"Det blå dyr spiser det sorte jordbær."

Translation: The blue animal is eating the black strawberry.

[ilmolleggi]

then gets ill and die...
Black strawberry??

[Chickygirl10]

Blue animal?

[ilmolleggi]

[JosephHugg3]

Fugl

[David57349]

Fugle er dyr. Blåfugle er blå dyr

[ClayRoze]

Sort vs Sorte. Does the difference have to do with the gender of the noun, or the amount of the noun?

[motzflette]

sorte is plural:)

[webgenie]

I sort of thought you'd say that -sort of. We've got it all sorted out now.

[65643625234]

But there's only one strawberry?

[FionaOnDuoL]

There's none now - the blue animal ate it.

[brombaerret]

The plural form is used following det/den/de as well as possessive pronouns (e.g. mit/min/mine)

So it's
"det sorte jordbær"

And
"mit sorte jordbær"

But
"et sort jordbær"

And
"jordbæret er sort"

[Maria576117]

"Sorte" is used for plural and definitive.

[gigolouis]

ugh can i still switch to chinese? these adjectives are killing me

[LukaJovic1]

So the Chinese adjectives would be easier? I don't think so..

[taoistextremist]

Chinese adjectives are way easier, dude. The grammar is simpler than Danish, even.

[LukaJovic1]

But still memorizing all those characters makes it really hard.

[JBranch1998]

Pinyin

[sunover]

Pinyin has no connection to Latin so basically Danish is much easier to learn for English speaker

[JBranch1998]

Not necessarily, and I wouldn't use a language's closeness to Latin as an indicator that it is easier to learn. Seeing as they are both Germanic languages, wouldn't its similarity to German make more sense to mention?

[LittleCatz]

Why is it "det blå dyr" instead of "blå dyret"? (Same question for jordbaer.)

[orfeocookie]

Because that's the word order for adjectives. You say "the blue animal", not "blue the animal".

[jwafr]

Can anyone tell me why is it "Det blå dyr" and not "Det blåt dyr"?

[chakkerz]

Yeh, i am always getting tripped up by this one, too.

I am wondering if it's something to do with a rule about it being a short, 1-syllable word, it staying as it is? Sure i read something like that in one of the lesson notes? Not sure if it this context it is applying to, though.

[orfeocookie]

No, it's not that. The notes on adjectives tell you, the adjective takes the plural form anytime you have a definite article. So it doesn't matter if it's after "det", "den" or "de".

"Et blåt dyr", but "Det blå dyr". The plural form is "blå".

[Empness]

As a side note, would "Det blå dyr" translate as "the blue animal" or "the blue animals"? I understand that regardless of "dyr," it is still "blå" because of the definite article, but I'm confused on the translation.

[Xneb]

Det blå dyr = The blue animal
De blå dyr = The blue animals

[gracenoel16]

Is "jordbær" in its plural form already?

[awefulwaffle]

I got this from a table of Danish nouns (hopefully reliable!):

et jordbær = a strawberry

jordbæret = the strawberry

jordbær = strawberries

jordbærrene = the strawberries

[frothyPam]

thank you

[carolinefhdk]

yes the word "jordbær" doesn't change form wether it's one or more

[webgenie]

Thank you both. These last two explanations helped quite a bit.

[samtgam]

Would "Blå dyret spiser sorte jordbaeret" work as well?

[22decembre]

no, because blå is an adjective. So you need to place the definite article "det" or "den" before blå. The same for jordbær.

You use 'sorte' which is plural. Take care of that.

[mmarracc]

if "sorte" is plural wouldn't be "Det blå dyr spiser det sort jordbær." right?

[sweet_dansk]

when a noun is definite as in this case.. you use the plural adjective form.. hope it helps!

[ezdwt]

Is this why it's "det blå dyr" ? "dyr" is neutral gender and isn't plural in this case, but the sentence is using "blå" instead of "blåt"

[sweet_dansk]

precisely, because it is describing a definite noun

[mmarracc]

they could write this into tips and notes...thnx

[askrahn]

Sweeet.

[Maria576117]

"Blue the animal eats/is eating black the strawberries."

[Talmerian]

Are black strawberries some other fruit? Blackberries maybe? Or is this a Danish thing...

[Maria576117]

"Sorte jordbær" is literally black strawberries. Blackberries are called "Brombær" in danish.

[carolinefhdk]

Not that I know of, and I am danish :)

[MexicaliGringo]

I don't understand the colors when they change for an adjective. Why is it bla and not blat? How do you know when to end the color with an e or a t? I am so confused. :(

[carolinefhdk]

"blå" is used when the noun is definite

Et blåt dyr= a blue animal
Det blå dyr= the blue animal

[KFuzsina]

Why are dyr an jordbær singular in this sentence? Why can not I translate them animals and strawberries?

[AleksanderSander]

They both are singular indefinite forms of the two nouns:
et jordbær ... jordbæret ... jordbær ... jordbærene.
et dyr ... dyret ... dyr ... dyrene.
This usually happens to some nouns which are in neutral sex (intetkøn).

[KFuzsina]

If they are plural, then why not animals and strawberries?

[mmarracc]

if i understand well, in this sentence "dyr" and "yordbær" are in definite form of singular...it would be nice to someone write it in plural definite form...would it be "Det blå dyrene spiser det sorte jordbærene."?...or it would be "Blå dyrene spiser sorte jordbærene."?

[sweet_dansk]

i dont want to guess.. i would not mind anyone correcting me.. plural of the above statement i would say:

"de blå dyr spiser de sorte jordbær" - det would become de

[Xneb]

That is correct, the dets make the two words singular

[AleksanderSander]

Plural definite would be : De blå dyrene spiser de sorte jordbærene.

[AleksanderSander]

I was wrong, actually, they are singular. The verbs are in indefinite form but the meaning is definite: Det blå dyr, Det sorte jordbær.

[BrunoMikhail]

Could anyone please explain me why 'Det bla dyr' instead of 'Et bla dyr' (and same thing for 'det sorte jordbaer') ?

[Xneb]

Det blå dyr = The blue animal
Et blåt dyr = A blue animal

[BrunoMikhail]

Thanks. And instead of 'blat', why is 'bla' used with 'dyr'?

[Xneb]

Using "det", the adjective takes its e-form, however, blå's e-form is just "blå" so it is "det blå dyr".

If it was after et, then the t-form, blåt, would be used, so it would be "et blåt dyr"

[craaash80]

So, determinative form is possible only when there are no adjectives?

Dyret = the animal

Det blå dyr = the blue animal

[CountessOfOle]

Hvorfor er jordbæret sort??

[mordoress]

I am sooooo sick of this sentence! Also, how many apple-eating men are there in Denmark anyway?

[Mannyrani]

Sigh. I really wish the sentences were a little more helpful to be learning. There's funny and then there is ridiculous...

[Laschonsh]

Could 'Det blå dyr' be translated as 'this blue animal' also?

[Kris626575]

Where do I get the gramma lessons

[LaynePierc1]

Why not "that" instead of "the"

[Brian975856]

Spiser... when is it " eats" and when is it " is eating"

[AmandaCamp61442]

Aw jeez duo, why, it was almost normal for a while!!!

[Consuelo939361]

How do you know if 'det sorte jordbær' is singular or plural?

[Lambchair17]

...and you will never guess the results! Duo lost 10kg in 4 weeks!

[Isaiah795033]

what is the difference between bla and blat

[_Lauren13_]

direct from Chernoybl

[dpchalmers]

They're a good match.

[AlexDSSF]

That sounds gross.

[Jimihat]

det smurfs!