Reviewing Homework Mistakes | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Kan vi gennemgå mine lektiefejl?

   Could we review my homework mistakes?

   Kan vi

   can we

   gennemgå

   review; go through

   mine

   my

   lektiefejl

   homework mistakes

   More detail

   Kan vi combines the present form kan of kunne (“can; be able to”) with the subject pronoun vi (“we”). In this question, kan introduces a possible or polite request, not a statement that the action is already happening. After a modal such as kan, the following verb stays in its infinitive form: Kan vi gennemgå ...? means “Could we go through ...?” gennemgå means “to review” or “to go through” something carefully. It is the infinitive used after kan; the form does not show a separate subject ending here. A reusable pattern is kan + subject + infinitive: Kan vi begynde? — “Could we begin?” mine is the first-person possessive meaning “my” before a plural possessed noun. It agrees with the thing possessed, not with the person who possesses it. Compare min before a common-gender singular noun, mit before a neuter singular noun, and mine before plural nouns. In mine lektiefejl, mine signals that the noun phrase is plural. lektiefejl is a compound noun meaning “homework mistakes”: lektie means “homework,” and fejl means “mistake” or “error.” In this sentence, the possessive mine and the fixed translation establish the plural meaning. The noun form fejl is unchanged between indefinite singular and indefinite plural in Danish; for example, en fejl is “a mistake,” while flere fejl is “several mistakes.” Together, Kan vi asks whether the proposed action is possible, gennemgå supplies the action “review,” and mine lektiefejl identifies what is to be reviewed: the speaker’s homework mistakes. The whole utterance therefore means, “Could we review my homework mistakes?”

2. Jeg har markeret nogle få små fejl i sætningerne.

   I marked a few small sentence errors.

   Jeg har

   I have

   markeret

   marked

   nogle få

   a few

   små

   small

   fejl

   errors

   sætningerne

   the sentences

   More detail

   Jeg har combines the first-person pronoun jeg (“I”) with har, the present-tense form of have. With a following past participle, har helps form the perfect construction: jeg har markeret means “I have marked” and, in this context, refers to a completed marking. Example: Jeg har læst bogen. — “I have read the book.” markeret is the past participle of markere (“to mark”). The useful form chain is markere → markerede (simple past) → har markeret (perfect). Here it describes what the speaker has done to the errors. Example: Hun har markeret ordet. — “She has marked the word.” nogle få expresses a small number: “a few.” Nogle can mean “some,” while få narrows that amount to a small number. Together they modify the plural noun fejl; they do not by themselves specify an exact count. Example: Jeg har nogle få spørgsmål. — “I have a few questions.” små means “small” here and modifies the plural noun fejl. Its base form is lille; the plural form is små. Thus små fejl means “small errors.” Example: Det er små problemer. — “They are small problems.” fejl means “errors” in this sentence. It is the plural indefinite form of the noun fejl; the same written form can also serve as the singular indefinite form, so number is understood from the surrounding words. Here nogle få and små make the plural reading clear. Example: Jeg fandt en fejl. — “I found an error.” sætningerne means “the sentences.” It is the definite plural form of sætning (“sentence”): sætninger means “sentences,” and sætningerne means “the sentences.” The definite ending -ne identifies the sentences as specific ones, while sætninger would be indefinite. Example: Jeg læser sætningerne. — “I am reading the sentences.” Together, Jeg har markeret states that the speaker has marked something, nogle få små fejl identifies those things as a few small errors, and i sætningerne places them in the sentences. The complete meaning is: “I marked a few small sentence errors.”

3. Hvorfor lavede du denne rettelse?

   Why did you make this correction?

   Hvorfor

   why

   lavede

   made

   du

   you

   denne

   this

   rettelse

   correction

   More detail

   Hvorfor asks for a reason: “why.” It commonly introduces a question about the cause or purpose of an action. Example: Hvorfor kommer du? — “Why are you coming?” lavede is the past-tense form of lave, “to make/do.” Here it means “made,” referring to the correction. The form lavede is used with any subject in the simple past; the subject is shown separately by du. Example: Jeg lavede en rettelse. — “I made a correction.” du is the second-person singular subject pronoun, “you.” It is the subject of lavede, so the question asks what the addressed person did. denne means “this” and is the singular common-gender form of the demonstrative. It agrees with rettelse, which is a common-gender noun (en rettelse); the neuter counterpart is dette, and the plural form is disse. Here denne identifies the correction as a particular identifiable one. rettelse means “correction.” Its indefinite form is en rettelse, its definite singular form is rettelsen, and its plural is rettelser. In this utterance, the noun is preceded by the demonstrative denne, so the phrase refers to “this correction.” Together, Hvorfor asks for the reason, lavede expresses the past action “made,” du identifies the actor, and denne rettelse identifies the object. Danish places the finite verb before the subject in this wh-question: Hvorfor lavede du ...? The complete meaning is “Why did you make this correction?” This is a neutral way to ask someone to explain the reason for a particular correction.

4. Navneordet skal have en artikel her.

   The noun needs an article here.

   Navneordet

   the noun

   skal

   needs to; must

   have

   have

   artikel

   article

   her

   here

   More detail

   Navneordet means “the noun” here. It is the singular definite form of navneord (“noun”). The ending -et marks singular definiteness for this neuter-gender noun. The indefinite singular form is et navneord; the definite form is navneordet. skal expresses a requirement here: “needs to” or “must.” It is a present-tense form of skulle. With a following infinitive, it forms a requirement: Du skal læse means “You must read” or “You have to read.” have means “have.” It is the infinitive used after the modal skal, without at: skal have means “needs to have” here. In another pattern, Jeg har en bog means “I have a book”; har is a present-tense form of the same verb. artikel means “article” in the grammatical sense. In this sentence, en artikel is an indefinite singular noun phrase: en is the indefinite article, and artikel is the noun. The definite form is artiklen. For example, Et navneord har en artikel means “A noun has an article.” her means “here.” It is an adverb and does not change form. Together, Navneordet identifies the noun being discussed, skal have says that it needs to have something, en artikel names that required item, and her locates the requirement at this point. The whole sentence means: “The noun needs an article here.”

5. Det glemte jeg i nogle få svar.

   I missed that in a few answers.

   Det

   that

   glemte

   missed; forgot

   jeg

   I

   i

   in

   nogle få

   a few

   svar

   answers

   More detail

   Det means “that” here and functions as the object of glemte. Its exact referent is not identified by the supplied sentence. Danish det is the neuter singular form; it is not itself a marker of the noun’s grammatical role in this sentence. glemte is the past-tense form of glemme, “to forget” or, in this context, “to miss.” A useful chain is glemme (present infinitive) → glemte (past). For example: Jeg glemte svaret. — “I forgot the answer.” jeg means “I.” Danish commonly places the subject after the finite verb when another element is placed first. Here, the object Det comes first, so glemte comes before jeg: Det glemte jeg .... i means “in” here and introduces the area or instances in which something was missed. It does not itself mean “a few.” nogle få means “a few.” It modifies a plural noun: nogle få svar — “a few answers.” få is the quantity word meaning “few”; nogle helps form the plural expression. This expression does not assert a precise number. svar means “answers” here. Its base form is also svar in the indefinite singular after the neuter indefinite article: et svar — “an answer”; the plural indefinite form is also svar, while the definite plural is svarene — “the answers.” Together, Det glemte jeg means “I missed that,” with the object placed first and the subject after the verb. i nogle få svar specifies where this happened: “in a few answers.” The whole utterance therefore means “I missed that in a few answers.”

6. Når vi sætter den ind her, bliver sætningen komplet.

   Adding it here makes the sentence complete.

   Når

   when

   vi

   we

   sætter … ind

   put in

   den

   it

   her

   here

   bliver

   becomes

   sætningen

   the sentence

   komplet

   complete

   More detail

   Når introduces a time-related subordinate clause: “when”. It links the action in that clause to the result in the main clause. Danish når commonly introduces a situation expected to occur or recur; here it frames the result as happening when the item is put in. vi is the first-person plural subject pronoun, “we”. It is the form used for a group that includes the speaker. Compare jeg (“I”) for one speaker. sætter ... ind is a useful particle-verb construction meaning “put in” or “insert”. The lexical verb is sætter, the present-tense form of sætte (“put”); ind adds the inward/insertion direction. In the sentence, the two parts are separated by den and her, so the construction is discontinuous: sætter den ind. den is a singular pronoun meaning “it” here, with the referent understood from the fixed meaning and context. Its grammatical form is a common-gender singular form; the pronoun itself does not identify the referent by its position next to another word. her means “here” and locates the insertion at the relevant place. A reusable pattern is verb + ... + her, as in Jeg bor her (“I live here”). bliver is the present-tense form of blive, “become” or “get”. Here it expresses a change of state: the sentence becomes complete. In other contexts, blive can also express remaining in a state or a passive construction, so the surrounding predicate determines the meaning. sætningen means “the sentence”. Its base form is sætning; sætningen is the singular definite form, equivalent to “the sentence”. The definite ending -en belongs to the noun, not to komplet. komplet is a descriptive adjective meaning “complete”. It is used predicatively after bliver, so it describes the resulting state of sætningen: “becomes complete”. Danish predicative adjectives do not take the definite attributive ending in this position; compare the attributive example den komplette sætning, “the complete sentence”. Together, Når vi sætter den ind her means “When we put it in here”. The main clause bliver sætningen komplet means “the sentence becomes complete”. The whole utterance therefore means: “Adding it here makes the sentence complete.” The Danish wording presents this as a time-linked clause: when the item is inserted at this place, the sentence reaches the complete state.

7. Jeg skriver den del om nu.

   I will rewrite that part now.

   Jeg

   I

   skriver … om

   rewrite

   den

   that

   del

   part

   nu

   now

   More detail

   Jeg means “I” here: it is the first-person singular pronoun for the speaker. Danish also has du for singular “you” and vi for “we”; these are different pronouns, not variants of jeg. skriver is the present-tense form of skrive, “to write.” Together with the separated particle om, skriver ... om means “rewrite” or “rework” here, rather than simply write. Danish present tense can also refer to an intended action in the immediate situation; the fixed translation expresses that reading as “will rewrite.” den is a demonstrative determiner meaning “that” here. It agrees with the common-gender singular noun del; it is not itself a number word and is not the ordinary definite marker for a bare noun. Danish commonly marks definiteness on the noun itself, as in delen “the part.” del is a noun meaning “part.” Its definite form is delen, formed with the definite ending -en. In this sentence, den del means “that part,” with the demonstrative before the noun. nu means “now” and places the action in the present situation. It modifies the complete action expressed by skriver ... om. Together, Jeg supplies the actor, skriver ... om expresses rewriting, den del identifies what is being rewritten, and nu places the action now. The complete meaning is: “I will rewrite that part now.”

8. Det vil hjælpe dig med at huske reglen.

   That will help you remember the rule.

   Det

   that

   vil

   will

   hjælpe

   help

   dig

   you

   huske

   remember

   reglen

   the rule

   More detail

   Det means “that” here and functions as the subject. Its exact referent is not specified beyond the fixed meaning, so learn it as a reusable demonstrative/pronoun rather than assigning it an unsupported noun. Danish also uses det in other grammatical roles, so its form alone does not identify a particular referent. vil is the modal verb ville (“will/want to”) in the present form. With an infinitive, it can express a future or expected action; here it gives the meaning “will help.” For example: Det vil regne. — “It will rain.” hjælpe is the infinitive of hjælpe (“to help”). After the modal vil, Danish uses the infinitive without an infinitive marker: vil hjælpe — “will help.” The person receiving help is expressed as an object, as in Jeg hjælper dig. — “I help you.” dig is the object form of the second-person singular pronoun. Compare du as the subject form and dig as the object form: Du hjælper mig. — “You help me.” The words between hjælpe and huske form the pattern hjælpe nogen med at + infinitive, meaning “help someone to do something.” In this sentence, dig is the person helped, and huske names the action. The preposition med is followed here by at huske. huske is the infinitive “to remember.” In med at huske, it states what the help concerns. For example: Hun hjælper mig med at læse. — “She helps me read.” reglen means “the rule.” It is the definite singular form of the noun regel: regel — “a rule,” reglen — “the rule.” The ending -en marks definiteness for this noun; it is not a separate word. Together, Det vil hjælpe dig med at huske reglen. means “That will help you remember the rule.” The structure is That will help you with remembering the rule: subject Det, modal-plus-infinitive vil hjælpe, object dig, the help construction med at huske, and the definite object reglen.