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- "Pigen har ikke et navn."
57 Comments
If you think about it, names are actually artificial. In nature they don't exist. Actually without having a name, we are exist even more than the ones who have a name.
But of course, names can be handy.
Yes I think in Denmark you don't have to decide on a name before your child's born. So if they have their baby for only a few days, many Danish parents "check out" which name does fit the best to their baby. And after a few weeks (maybe even months?), they finally decide on a name and write it officially down. So on their first days on the world, not every Danish baby has a name.
Perhaps it should be: Pigen har ikke endnu et navn (?) - the girl doesn't have a name YET.
My parents thought I was going to be a boy (for no apparent reason) and didn't have a girl's name picked out when I was born. So I didn't have a name for the first few days while they decided on one.
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"The girl has not a name." Wrong English? It's not my mother tongue but I did think this was a possible way of saying it.
You could defo use that in British English, more if you were writing than speaking. It's a little old fashioned but grammatically correct for sure
When using "not" in English, it usually needs an "auxiliary" verb. When this auxiliary verb isn't included in the standard sentence, "do" is added and the main verb comes after the "not". So "She has a name" would become "She does not have a name", but an example with an auxiliary verb already in the standard sentence would be "She has got a name" which becomes "She has not got a name"
It sounds very odd to me.
Instead,
- The girl has no name
- The girl has not got a name
- The girl does not have a name
are varieties that are close to your sentence and all sound more natural to me.
The problem may lie with "not a" which often turns into "no" (compare German, where "nicht ein" becomes "kein").
Your sentence works if you are contrasting: "The girl has not a name but a title" -- here, the "not" does not go with "has" but with "a name", i.e. "she has: not a name, but a title" rather than "she has not: a name".
Hi acromarts. That would be correct in old English i.e. a period drama but not in modern usage of the language :-)
It would be incorrect in Old English.
Old English is the language spoken in England from the mid 5th century AD until it developed into Middle English in the mid 12th.
"The girl hasn't a name" is correct and spontaneously used by speakers of Modern English today. Just not by people you know.
The comments: 45% - game of thrones! 45% - grammar and rules 10% - why does she not have a name?
"Hedde" is a verb meaning "to be called", where "hedder" is the present tense form.
Jeg hedder Sean = I am called Sean.
"Navn" is a noun meaning "name".
Mit navn er Sean = My name is Sean.
Both "jeg hedder Sean" and "mit navn er Sean" have the same meaning. But in a sentence like "pigen har ikke et navn", you can't just replace "navn" with "hedde" without rewording the entire sentence.
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Yes, "jeg hedder..." is one of the first sentences I learnt in Denmark but it is not in Duolingo yet!
I was about to ask the same question.. Getting married to a dane is not easy. lol
how about 'the girl does not have the name on her list' ? as in the girl does not seem to find that particular name. that would make perfect sense to me... however i'm not sure if that's the usage implied by that danish sentence here.
No, the Danish sentence specifically says "a name" as "et navn" and not "the name" or "navnet".
They found a female corpse in the wood and they don't know who she is. The news says she has no name. Perfect!
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A few days ago I read an article about Iceland. Parents there are only allowed to give their children correct original names. If you move there with a not language-compatible name, for example because it is containing a "C", you are called only 'girl' or 'boy' even on your passport. Well, those girls don't have a name...
Because the alliance wants the perfect civilisation. The girl is only the beginning.
