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Hun har ondt i øjet i aften.

Hun har ondt i øjet i aften.
She has pain in her eye tonight.
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Questions & Answers about Hun har ondt i øjet i aften.

Why does Danish use har ondt (literally “has bad”) to talk about pain?

At have ondt is a very common Danish fixed expression meaning “to be in pain / to hurt.”
It behaves like a verb phrase: hun har ondt = “she is in pain.” You then add the body part with a preposition phrase: i øjet = “in the eye.”

Why is it ondt and not ond?

Ond is the base adjective (“evil/bad”). Ondt is the neuter form and is also the form used in several set patterns where English would use an adverb-like word:

  • Det gør ondt (It hurts)
  • Jeg har ondt (I’m in pain)
    So here ondt is the standard form in the expression har ondt.
What exactly is the role of i øjet? Why i (“in”)?

In Danish, pain is commonly described as being in a place: ondt i + body part.
Examples: ondt i maven (stomachache), ondt i hovedet (headache), ondt i ryggen (back pain).
So i øjet is the normal way to specify where the pain is.

Why is it øjet (the eye) and not et øje (an eye) or hendes øje (her eye)?

Danish often uses the definite form for body parts in these “pain” constructions: ondt i øjet / i benet / i ryggen.
You can specify possession if needed, but it’s usually unnecessary because the subject already makes it clear:

  • Natural/general: Hun har ondt i øjet.
  • More specific/contrastive: Hun har ondt i sit øje (in her own eye) or i hendes øje (less common, more emphatic).
Can I say Hun har ondt i øjne if both eyes hurt?

You’d normally use the plural definite: Hun har ondt i øjnene (“in the eyes”).
So:

  • One eye: i øjet
  • Both eyes / eyes in general: i øjnene
Is there another common way to say the same thing, like “Her eye hurts”?

Yes. Another very common pattern is X gør ondt (“X hurts”):

  • Hendes øje gør ondt. (Her eye hurts.)
    Or with a dummy subject:
  • Det gør ondt i øjet. (It hurts in the eye / My eye hurts.)
Why is i aften placed at the end? Could it go elsewhere?

Time adverbials like i aften (“tonight/this evening”) often go toward the end, especially in simple main clauses.
You can also front it for emphasis:

  • I aften har hun ondt i øjet. (Tonight, she has pain in her eye.)
    But the neutral, most common placement is final: … i aften.
Does i aften mean “tonight” or “this evening,” and is it different from i nat?

I aften covers the evening and often the “tonight” idea in everyday English.
If you specifically mean “at night (during the night),” you’d typically use i nat.

What’s the pronunciation of øjet and why does it end with -et?

Øjet is the definite singular of øje (“eye”), so -et is the neuter definite ending (“the”).
Pronunciation (approx.): øjet ≈ “UH-yehth” (with a Danish soft d-like sound at the end in many accents).
The letter ø is a front rounded vowel (similar to French eu in deux for many speakers).

Does have ondt i øjet ever mean something figurative (like jealousy)?

This sentence is normally understood literally: physical pain in the eye.
Danish does have expressions with ondt i that can be figurative in other contexts, but ondt i øjet is not a common idiom for jealousy—literal pain is the default reading here.