Hunden ser svag ud.

the dog

Breakdown of Hunden ser svag ud.

• se ud: to look
• svag: weak

Questions & Answers about Hunden ser svag ud.

Why is it hunden and not just hund?

Hund means dog in the indefinite form, while hunden means the dog in the definite form.

Danish usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun:

• en hund = a dog
• hunden = the dog

So -en here is the built-in word for the.

Why isn’t there a separate word for the before hunden?

Because in Danish, the definite article is often attached to the noun instead of appearing as a separate word.

So English:

• the dog

becomes Danish:

• hunden

This is very common in Danish with singular common-gender nouns.

What is the verb in this sentence?

The finite verb is ser, which is the present tense of at se.

Here it comes from the expression at se ... ud, which means to look / to appear.

So in this sentence:

• ser = looks
• ser ... ud = looks / appears