Word
Tandlægen lægger lokalbedøvelse, før hun borer i tanden.
Meaning
The dentist administers local anaesthetic before she drills the tooth.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Tandlægen lægger lokalbedøvelse, før hun borer i tanden.
hun
she
før
before
tandlægen
the dentist
lægge lokalbedøvelse
to administer local anaesthetic
Questions & Answers about Tandlægen lægger lokalbedøvelse, før hun borer i tanden.
Why is Tandlægen written as one word, and what does -en mean?
Tandlægen is made from:
- tand = tooth
- læge = doctor
So tandlæge literally means tooth doctor, i.e. dentist.
The ending -en is the usual definite ending for many common-gender nouns, so:
- en tandlæge = a dentist
- tandlægen = the dentist
Danish usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.
Why is lokalbedøvelse one long word?
Because Danish, like German, very often forms compound nouns as a single word.
Here:
- lokal = local
- bedøvelse = anesthesia / numbing
So lokalbedøvelse = local anesthesia.
In Danish, writing this as one word is normal and expected.
Why is there no article before lokalbedøvelse?