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”?