Learn Hardcore Danish: Ejefald viser, hvem der ejer noget i en sætning. - Genitive shows who owns something in a sentence.

Ejefald is the traditional Danish school term for the genitive (possessive) case – the form that shows ownership or relation, like Peters bog (Peter’s book).

Ejefald literally means “owning-fall/case” (like the old grammatical term in many languages).
Genitiv is the more international, Latin-based term.

In modern Danish grammar:

Both ejefald and genitiv refer to the same thing.
You will see genitiv more often in linguistic texts, and ejefald more in basic school explanations.

Why is there no article before Ejefald? Why not Det ejefald or Ejefaldet?

Danish often leaves out the article with abstract grammatical terms when speaking in general.

Ejefald viser … = “Genitive shows …” (talking about the concept in general).
Adding an article (Ejefaldet viser … or Det ejefald, der …) would sound more like you’re referring to a specific instance of the genitive, which is not the point here.

So the pattern is similar to English:

English: Genitive shows … (no the)
Danish: Ejefald viser … (no det or -et)

Why is the verb viser used here? Could you also say betyder or something else?

Viser is the present tense of at vise = “to show”.

In this sentence:

Ejefald viser, hvem der ejer noget i en sætning.
= The genitive shows who owns something in a sentence.

This is about indicating or marking ownership, not about meaning in the sense of vocabulary.
You could say:

Ejefald viser ejerskab – The genitive shows ownership.

Using betyder (means) would be odd, because:

The genitive doesn’t “mean” owner; it marks who the owner is in the structure of the sentence.
So viser fits better: it shows/indicates ownership.

Why is there a comma after viser: Ejefald viser, hvem der ejer …?

The comma marks the start of a subordinate clause introduced by hvem.

Main clause: Ejefald viser
Subordinate clause: hvem der ejer noget i en sætning

Danish has two comma traditions:

Start-komma (most commonly taught in schools):
You put a comma before nearly all subordinate clauses, as here.
New comma:
The comma before hvem der ejer … can be omitted:
Ejefald viser hvem der ejer noget i en sætning.

So the comma you see is correct and very standard, especially in teaching material.

Why do we need both hvem and der in hvem der ejer? In English we just say who owns, not who that owns.

This is a very typical Danish pattern.

In sentences like this, hvem der works together as a unit:

Ejefald viser, hvem der ejer noget …
= Genitive shows who owns something …

Here:

hvem = who (the interrogative/relative word).
der acts like a subject marker in the subordinate clause.

In many subordinate clauses where hvem is the subject, Danish prefers hvem der:

Jeg ved ikke, hvem der kommer.
= I don’t know who is coming.
Hun kan ikke huske, hvem der sagde det.
= She can’t remember who said it.

Without der, the sentence would sound ungrammatical or very strange in standard Danish:

✗ Ejefald viser, hvem ejer noget i en sætning. – wrong.

So you should normally learn the pattern hvem der + verb when “who” is the subject in an embedded clause.

What is the function of der in hvem der ejer? Is it the same der as in Der er?

It’s related, but not exactly the same use.

Here, der:

Stands in subject position of the subordinate clause.
Helps keep the normal subordinate clause word order: subject (der) + verb (ejer).

Compare:

Der bor en mand i huset. – There lives a man in the house.
(der is an “introductory” subject)
Jeg ved, hvem der bor i huset. – I know who lives in the house.
(hvem der together = “who” as the subject)

So:

It’s the same word, but in embedded hvem-clauses it works more like a dummy/placeholder subject that pairs with hvem.

Why is the word order der ejer and not ejer der in the clause hvem der ejer noget?

Danish distinguishes between:

Main clauses: Verb is normally in second position (V2).
- Peter ejer bilen. – Peter owns the car.
- I dag ejer han bilen. – Today he owns the car.
Subordinate clauses: The subject comes before the finite verb.
- … hvem der ejer bilen. – … who owns the car.

In hvem der ejer noget:

hvem der ejer is a subordinate clause.
Subject: der
Verb: ejer

So the correct order is:

der ejer (subject–verb), not ejer der (verb–subject).

Could you use som instead of der and say hvem som ejer noget?

Yes, hvem som is also possible in Danish, and you will hear it, but:

hvem der is more common and more neutral.
hvem som can sound a bit more colloquial or dialectal in some regions.

So you might see:

Ejefald viser, hvem der ejer noget i en sætning. – most common.
Ejefald viser, hvem som ejer noget i en sætning. – understandable, but less typical in standard written language.

For learners, it’s safest to stick to hvem der in this structure.

What does ejer mean here, and what form of the verb is it?

ejer is:

The present tense, 3rd person singular (and also used with any person) of at eje = to own.

So:

Jeg ejer – I own
Du ejer – you own
Han/hun ejer – he/she owns
Vi ejer – we own

In the sentence:

hvem der ejer noget = who owns something

Why is it noget and not nogen in ejer noget i en sætning?

noget and nogen are both indefinite pronouns, but they’re used differently.

noget = something / anything (neuter, non-human, or abstract)
nogen = someone / anyone (persons), or any before common-gender nouns

Here we’re talking about “owns something” (an object, not a person), so noget is correct:

hvem der ejer noget – who owns something

Examples:

Han ejer noget meget dyrt. – He owns something very expensive.
Kender du nogen her? – Do you know anyone here? (people)

Why is it i en sætning and not i sætningen?

The difference is indefinite vs definite:

i en sætning = in a sentence, any sentence, in general.
i sætningen = in the sentence, a specific sentence already known from context.

Here, the explanation is general (about grammar in general), so Danish uses the indefinite form:

i en sætning – in a sentence (in any sentence)

This matches English:

in a sentence (not in the sentence) when explaining rules in general.

What gender is sætning, and why is the article en?

sætning (sentence, clause) is a common gender noun in Danish.

Indefinite singular: en sætning – a sentence
Definite singular: sætningen – the sentence
Indefinite plural: sætninger – sentences
Definite plural: sætningerne – the sentences

So:

i en sætning is correct because en is the article for common gender nouns.

Is Ejefald viser, hvem der ejer noget i en sætning a full sentence? How is it structured grammatically?

Yes, it’s a complete sentence.

Structure:

Main clause
- Ejefald viser
  - Subject: Ejefald
  - Verb: viser
Subordinate clause (object clause)
- hvem der ejer noget i en sætning
  - Clause marker: hvem
  - Subject: der
  - Verb: ejer
  - Object: noget
  - Adverbial (place/context): i en sætning

So the whole thing functions like:

[Genitive] [shows] [who owns something in a sentence].

The subordinate clause hvem der ejer noget i en sætning is the object of viser.