Hvis tomaterne ser trætte ud, giver hun dem lidt gødning om aftenen.

the evening

Breakdown of Hvis tomaterne ser trætte ud, giver hun dem lidt gødning om aftenen.

• om: in
• hun: she
• se ud: to look

Questions & Answers about Hvis tomaterne ser trætte ud, giver hun dem lidt gødning om aftenen.

Why does the sentence start with hvis?

Hvis means if and introduces a condition.

So:

• Hvis tomaterne ser trætte ud = If the tomatoes look tired
• giver hun dem lidt gødning om aftenen = she gives them a little fertilizer in the evening

This is a very common way to build conditional sentences in Danish.

Why is there a comma after ud?

In Danish, a subordinate clause is normally separated from the main clause with a comma.

Here:

• Hvis tomaterne ser trætte ud = subordinate clause
• giver hun dem lidt gødning om aftenen = main clause

So the comma is required in standard written Danish.

Why is it tomaterne and not tomater?

Tomaterne means the tomatoes, while tomater means just tomatoes in a general sense.

The ending -ne is the definite plural ending here:

• en tomat = a tomato
• tomater = tomatoes
• tomaterne = the tomatoes

So the sentence is talking about specific tomatoes, not tomatoes in general.

What does ser trætte ud mean exactly?