown of Min ven planlægger en stor overraskelse til min næste fødselsdag.

• stor: big
• min: my
• vennen: the friend
• til: for
• næste: next
• planlægge: to plan
• overraskelsen: the surprise
• fødselsdagen: the birthday

Questions & Answers about Min ven planlægger en stor overraskelse til min næste fødselsdag.

Why is the verb planlægger used here instead of its infinitive form?

In Danish, at planlægge is the infinitive ("to plan"), and planlægger is the present tense. Danish uses the same verb form for all subjects (I, you, he/she, we, they). So when referring to "min ven" (my friend), we still use planlægger to mean "is planning."

Can you explain the use of til in til min næste fødselsdag?

In this context, til roughly corresponds to "for" in English, indicating the event or occasion to which the action is directed. So til min næste fødselsdag means "for my next birthday," showing that the surprise is intended for that specific time.

Why do we say en stor overraskelse instead of just stor overraskelse?

Danish usually requires an article before a singular countable noun when it’s not previously specified. En is the indefinite article for many common-gender nouns. So you say en stor overraskelse ("a big surprise") rather than simply stor overraskelse.

Why is it min ven rather than something like vennen min?

In Danish, the possessive adjective generally goes before the noun, so "my friend" becomes min ven. While some older or dialect forms might place the possessive after the noun, modern standard Danish virtually always uses this pattern of "[possessive] + [noun]."

How would I say "my next birthdays" in Danish if I wanted to make it plural?

The plural of fødselsdag is fødselsdage. For "my next birthdays," you’d say mine næste fødselsdage, where mine replaces min to show possession of multiple items (birthdays).