Breakdown of Parret spiser aftensmad i haven.
Questions & Answers about Parret spiser aftensmad i haven.
Parret means “the couple” (or “the pair”).
- The basic noun is par = a couple / a pair (neuter gender).
- et par = a couple (indefinite)
- The definite singular of neuter nouns is usually formed with -et:
- par → parret = the couple / the pair
So:
- et par = a couple
- parret = the couple
In this sentence, parret refers to a specific couple that both speaker and listener can identify from context.
Danish often marks definiteness with a suffix on the noun instead of a separate article:
- English: the couple
- Danish: parret
Using the definite form (parret) implies that:
- The couple is specific/known, not just any random couple.
- It’s like saying: “The couple is eating dinner in the garden.”
If you said “Et par spiser aftensmad i haven”, that would be:
- “A couple is eating dinner in the garden.”
(not a specific couple, just some couple)
Spiser is the present tense of the verb at spise = to eat.
Danish uses the simple present for both:
- English simple present: They eat dinner in the garden (every day).
- English present continuous: They are eating dinner in the garden (right now).
So Parret spiser aftensmad i haven can mean:
- “The couple eats dinner in the garden.” (habitually)
or - “The couple is eating dinner in the garden.” (right now)
Context tells you which is intended.
Aftensmad literally means “evening food”, and is used like “dinner / supper”.
With meal words (morgenmad, frokost, aftensmad), Danish often omits the article when talking about the meal in a general, everyday sense:
- Vi spiser aftensmad.
= We are eating dinner.
You would use the definite form aftensmaden (“the dinner”) when:
- You mean a specific, known meal:
- Aftensmaden var virkelig god. = The dinner was really good.
- Or you want to emphasize this particular dinner:
- Parret nyder aftensmaden i haven. = The couple is enjoying the dinner in the garden.
In your sentence the neutral, everyday “having dinner” idea is enough, so just aftensmad is used.
Aftensmad is a compound noun:
- aften = evening
- mad = food
Combined: aftensmad = evening-food → dinner / supper.
About gender:
- mad is common gender (en mad).
- In Danish compounds, the gender of the whole word is usually the gender of the last part.
- So aftensmad is also common gender:
- en aftensmad (rarely said out loud, but grammatically that’s the gender)
- aftensmaden = the dinner
Aftensmad is the main evening meal. In English, you’d usually translate it as:
- “dinner” or “supper”, depending on your dialect.
Danish generally doesn’t make the same fine distinction between dinner and supper that some English varieties do. Aftensmad just means the regular evening meal, whatever you call that in your variety of English.
i haven literally means “in the garden”.
- i = in (inside/within a space)
- have = garden
- haven = the garden (definite form)
- i haven = in the garden
Danish often uses:
- i for being inside or within an area:
- i haven = in the garden
- i parken = in the park
- på for on / at some surfaces or places:
- på gaden = on the street
- på arbejde = at work
So i haven correctly expresses that the couple is in the garden area.
Have is “garden”, and the forms work like this:
- en have = a garden (indefinite)
- haven = the garden (definite)
Danish marks “the” by adding a suffix:
- English: the garden
- Danish: haven
In the sentence i haven, it’s:
- i (in) + haven (the garden)
→ “in the garden”
No, that’s just a coincidence in spelling.
- Danish have / haven = garden
- Danish havn / havnen = harbor, port
- English haven (safe place/harbor) is related in meaning to havn, not have.
So in this sentence, haven definitely means “the garden”, not a harbor or safe haven.
The given order is the most natural:
- Subject – Verb – Object – Place
- Parret (subject)
- spiser (verb)
- aftensmad (object)
- i haven (place adverbial)
Other possibilities:
I haven spiser parret aftensmad.
- Grammatically correct.
- Used when you want to emphasize the place (“In the garden, the couple eats dinner.”).
- Feels more like a storytelling or contrastive word order.
Parret spiser i haven aftensmad.
- This sounds unnatural in Danish.
- The place phrase i haven usually comes after the object, not between verb and object.
So, for neutral, everyday speech, Parret spiser aftensmad i haven is the standard order.
Very rough approximations (not perfect, just to give an idea):
- Parret ≈ “PAR-uhth”
- r is a throaty /ʁ/; -ret often sounds like a weak “-uth” or “-et” with a soft d-like sound.
- spiser ≈ “SPEE-suh”
- sp- as in spend, -i- like ee in see, -er is a weak “uh” sound.
- aftensmad ≈ “AF-ten-smath” (with soft final d)
- af like aff, ten like English ten, smad with a soft d (almost like smal or smath).
- i ≈ “ee” (short)
- haven ≈ “HAW-ven” or “HAH-ven”
- ha- like ha in harm, -ven with a weak “uhn” sound and a soft n.
Real Danish pronunciation uses features (like the soft d, stød, and the uvular r) that don’t exist in English, so these can only be approximations.
Yes, that’s perfectly natural Danish:
Parret spiser aftensmad i haven.
= The couple is eating dinner in the garden. (basic statement of place)Parret spiser aftensmad ude i haven.
= The couple is eating dinner out in the garden.
The word ude adds an extra nuance:
- Emphasizes that they are outside, not inside the house.
- Feels a bit more vivid or descriptive, like stressing the outdoor aspect.
Usually no. In contexts where ownership is obvious (your own body parts, clothes, meals, etc.), Danish often leaves out the possessive:
- Parret spiser aftensmad i haven.
= The couple is eating (their) dinner in the garden.
You can add a possessive:
- Parret spiser deres aftensmad i haven.
= The couple is eating their dinner in the garden.
This is grammatically fine, but the possessive adds emphasis or contrast, for example if you want to stress that it is their dinner (not someone else’s, or not a shared meal). In a neutral sentence, you normally just say aftensmad without deres.