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Mange fattige familier får heldigvis hjælp fra byen.

Mange fattige familier får heldigvis hjælp fra byen.
Many poor families fortunately get help from the city.
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Questions & Answers about Mange fattige familier får heldigvis hjælp fra byen.

Why is it mange and not meget here?

In Danish, mange is used with countable plural nouns, while meget is used with uncountable / mass nouns or singular abstract nouns.

  • mange familier = many families (you can count families)
  • meget vand = much water (you don’t count “waters” here)

So:

  • mange familier ✅
  • meget familie ❌
  • meget hjælp ✅ (because hjælp is uncountable here)
Why does fattig become fattige in mange fattige familier?

Danish adjectives change form depending on number and definiteness.

Basic pattern for fattig:

  • en fattig familie = a poor family (singular, common gender, indefinite)
  • et fattigt barn = a poor child (singular, neuter, indefinite)
  • fattige familier = poor families (plural, indefinite)
  • den fattige familie = the poor family (definite)
  • de fattige familier = the poor families (definite plural)

In the sentence, familier is plural indefinite, so the adjective takes -e:
mange fattige familier.

What is the plural form familier, and how is it formed?

The singular is en familie (a family). The regular plural ending for many common-gender nouns is -er, so:

  • en familie → familier (families)
  • familierne = the families

In the sentence, familier is indefinite plural (no -ne), because we say many poor families in a general sense, not the poor families.

Why is it får and not har or another verb?

får is the present tense of at få, which usually means to get / receive / obtain.

  • De får hjælp = They get/receive help.
  • De har hjælp would sound odd; at have (to have) is not used the same way for “getting help”.
  • You could say modtager (receive), but it’s more formal. får is the most natural everyday verb here.

So får hjælp directly corresponds to English “get/receive help”.

Where should heldigvis go? Why is it after får and not at the beginning?

Danish main clauses follow a V2 rule: the finite verb is in second position. Adverbs like heldigvis (fortunately) usually go right after the finite verb.

  • Neutral word order:
    Mange fattige familier får heldigvis hjælp fra byen.

You can move the adverb to the front for emphasis:

  • Heldigvis får mange fattige familier hjælp fra byen.
    (Focuses more strongly on fortunately.)

Putting it at the end (…hjælp fra byen heldigvis) is possible but sounds less neutral and more marked, often with a different rhythm or emphasis. The default, neutral place is after the verb: får heldigvis.

What kind of word is heldigvis, and how is it formed?

heldigvis is an adverb, more specifically a sentence adverb (it comments on the whole sentence, like “fortunately”, “unfortunately”, “probably”).

It’s formed from:

  • heldig = lucky
  • -vis = an adverb-forming suffix

So literally “luckily/fortunately”. It doesn’t change form:

  • Det gik heldigvis godt. = Fortunately, it went well.
  • Hun kom heldigvis i tide. = Fortunately, she came in time.
Why is there no article before hjælp (why not en hjælp)?

In this sentence, hjælp is used as an uncountable (mass) noun, like “help” in English. Danish normally uses it without an article:

  • få hjælp = get help
  • behøve hjælp = need help

You might see noget hjælp (some help) if you want to stress the quantity:

  • De fik noget hjælp. = They got some help.

en hjælp exists, but it’s rarer and more idiomatic (e.g. “en stor hjælp” = a big help, often referring to a person or very concrete help). In the general sense here, hjælp is article-less.

Why is it fra byen and not af byen or i byen?

The preposition changes the meaning:

  • fra byen = from the city/town (source or provider)
    • får hjælp fra byen = receive help from the city (authorities)
  • af byen is usually used in passive constructions:
    • De bliver hjulpet af byen. = They are helped by the city.
  • i byen = in the city/town (location)
    • De bor i byen. = They live in the city.

So fra is correct here because it expresses where the help comes from.

Why does byen have -en at the end?

Danish usually marks definiteness with a suffix:

  • en by = a town / a city
  • byen = the town / the city

Plural:

  • byer = towns
  • byerne = the towns

So byen is “the town / the city”, probably referring to the local municipality or city government.

Why doesn’t the verb change for plural subjects? Why is it still får with familier?

Modern Danish has no subject–verb agreement in the present tense. The verb form is the same for all persons and numbers:

  • jeg får = I get
  • du får = you get
  • han/hun får = he/she gets
  • vi får = we get
  • I får = you (plural) get
  • de får = they get

So the verb doesn’t change when the subject is plural (mange fattige familier). Only the tense (present får, past fik, etc.) changes.

Why is the structure mange fattige familier and not something like fattige mange familier?

The normal order in Danish for a noun phrase is:

[Quantifier] + [Adjective(s)] + [Noun]

So:

  • mange fattige familier = many poor families
  • nogle små børn = some small children
  • flere gamle huse = several old houses

You cannot say fattige mange familier; that would be ungrammatical. The quantifier (mange) comes first, followed by the adjective (fattige), then the noun (familier).

Could you also say Mange fattige familier bliver hjulpet af byen? What’s the difference?

Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct:

  • Mange fattige familier får hjælp fra byen.
    = Many poor families get/receive help from the city.
  • Mange fattige familier bliver hjulpet af byen.
    = Many poor families are helped by the city.

Differences:

  • får hjælp is very common, neutral, and sounds natural in everyday language.
  • bliver hjulpet af is a more explicit passive form and can sound a bit more formal or written-style.
  • Both describe essentially the same situation, but the original with får hjælp fra byen is the most typical, natural phrasing.