Vejen er dækket af sne om vinteren.

The road is covered with snow in winter.

Breakdown of Vejen er dækket af sne om vinteren.

• vinteren: the winter
• sneen: the snow
• om: in
• vejen: the road
• være dækket: to be covered
• af: with

Questions & Answers about Vejen er dækket af sne om vinteren.

What does vejen mean, and why does it end in -en?

Vejen means the road.

In Danish, the definite article (the) is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word:

• en vej = a road
• vejen = the road

So vej = road, vejen = the road. The -en ending is the definite article for most common-gender nouns.

Why is it er dækket and not something like bliver dækket?

Er dækket literally means is covered and describes a state: the road is in the condition of being covered.

Bliver dækket means is being covered / gets covered and focuses on the process or change:

• Vejen er dækket af sne = The road is covered with snow (state, result).
• Vejen bliver dækket af sne = The road gets / is getting covered with snow (process).

In your sentence, we talk about the typical state of the road in winter, so er dækket is natural.

Is dækket a verb or an adjective here?

Grammatically it is the past participle of the verb at dække (to cover), but in this sentence it functions like an adjective describing vejen:

• vejen (the road)
• er (is)
• dækket (covered)

Danish often uses er + past participle to express a state:

• Døren er lukket = The door is closed.
• Vinduerne er åbne = The windows are open.
• Vejen er dækket af sne = The road is covered with snow.

Why do we say dækket af sne and not dækket med sne?

The most idiomatic expression in Danish for covered with snow is dækket af sne.

Dækket af is a fixed, very common pattern meaning covered with/by:

• dækket af sne = covered with snow
• dækket af støv = covered in dust
• dækket af blod = covered in blood

Dækket med sne is not impossible, but it sounds less natural in this context. Med usually emphasizes accompaniment (with as “together with”), while af in this pattern emphasizes that the surface is covered by that thing.

Why is sne used without an article? Could I say af sneen?

Sne is used here as an uncountable mass noun, so it doesn’t need an article:

• af sne = with snow / by snow (in general)

You can say af sneen (= by the snow), but that usually refers to some specific snow both speaker and listener know about, for example:

• Vejen er dækket af sneen fra i går.
  The road is covered with the snow from yesterday.

In a general statement about what winters are like, af sne (without the definite form) is more natural.

What does af mean in this sentence, and what other meanings can it have?

In dækket af sne, af means roughly by / with. It marks what is doing the covering or what something is covered with.

Other common uses of af:

• Origin: Jeg kommer af Danmark. (old‑fashioned; normally fra)
• Part/quantity: et glas af vandet = a glass of the water
• Separation: Han faldt af cyklen. = He fell off the bike.

But in this fixed pattern dækket af X, just think of it as covered with X.

Why is it om vinteren and not i vinteren or i vinter?

Om vinteren is the standard way to say in (the) winter / during wintertime in general, as a recurring season:

• Om vinteren er det koldt. = In winter it is cold.

I vinter usually means this past winter / this winter (a specific winter in time), not the season in general:

• I vinter var der meget sne. = This past winter there was a lot of snow.

I vinteren is normally not used in modern Danish in this meaning; it sounds odd or archaic in most contexts. For general seasonal habits or conditions, use om vinteren.

Why is vinteren in the definite form (-en)?

Vinteren literally means the winter:

• en vinter = a winter
• vinteren = the winter

For seasons used in a general, habitual sense, Danish normally uses the definite form together with om:

• om vinteren = in (the) winter
• om sommeren = in (the) summer
• om efteråret = in (the) autumn
• om foråret = in (the) spring

So om vinteren is the normal fixed expression.

Can I move om vinteren to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Both word orders are correct:

• Vejen er dækket af sne om vinteren.
• Om vinteren er vejen dækket af sne.

The meaning is the same.

Putting Om vinteren first gives a bit more emphasis to the time frame (you’re setting the scene: As for winter…). This is very natural in spoken and written Danish.

How would I say “The roads are covered with snow in winter” (plural)?

You make both vej and er dækket plural:

• Vejene er dækket af sne om vinteren.

Breakdown:

• veje = roads
• vejene = the roads
• er dækket doesn’t change form in the plural
• rest of the sentence stays the same

How do you pronounce Vejen er dækket af sne om vinteren?

Very roughly in “English-style” pronunciation:

• Vejen ≈ VAI-en
• er ≈ air but very short and weak
• dækket ≈ DEK-eth (the final -et is weak)
• af ≈ long “eh” sound, often shortened in fast speech
• sne ≈ snay (long vowel)
• om ≈ om (like “om” in “om-nipresent” without the n)
• vinteren ≈ VIN-ter-en (but with Danish “soft” t and a weak -en)

Spoken together, it flows as one unit, and some sounds are reduced, but this approximation is enough to be understood.

Can I use this sentence as a pattern to make similar sentences?

Yes, it’s a very useful pattern:

[Subject] + er dækket af + [noun] + om [season / time].

Examples:

• Marken er dækket af is om vinteren.
  The field is covered with ice in winter.

• Bordet er dækket af papirer om dagen.
  The table is covered with papers during the day.

• Stien er dækket af blade om efteråret.
  The path is covered with leaves in autumn.

You can swap in other subjects, materials, and time expressions following the same structure.