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Vi øver ejefald ved at sige sætninger som "min vens bog" og "lærerens kontor".

Vi øver ejefald ved at sige sætninger som "min vens bog" og "lærerens kontor".
We practice genitive by saying sentences like “my friend’s book” and “the teacher’s office.”
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Questions & Answers about Vi øver ejefald ved at sige sætninger som "min vens bog" og "lærerens kontor".

What does ejefald mean, and is it the same as genitiv?

Ejefald is the traditional Danish word for the grammatical case that shows possession — what English calls the genitive or possessive.

  • ejefald = genitive case / possessive (literally something like “ownership-case”)
  • genitiv = the more Latin/grammatical term for the same thing

In modern Danish grammar explanations, you’ll see both words, and in this sentence øver ejefald simply means “practice the genitive / possessive.”

Why is it Vi øver ejefald and not Vi øver os i ejefald? Are both possible?

Both can be used, but they sound a bit different in style and focus.

  • Vi øver ejefald

    • Literally: We practice (the) genitive.
    • Simple, neutral, and very common in teaching contexts.
    • Focus on the thing being practised.

  • Vi øver os i ejefald

    • Literally: We practise ourselves in the genitive.
    • Also correct and idiomatic.
    • Feels slightly more personal and process-focused: we’re training ourselves in using the genitive.

In a classroom sentence like this, Vi øver ejefald is perfectly natural and maybe a bit more straightforward.

What exactly does ved at sige mean here, and why not for at sige?

ved at + infinitive usually means “by (doing something)” and describes the method or means.

  • Vi øver ejefald ved at sige sætninger …
    = We practise the genitive *by saying sentences …*

If you said:

  • for at sige = in order to say

that would change the meaning to a purpose:

  • Vi øver ejefald for at sige sætninger …
    ≈ We practise the genitive in order to say sentences …

That sounds odd, because saying the sentences is not the goal, it’s the method. So ved at sige is the natural choice here.

What does som mean in sætninger som min vens bog og lærerens kontor?

Here som means “like / such as” and introduces examples.

  • sætninger som min vens bog og lærerens kontor
    = sentences like *my friend’s book and the teacher’s office*

It’s similar to English “like…” or “such as…”:

  • Jeg kan lide frugter som æbler og pærer.
    = I like fruits like apples and pears.
Why do we say min vens bog instead of min ven bog for “my friend’s book”?

In Danish, possession is usually shown by adding -s directly to the possessor:

  • min ven = my friend
  • min vens bog = my friend’s book (friend + s
    • book)

So the pattern is:

possessive pronoun + possessor + -s + thing owned
min ven + s + bog → min vens bog

You cannot say min ven bog; without the -s, ven is just “friend,” not “friend’s.”

Why is there no apostrophe in vens and lærerens?

Danish does not use an apostrophe for the normal possessive -s.

  • ven → vens (friend → friend’s)
  • lærer → lærerens (teacher → the teacher’s)

Compare with English:

  • Danish: min vens bog
  • English: my friend’s book

English writes ’s, but Danish just writes s. You only see an apostrophe in a few special cases (e.g. with some names ending in -s), but in ordinary nouns like ven and lærer, you simply add -s with no apostrophe.

How is lærerens kontor formed, and what exactly does it mean?

Breakdown:

  • lærer = teacher
  • læreren = the teacher (lærer + en definite ending)
  • lærerens = the teacher’s (læreren + s genitive)
  • kontor = office

So lærerens kontor literally is:

lærer + en + s + kontor
teacher + the + ’s + office
= the teacher’s office

In English we show definiteness with the and possession with ’s; in Danish that’s done with suffixes on the noun (-en for “the,” -s for genitive).

Why is it lærerens kontor and not lærerens kontoret for “the teacher’s office”?

In Danish, when a noun is possessed, the possessed noun normally stays in the indefinite form, even though the whole phrase feels definite in meaning.

  • kontor = office
  • kontoret = the office (definite)

But in a genitive construction:

  • lærerens kontor
    = the teacher’s office (but kontor is indefinite in form)

You would not normally say lærerens kontoret.
The definiteness is already carried by lærerens (the teacher’s), so kontor remains bare/indefinite in form.

Can the word order be changed to something like vens min bog or lærerens min kontor?

No, that would be ungrammatical. Danish has a fixed order here:

[possessive pronoun] + [possessor] + -s + [thing owned]

Examples:

  • min vens bog = my friend’s book
  • hendes mors bil = her mother’s car
  • deres lærers kontor = their teacher’s office

You can’t put the possessive pronoun after the -s:

  • ✗ vens min bog
  • ✗ lærerens min kontor

Those are wrong in Danish.

Could I say something like bogen af min ven instead of min vens bog?

You can use af in some genitive-like expressions, but it’s not the normal way to express a simple, everyday possessive.

  • min vens bog is the standard way to say my friend’s book.
  • bogen af min ven would sound unusual or overly literal in most contexts, and can even suggest “the book written by my friend,” depending on context.

In general, for ordinary possession in Danish (my friend’s book, the teacher’s office, the child’s toy, etc.), you should use -s:

  • min vens bog
  • lærerens kontor
  • barnets legetøj
What does sætninger mean here, and what’s the singular form?

sætninger is the plural of sætning.

  • en sætning = a sentence
  • flere sætninger = several sentences

So sige sætninger som … means “say sentences like …”.