Breakdown of Hun holder op med at skære løg, fordi hendes øjne løber i vand.
Questions & Answers about Hun holder op med at skære løg, fordi hendes øjne løber i vand.
The verb phrase is holde op med at + infinitive = to stop doing something.
- med is part of the fixed expression holde op med (to stop with/stop doing).
- at introduces the infinitive (skære).
So hun holder op med at skære løg is the standard, idiomatic form. holder op at is not the normal Danish pattern.
Yes. The structure is:
- Hun = subject (she)
- holder op = present tense of holde op (stops)
- med at skære = “with to cut” → an infinitive clause introduced by at
- løg = object (onions)
So at skære is the infinitive (to cut), and it functions as the activity she stops doing.
Danish often uses the bare plural (no article) for general/typical activities, similar to English cut onions / chop onions.
- skære løg = cutting onions (as an activity)
If you mean one specific onion, you’d more likely say skære et løg (cut an onion).
fordi means because and introduces a subordinate clause. In subordinate clauses, Danish typically uses subordinate word order, where adverbs and some elements come before the finite verb. In this specific clause:
- fordi hendes øjne løber i vand there isn’t an adverb that would visibly “move,” so it looks similar to English word order. But the key point is: fordi creates a subordinate clause.
Both can be possible depending on what you want to emphasize, but the usual, straightforward choice is hendes øjne = her eyes.
- hendes is the normal possessive pronoun (her).
sine is the reflexive possessive (his/her/their own) and is used when the possessor is the subject of the same clause. You can say fordi hendes øjne… and you can also hear fordi hendes/sine øjne… in some contexts, but hendes is common and unambiguous here.
It’s an idiomatic Danish expression meaning the eyes water / tear up.
- at løbe i vand literally “to run in water,” but idiomatically: to fill with tears / to water.
So hendes øjne løber i vand = her eyes are watering.
The fixed idiom is at løbe i vand.
- i here works like “in/with” in the sense of “to be full of” or “to be streaming with.”
løbe med vand would sound more like something physically running with water (not the idiom about eyes tearing).
Sometimes, but they differ:
- fordi = neutral because (common in speech and writing)
- da = “since/as” (often assumes the reason is known/obvious; more formal/written)
- for = “because/for” but it typically links two main clauses and uses main-clause word order after it; it feels more like an explanation added on. So fordi is the most straightforward choice.
In standard Danish punctuation, you usually put a comma before a subordinate clause introduced by fordi, especially in formal writing:
- Hun holder op med at skære løg, fordi hendes øjne løber i vand. Some people use a “comma style” that reduces commas, but this comma is very common and often recommended.
Yes. holde op functions like a phrasal verb: holde (verb) + op (particle). In many Danish constructions, the particle appears after the verb:
- Hun holder op. (She stops.) And when you add what she stops doing, you get:
- Hun holder op med at …
Yes, that’s a very natural alternative:
- at stoppe med at + infinitive is common and close in meaning to holde op med at.
Often: - holde op med can sound slightly more like “to quit/cease,”
- stoppe med can feel a bit more immediate “stop doing that,”
but in many everyday contexts they’re interchangeable.
Danish typically uses at to mark the infinitive, similar to English to:
- at skære = to cut
English often drops to after certain verbs (e.g., help cut), but Danish still commonly keeps at in many infinitive constructions like this one. Here it’s required: holde op med at + infinitive.
You negate the main clause by placing ikke after the finite verb (and after the subject):
- Hun holder ikke op med at skære løg, fordi hendes øjne løber i vand.
If you want to negate the reason instead, you negate the subordinate clause: - … fordi hendes øjne ikke løber i vand.