Breakdown of Hendes forklaring var tydelig, så jeg forstod teksten bedre.
jeg
I
være
to be
så
so
forstå
to understand
Questions & Answers about Hendes forklaring var tydelig, så jeg forstod teksten bedre.
Why does the sentence use hendes and not sin?
This is a very common Danish question.
Danish uses:
- sin/sit/sine for a reflexive possessor, when the owner is the subject of the same clause
- hans/hendes/deres when the owner is not the subject of that clause
In Hendes forklaring var tydelig, the grammatical subject is forklaring (explanation), not the woman. So the reflexive form sin cannot be used here.
So:
- hendes forklaring = her explanation
- sin forklaring would only work if the subject were the person who owns the explanation
For example:
- Hun forklarede teksten med sin forklaring. = She explained the text with her own explanation.
But in your sentence, hendes is the correct choice.
What kind of word is hendes?