Breakdown of Jeg går på arbejde, selvom jeg er træt i dag.
Questions & Answers about Jeg går på arbejde, selvom jeg er træt i dag.
In Danish, gå på arbejde is a very common fixed way to say go to work (in the sense of going to your workplace / going to work as an activity).
Gå til arbejde exists too, but it more strongly suggests the direction “to” work and is often understood as specifically walking to work.
So:
- Jeg går på arbejde = I go to work (general, idiomatic)
- Jeg går til arbejde = I go/walk to work (often focusing on the route or the fact that you’re walking)
It depends on context. At gå literally means to walk, but in everyday Danish jeg går på arbejde is often understood idiomatically as I go to work, not necessarily describing the method of transport.
If you want to be unambiguous about transport, you can specify:
- Jeg går på arbejde (could be general/idiomatic)
- Jeg går hen på arbejde (more “I walk over to work”)
- Jeg tager på arbejde (I go to work / I head to work, not specifying walking)
- Jeg kører på arbejde (I drive to work)
Because selvom introduces a subordinate clause: selvom jeg er træt i dag. Danish punctuation normally places a comma before subordinate clauses.
So the structure is:
- Main clause: Jeg går på arbejde
- Comma + subordinate clause: selvom jeg er træt i dag
Selvom means although/even though and introduces a subordinate clause. It sets up a contrast but keeps the clause dependent on the main clause.
Men means but and typically links two main clauses (coordinate clauses).
Compare:
- Jeg går på arbejde, selvom jeg er træt i dag.
(Main clause + subordinate “although” clause) - Jeg er træt i dag, men jeg går på arbejde.
(Two main clauses linked by men)
In Danish subordinate clauses, the word order is generally more “English-like”: subject + verb early in the clause.
Here:
- selvom (subordinating conjunction)
- jeg (subject)
- er (verb)
- træt (subject complement)
So: selvom jeg er træt i dag.
(One big word-order difference you’ll see in subordinate clauses is where adverbs like ikke often go, but this sentence doesn’t contain one.)
In a subordinate clause, ikke usually comes before the verb (or after the subject and before the verb). So you’d say:
- … selvom jeg ikke er træt i dag.
Not: selvom jeg er ikke træt i dag.
Yes, i dag can move, and Danish allows fairly flexible placement depending on emphasis. Common options:
- … selvom jeg er træt i dag. (neutral)
- … selvom jeg i dag er træt. (more emphasis on “today”)
- I dag går jeg på arbejde, selvom jeg er træt. (topic/fronting: “Today, I’m going to work…”)
The most natural in everyday speech is often … er træt i dag.
Yes, træt is an adjective meaning tired. In jeg er træt, it functions as a predicate adjective after at være (to be). In that role, it normally stays in its basic form and doesn’t agree with the subject the way it would in an attributive position.
Compare:
- Predicate: Jeg er træt. (I am tired.)
- Attributive: en træt mand (a tired man), et træt barn (a tired child)
På arbejde is an idiomatic expression meaning at work / to work as an activity/state, and it typically appears without an article. It’s similar to how English uses “at work” without “a/the”.
På et arbejde would mean at a job/workplace in a more literal, countable sense, and it sounds unusual in this context.
Yes. If the subordinate clause comes first, the main clause becomes subject to Danish V2 word order, meaning the verb comes second and the subject moves after it.
Example:
- Selvom jeg er træt i dag, går jeg på arbejde.
Notice går comes before jeg in the main clause because something else (Selvom…) is in first position.
Danish present tense often covers both habitual and near-future/ongoing meanings depending on context.
So Jeg går på arbejde can mean:
- “I go to work (generally / as a routine)”
- “I’m going to work (now / today)”
If you need to make “right now” clearer, you might add:
- nu: Jeg går på arbejde nu.
- or use another verb: Jeg er på vej på arbejde. (I’m on my way to work.)