Learn Hardcore Danish: Hun maler et nyt maleri hver weekend, fordi hun er meget kreativ. - She paints a new painting every weekend, because she is very creative.

Hun maler et nyt maleri hver weekend, fordi hun er meget kreativ.

She paints a new painting every weekend, because she is very creative.

Breakdown of Hun maler et nyt maleri hver weekend, fordi hun er meget kreativ.

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Questions & Answers about Hun maler et nyt maleri hver weekend, fordi hun er meget kreativ.

What does maler mean here, and can it also mean painter?

In Hun maler et nyt maleri…, maler is the verb “paints” – present tense of at male (to paint).

Danish is simple with verb endings: the present tense is the same for all persons:

jeg maler – I paint
du maler – you paint
hun/han maler – she/he paints
vi maler – we paint

Maler can also be a noun meaning “painter” (a person):

en maler – a painter
maleren – the painter

In your sentence, maler is clearly a verb because it comes after the subject hun and is followed by an object (et nyt maleri).

Why is it et nyt maleri and not en ny maleri?

Because maleri is a neuter noun in Danish.

Danish has two grammatical genders:

common gender: takes en (e.g. en bog – a book)
neuter gender: takes et (e.g. et hus – a house)

Maleri is neuter:

et maleri – a painting
maleriet – the painting

Adjectives must agree with the gender and number of the noun when they come before it:

common gender singular: en ny bil (a new car)
neuter gender singular: et nyt maleri (a new painting)

So we need:

et (neuter article) + nyt (neuter form of ny) + maleri (neuter noun)

En ny maleri is ungrammatical because en and bare ny don’t match a neuter noun.

If maler already means “paints”, why do we also say maleri (=painting)? Isn’t that redundant?

No redundancy here – maler is the action, maleri is the thing she produces.

Hun maler… – She paints (does the activity of painting)
…et nyt maleri – a new painting (the object she creates)

English often also uses both:

She paints a new painting every weekend.

But you could say more generally:

Hun maler hver weekend. – She paints every weekend.

This version talks about the activity without specifying what she paints. The original sentence with et nyt maleri makes it clear she finishes an actual painting every weekend, not for example:

walls (vægge)
houses (huse)
fences (hegn)

So maler = “paints”, maleri = “a painting” – different roles in the sentence.

Why is it hver weekend and not hvert weekend?

Because weekend is a common gender noun:

en weekend – a weekend
weekenden – the weekend

The word for each/every agrees with the gender:

hver
- common gender noun:
- hver dag (en dag) – every day
- hver mandag (en mandag) – every Monday
- hver weekend (en weekend) – every weekend
hvert
- neuter noun:
- hvert år (et år) – every year
- hvert minut (et minut) – every minute

So: hver weekend, hvert år.

Why is there a comma before fordi? Do you always need that comma in Danish?

In …, fordi hun er meget kreativ., fordi hun er meget kreativ is a subordinate clause (“because”-clause).

Traditionally, Danish used the grammatical comma, which always puts a comma before subordinate clauses:

Hun maler et nyt maleri hver weekend, fordi hun er meget kreativ.

Since a reform in 2004, you are also allowed to use a pause comma, where this comma is often omitted:

Hun maler et nyt maleri hver weekend fordi hun er meget kreativ.

Both are considered correct in modern Danish.

For learners, it’s usually safest to include the comma before fordi, because:

it clearly marks where the “because” part begins
it matches the older, very consistent rule you’ll see in many textbooks

In the fordi clause, why is the word order hun er meget kreativ and not something like fordi er hun meget kreativ or fordi hun meget er kreativ?

Danish subordinate clauses mostly keep Subject–Verb order, just like main clauses.

So:

main clause: Hun er meget kreativ. – She is very creative.
subordinate clause: fordi hun er meget kreativ – because she is very creative.

What changes in subordinate clauses is mainly the position of sentence adverbs like ikke (“not”):

main clause: Hun er ikke kreativ. – She is not creative.
subclause: …, fordi hun ikke er kreativ. – because she is not creative.

But you don’t:

move the verb to the end (like German: weil sie sehr kreativ ist)
or do inversion (fordi er hun…)

So the correct order is:

fordi + subject (hun) + verb (er) + rest (meget kreativ)

Could we also say Hun er meget kreativ, så hun maler et nyt maleri hver weekend? What’s the difference between fordi and så?

Yes, you can say:

Hun er meget kreativ, så hun maler et nyt maleri hver weekend.

The difference is in the direction of the relationship:

fordi = because (gives a reason for what comes before)
- Hun maler …, fordi hun er meget kreativ.
  → She paints because she is creative. (reason → action)
så = so / therefore (gives a result of what comes before)
- Hun er meget kreativ, så hun maler …
  → She is very creative, so she paints. (cause → result)

The facts are the same, but fordi focuses on “Why does she paint?”, while så focuses on “What follows from her being creative?”

Why do we say hun er meget kreativ and not something like hun har meget kreativitet?

Danish normally uses adjectives with “to be” to talk about personal qualities:

hun er kreativ – she is creative
han er tålmodig – he is patient
de er flinke – they are nice

Using har kreativitet (“has creativity”) is possible but sounds unusual and abstract; in everyday language it’s much more natural to say:

hun er meget kreativ – she is very creative

Here:

er = “is” (present of at være)
kreativ = adjective “creative”
meget = “very / very much”, intensifying the adjective

So it is structurally parallel to English “is very creative”, not “has a lot of creativity”.

Why is it meget kreativ and not meget kreative?

Adjectives in Danish change form depending on the gender and number of what they describe.

Here the subject is hun (she), which is:

singular
conceptually common gender (like en kvinde – a woman)

For a singular, common-gender subject in a sentence with er, the adjective stays in its basic form:

Hun er kreativ. – She is creative.
Han er træt. – He is tired.

Other forms:

neuter singular subject:
- Huset er gammelt. – The house is old.
plural subject:
- Bøgerne er spændende. – The books are exciting.

So:

hun → kreativ (no ending)
not kreative (that would match a plural, e.g. De er kreative – They are creative)

What’s the difference between ny, nyt, and nye?

They are all forms of the adjective ny (“new”), used in different situations:

ny – common gender, singular, indefinite
- en ny bil – a new car
- en ny idé – a new idea
nyt – neuter, singular, indefinite
- et nyt maleri – a new painting
- et nyt hus – a new house
nye – plural, and all definite forms
- plural indefinite: nye biler – new cars
- with den / det / de and with the -en/-et/-ne ending on the noun:
  - den nye bil – the new car
  - det nye maleri – the new painting
  - de nye malerier – the new paintings

In your sentence it’s neuter singular indefinite (et maleri), so the correct form is nyt: et nyt maleri.

Can we move hver weekend to the beginning: Hver weekend maler hun et nyt maleri? Does the word order change?

Yes, that sentence is completely correct:

Hver weekend maler hun et nyt maleri, fordi hun er meget kreativ.

When you put a time expression (or another element) first, Danish still keeps the verb in second position (the V2 rule). So:

normal order: Hun maler et nyt maleri hver weekend.
- (subject hun first, verb maler second)
fronted time phrase: Hver weekend maler hun et nyt maleri.
- (time hver weekend first, verb maler second, subject hun third)

This is very natural Danish and puts more emphasis on “every weekend”.

How would you say “She is painting a new painting this weekend” in Danish? Do we still use maler?

Yes, Danish usually uses the simple present for both:

general present
and “present continuous” (am/is/are doing), when context makes it clear.

So:

Hun maler et nyt maleri i weekenden.
→ “She is painting a new painting this weekend.”

Here i weekenden (“this weekend”) tells you it’s about a specific ongoing/near-future event, not a habit.

Compare:

Hun maler et nyt maleri hver weekend. – She paints a new painting every weekend. (habit)
Hun maler et nyt maleri i weekenden. – She is painting a new painting this weekend. (specific time)