Lærerens kontor er stille om aftenen.

The teacher's office is quiet in the evening.

Breakdown of Lærerens kontor er stille om aftenen.

• være: to be
• aftenen: the evening
• om: in
• stille: quiet
• kontoret: the office
• lærerens: teacher's

Questions & Answers about Lærerens kontor er stille om aftenen.

What does lærerens mean exactly, and why does it end in -ens?

Lærer means teacher. Danish makes the possessive (“teacher’s”) by adding -s to the noun.

Here’s what’s going on inside lærerens:

• en lærer = a teacher
• læreren = the teacher (definite form, -en on the noun)
• lærerens = the teacher’s (definite + possessive -s)

So lærerens kontor literally means “the teacher’s office”, with the definiteness (the) built into lærerens, not as a separate word.

What is the grammatical subject of the sentence?

The subject is the entire noun phrase lærerens kontor (the teacher’s office).

• lærerens = the teacher’s (possessive)
• kontor = office

Together they form one subject: “the teacher’s office”.
The rest of the sentence:

• er = is
• stille = quiet
• om aftenen = in the evening

So the core structure is: [Subject] lærerens kontor – [Verb] er – [Complement] stille – [Time] om aftenen.

Why is there no article (like et or det) before kontor, when English has “the teacher’s office”?

In Danish, when you use a possessive like lærerens, you normally don’t use another article:

• lærerens kontor = the teacher’s office
  (literally: teacher-the’s office)

If you added an article, it would be ungrammatical:

• ✗ det lærerens kontor – doesn’t work in Danish

The “the” idea is already included inside lærerens (via -en), so you don’t add a separate det/den or et/en.

What gender is kontor, and how would I say “an office” and “the office”?

Kontor is a neuter noun in Danish.

• et kontor = an office
• kontoret = the office

In the sentence, you see it without an article because it’s possessed:

• lærerens kontor = the teacher’s office
  (not et kontor or kontoret in this position)

Is stille an adjective or an adverb here, and why doesn’t it change form?

In Lærerens kontor er stille, stille is an adjective used as a predicative complement (describing the state of the subject).

Danish adjectives in predicative position do not change form to agree with gender or number:

• Kontoret er stille. – The office is quiet.
• Gaderne er stille. – The streets are quiet.

The word stille happens to be the same in all these forms, and it’s also the same when used before a noun:

• et stille kontor – a quiet office
• en stille gade – a quiet street

So you don’t need to add -t or anything else here; stille stays as stille.

What does om aftenen literally mean, and why is it om and not i?

Literally, om aftenen is “around/on the evening”, but idiomatically it means “in the evening / in the evenings”.

Danish uses om + time of day/day of week to talk about times in a general, habitual way:

• om morgenen – in the morning(s)
• om eftermiddagen – in the afternoon(s)
• om aftenen – in the evening(s)
• om søndagen – on Sundays (in general)

Using i aftenen would sound wrong in this generic sense.
So om aftenen here means “in the evening (as a general or repeated time)”.

Why is it aftenen (definite) and not just aften?

Danish often uses the definite singular form in these general time expressions with om:

• om morgenen – (in) the morning / in the mornings (generally)
• om aftenen – (in) the evening / in the evenings (generally)

So:

• aften = evening (indefinite)
• aftenen = the evening (definite)

In om aftenen, the definite form (aftenen) is idiomatic and signals a habitual/general time frame, not one specific evening.

Can I change the word order and put om aftenen at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. You can say:

• Om aftenen er lærerens kontor stille.

This is perfectly correct and quite natural. The meaning is the same; you’re just emphasizing the time.

Notice that Danish still follows the main clause rule where the finite verb (er) comes in second position:

1. Om aftenen – time phrase (in first position)
2. er – verb (second)
3. lærerens kontor – subject
4. stille – complement

So both are correct:

• Lærerens kontor er stille om aftenen.
• Om aftenen er lærerens kontor stille.

What is the difference between lærerens and lærernes?

• lærerens = the teacher’s (one teacher)

  • læreren = the teacher
  • lærerens = the teacher’s

• lærernes = the teachers’ (more than one teacher)

  • lærerne = the teachers
  • lærernes = the teachers’

So:

• Lærerens kontor er stille om aftenen.
  = The teacher’s (one person’s) office is quiet in the evening.

• Lærernes kontor er stille om aftenen.
  = The teachers’ (several teachers’) office is quiet in the evening.

How is er used in Danish? Does it change with the subject like “is/are” in English?

Er is the present tense of at være (to be), and it is the same for all subjects:

• jeg er – I am
• du er – you are
• han/hun/den/det er – he/she/it is
• vi er – we are
• I er – you (plural) are
• de er – they are

So in Lærerens kontor er stille, er corresponds to English “is”, but the form er itself doesn’t change.

How do you pronounce Lærerens kontor er stille om aftenen approximately?

Very roughly in “English-friendly” sounds (not exact IPA):

• Lærerens – something like LAIR-uh-rens

  • æ a bit like the vowel in “air”
  • the final -ens is fairly light, almost -ns

• kontor – roughly kon-TOR

  • stress on the second syllable

• er – short, like “air” but very quick and reduced

• stille – roughly STIL-leh

  • first syllable like English “still”, second is a light “uh/eh”

• om – like English “om” in “om-nom”, very short

• aftenen – roughly AF-te-nn

  • a like in “cat”, then a weak te, and a very light final -nn

Spoken at normal speed, many of the vowels and consonants get softened and shortened, but this gives you a workable starting point.