Breakdown of I juni og juli er byen fuld af mennesker, som tager billeder i centrum.
Questions & Answers about I juni og juli er byen fuld af mennesker, som tager billeder i centrum.
Why does the sentence begin with I juni og juli? Does i mean in here?
Yes. Here i means in, so I juni og juli means In June and July.
A few useful points:
- Danish normally uses i with months:
- i juni = in June
- i juli = in July
- Danish does not usually use an article before month names, just like English:
- i juni, not i den juni
So this opening is a time expression placed first in the sentence.
Why is it er byen and not byen er after I juni og juli?
This is because Danish follows the V2 rule in main clauses. V2 means the finite verb usually comes in the second position.
The sentence is structured like this:
- I juni og juli = first element
- er = verb in second position
- byen = subject
So:
- I juni og juli er byen fuld af mennesker.
If you started with the subject instead, you would get:
- Byen er fuld af mennesker i juni og juli.
Both are correct, but the first version emphasizes the time phrase.
What does fuld af mean, and why is af used?
Fuld af means full of.
So:
- byen er fuld af mennesker = the city is full of people
This is a fixed expression in Danish:
- fuld af vand = full of water
- fuld af idéer = full of ideas
- fuld af turister = full of tourists
English uses of, and Danish uses af in the same kind of structure.
Why is it mennesker and not menneskene?
Mennesker is the indefinite plural form: people.
- mennesker = people / human beings
- menneskene = the people
Here the sentence is talking about people in a general sense, not a specific known group, so mennesker is the natural choice:
- byen er fuld af mennesker = the city is full of people
If you said menneskene, it would sound more like the people, meaning a specific group already known from context.
What is som doing in this sentence?
Som introduces a relative clause. Here it means who or that:
- mennesker, som tager billeder i centrum
- people who take pictures in the center
It connects mennesker with extra information about them.
So the sentence says that the city is full of people, and then adds which people: the ones who are taking pictures in the center.
Can som mean both who and that?
Yes. In sentences like this, som often corresponds to English who, which, or that, depending on what it refers to.
Examples:
- en mand, som smiler = a man who is smiling
- en bog, som er dyr = a book that/which is expensive
In your sentence, because it refers to mennesker, English would most naturally use who:
- mennesker, som tager billeder = people who take pictures
Why is there a comma before som?
Because som tager billeder i centrum is a relative clause, and in standard Danish writing it is separated with a comma.
So:
- mennesker, som tager billeder i centrum
The comma helps show that the second part gives more information about mennesker.
This is more consistent in Danish than in English, where commas before who/that depend more on the type of relative clause.
What does tager billeder mean literally?
Literally, tager billeder means takes pictures.
- tage = to take
- billeder = pictures
This works very much like English:
- at tage et billede = to take a picture
- at tage billeder = to take pictures
Even though English also has photograph, Danish very commonly uses tage billeder in everyday speech.
Why is it billeder without an article?
Because this is a general plural object:
- tager billeder = take pictures
Compare:
- tager et billede = takes a picture
- tager billeder = takes pictures
- tager billederne = takes the pictures
So billeder here means pictures in general, not one specific set of pictures.
What does i centrum mean exactly?
I centrum means in the center or downtown / in the city center, depending on context.
- centrum = center, central area
- i centrum = in the center / in the city center
In this sentence, it most naturally means in the city center.
You may also see:
- i bymidten = in the town/city center
- i centrum af byen = in the center of the city
Why is byen written as one word, and what form is it?
Byen is the noun by with the definite singular ending added.
- by = city / town
- byen = the city / the town
Danish usually attaches the definite article to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word in front:
- en by = a city
- byen = the city
So byen is literally city-the, but in natural English it is simply the city.
Could I also say der instead of som here?
Sometimes Danish allows der in relative clauses, especially when it is the subject of the clause, but som is the safest and most standard choice here for learners.
So:
- mennesker, som tager billeder = definitely correct
You may hear or see der in some contexts, but if you are unsure, use som.
Is the sentence talking about all people in the city, or only the people in the center?
Grammatically, som tager billeder i centrum describes mennesker.
So the full idea is:
- the city is full of people who are taking pictures in the center
That means the relative clause limits or identifies which people are being talked about.
If you wanted to say the city is full of people, and separately mention that they take pictures downtown, you would probably phrase it differently.
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