Jeg forstår faget bedre nu.

I understand the subject better now.

Breakdown of Jeg forstår faget bedre nu.

• jeg: I
• nu: now
• forstå: to understand
• bedre: better
• faget: the subject

Questions & Answers about Jeg forstår faget bedre nu.

What does faget mean exactly, and why does it have a -et ending?

Fag means subject (like a school subject), profession/trade, or sometimes just field/area.

Danish nouns have grammatical gender (common or neuter) and definite endings:

• et fag = a subject (indefinite, singular, neuter)
• faget = the subject (definite, singular, neuter)

So faget literally means “the subject”. The -et is the definite ending for neuter nouns.

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Why do we use the definite form faget and not just fag here?

In Danish, you usually use the definite form when you and the listener both know which specific subject you are talking about.

• Jeg forstår faget bedre nu.
  = I understand the (particular) subject better now.
  (For example: math, chemistry, grammar – the one we already talked about.)

If you said:

• Jeg forstår fag bedre nu.

that would sound wrong in standard Danish, because singular countable nouns normally need either an article (et fag) or the definite ending (faget). You can’t generally use bare singular count nouns the way English sometimes does.

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What’s the difference between fag and emne if both can translate as “subject”?

They overlap but are not identical:

• fag

  • typical meaning: school subject or field/profession
  • examples:
    
    • mit yndlingsfag er matematik – my favourite subject is maths
    • han arbejder inden for lægefaget – he works in the medical profession

• emne

  • typical meaning: topic, theme, often more specific than a “subject”
  • examples:
    
    • dagens emne er global opvarmning – today’s topic is global warming
    • hvad er emnet for din opgave? – what is the topic of your assignment?

So Jeg forstår faget bedre nu is about a course/subject/field in general, not a specific essay topic or discussion topic.

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Why is the word order “Jeg forstår faget bedre nu” and not “Jeg forstår bedre faget nu” or something else?

The neutral word order in a simple main clause is:

Subject – Verb – (Object) – Adverb(s)

So:

• Jeg (subject)
• forstår (verb)
• faget (object)
• bedre nu (adverbs)

Jeg forstår faget bedre nu sounds completely natural and neutral.

Other orders are possible but sound marked or odd here:

• Jeg forstår bedre faget nu. – grammatically possible, but clumsy and unusual.
• Jeg forstår nu faget bedre. – also possible; this puts a little emphasis on nu, like “now, I understand the subject better”.

The given sentence is the most typical everyday version.

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Could I also say “Nu forstår jeg faget bedre”? Is that the same meaning?

Yes, Nu forstår jeg faget bedre is perfectly correct and very natural.

In Danish, if you start the sentence with an adverb like nu, the verb must come second, and the subject moves after the verb:

• Nu (adverb, in first position)
• forstår (verb – must be in second position)
• jeg (subject)
• faget bedre (rest)

Jeg forstår faget bedre nu and Nu forstår jeg faget bedre mean almost the same. The second version slightly emphasizes now (contrast with before), similar to English:

• “I understand the subject better now.” vs.
• “Now I understand the subject better.”

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Why is it bedre and not something like mere godt or mere bedre?

Bedre is the comparative form of god (good) in Danish:

• god – good
• bedre – better
• bedst – best

So you must use bedre, not mere godt and definitely not mere bedre.

Examples:

• Jeg forstår faget godt. – I understand the subject well.
• Jeg forstår faget bedre nu. – I understand the subject better now.
• Hun er den bedste lærer. – She is the best teacher.

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Why is the verb in the present tense forstår and not a past tense form?

Danish present tense is used for:

1. What is happening now
2. Situations that are true now, including new states compared to the past

Jeg forstår faget bedre nu means: at this point in time, my understanding is better (than before). You don’t need a special tense for “now” – the present tense plus nu is enough.

The past tense forstod would be:

• Jeg forstod faget bedre dengang. – I understood the subject better back then.

So forstår fits the idea “now I (currently) understand it better.”

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How would I say “I understand the subject well now” instead of “better now”?

Replace bedre (better) with godt (well):

• Jeg forstår faget godt nu. – I understand the subject well now.
• Nu forstår jeg faget godt. – Now I understand the subject well.

Compare:

• bedre – better (comparison)
• godt – well (simple quality, no comparison)

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How do you pronounce forstår and faget?

Approximate guidelines (not IPA, just learner-friendly):

• forstår

  • for – like “foh” with a slightly rounded vowel; the r is often weak or influences the vowel rather than being fully pronounced
  • står – similar to “stor” in “storm”, but with a long vowel and a glottal catch (stød) on the vowel
    Overall: something like foh-STOHR with a small “catch” in the stressed syllable.

• faget

  • fa- – like “fah” (a bit like the “fa” in “father”)
  • -get – roughly “-yuh” or soft “-eh”; the g is soft, the t often very light
    Overall: roughly FAH-yeh (with the stress on the first syllable).

Regional accents differ, but this is a useful approximation.

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How would I say it if I’m talking about several subjects, not just one?

For plural fag:

• (indefinite plural): fag – subjects
• (definite plural): fagene – the subjects

Examples:

• Jeg forstår fagene bedre nu.
  = I understand the subjects better now (specific ones you have already mentioned).

• Jeg forstår mine fag bedre nu.
  = I understand my subjects better now (e.g. my school subjects this term).