Breakdown of Hendes barnebarn kommer også i morgen, hvis mødet ikke bliver aflyst.
i morgen
tomorrow
hvis
if
også
also
mødet
the meeting
Questions & Answers about Hendes barnebarn kommer også i morgen, hvis mødet ikke bliver aflyst.
What does hendes mean here, and why is it not sin/sit/sine?
Hendes means her.
Danish has two kinds of possessives in situations like this:
- hans / hendes / deres = someone else’s
- sin / sit / sine = the subject’s own
In this sentence, the subject is barnebarnet understood through barnebarn as the person who kommer. So hendes barnebarn means her grandchild — the grandchild belongs to some woman already mentioned.
If you used sit here, it would have to refer back to the subject of the clause, and that would not make sense in the same way.
So:
- Hendes barnebarn kommer ... = Her grandchild is coming ...
What exactly does barnebarn mean?
Barnebarn means grandchild.
A useful thing to know is that it is gender-neutral:
- et barnebarn = a grandchild
- it can mean either grandson or granddaughter
So Danish often uses one word where English may be more specific.
It is also a compound word:
- barn = child
- barnebarn = grandchild
Why is barnebarn written as one word?