A Simplified Grammar of the Danish Language/Part II/Pronouns

by E. C. Otté

Pronouns. (Stedord.)

Danish Pronouns, which retain more traces of the Old Northern modes of inflection than nouns, or adjectives, must agree in gender as well as in number and case with the noun to which they refer, excepting where the grammatical and the natural gender of the word are at variance,

in which case they follow the latter; as, Fruentimmeret (n.) lå da hun gik forbi, 'The woman laughed as she went by.'

An exception to the agreement in regard to number occurs in the case of the third plural personal pronoun De when used as 'you,' De always demanding a singular verb; as, Kommer de ikke? 'Are (is) you not coming?' Er de gal? 'Are (is) you mad?' The reflective used with De must, however, be Dem, plural third person, and not the singular, sig; as, Hvordeles befinder De Dem? 'How are you?' ('how do you find yourself?')

I, 'ye,' han, 'he,' were formerly used in addressing inferiors in rank, but the use of De is now regarded as imperative for all classes of persons. It should be observed that while De is always written with a capital D, jeg, 'I,' is written with a small j.

In speaking of persons, han and hun, 'he' and 'she,' hans and hendes, 'his' and 'hers,' must always be used; but in referring to animals, den and det, dens and dets, 'it,' 'its,' usually take the place of 'his' and 'her.'

When the demonstrative pronouns den and hin occur together, the former is understood to refer to what is near, (this), and the latter to what is distant, (that); as, gå den Vej, ikke hin, 'go this way, not that.'

Samme, 'the same,' may be used in the place of another objective pronoun; as, Præsten gav mig nogle Böger og bad mig læse samme, 'The clergyman gave me some books, and begged me to read them.'

Selv, 'self,' may be used in the sense of 'even;' as selv Kvinder og Börn arbejdede på Murene, 'Even women and children worked on the walls.'

Man, (one, they,) can only be used in the nominative, while En, (one,) can only be used in the objective; as, Man söger hvad behager En, 'One seeks for that which pleases one.'

The use of the possessive pronoun sin, sit, sine (his, her, its), in contradistinction to hans, hendes, dets (his, her, its), demands careful notice, but as a general rule it may be accepted that sin should refer to the nearest preceding subject-noun, and hans, hendes, to the objective personal noun; as, hun gik med sine Börn til hendes Have, 'she went with her (own) children to her (another woman's) garden.' In such simple sentences the correct use of sin will always be indicated when, as in the above case, it conveys the sense of 'own' in connection with the noun. This is also the case in regard to objective nouns; as, Hendes Fader bad hende at tage sin Vogn, og köre til Bys, 'Her father told her to take her (own) carriage, and drive into town.'

When the subject-noun is in the plural, the Danes replace sin by deres, 'their;' as, Mine Venner tog deres Börn til hendes Have, 'My friends took their children to her garden.'

The relative pronouns som and der may be used indifferently; as, Giv mig den Bog, som (or der) ligger der, 'Give me the book, which is there.'

The relative pronoun may be omitted when the noun is governed by a verb, or a preposition; as, Jeg så Hesten De köbte i Går, 'I saw the horse which you bought yesterday;' Kender du Manden jeg stod hos? 'Do you know the man with whom (at whose house) I was?' It is also frequently omitted where the predicate verb is preceded by the adverbs her, 'here,' der, 'there;' as, Manden her står, er en gammel Ven, 'The man, who stands here, is an old friend;' Koen der ligger, er syg, 'The cow, which is there, is sick.'

In common parlance, hvem, 'whom,' is used in place of hvo, 'who;' as, Hvem er det?, 'Who is that?' But in secondary interrogative clauses, hvo is more commonly used. In such cases, however, excepting where the adverbs her and der precede the verb, it must be followed by the relative som, or der; as, Jeg ved ikke, hvo der gjordt det, 'I do not know who (that) has done it;' Hun ser, hvo er her, 'She sees who is here.'

The impersonal pronoun det, 'it,' is used as 'it' and 'that' in English; as, det blæser, 'it blows;' det glæder mig, 'it charms me.'

The final t of det is dropped in ordinary speech. Der, 'there,' with the vowel short, is used in the sense of 'there are,' (il y a,) 'they,' 'one,' etc.; as, Der er mange Træer i Haven, 'There are many trees in the garden.' When der is used with a passive, or deponent verb, it acquires the special sense of 'people,' 'they,' and gives to the verb the force of a gerund; as, Der læses i Skolen, 'They are reading in the school;' Der danses her i Aften, 'There will be dancing here to-night.'

The expressions Folk sige, de sige, 'people say,' 'they say,' although often heard, are best rendered by man siger, 'one says.'

Selv, selv samme, 'self-same,' may be added to personal and demonstrative pronouns: selv may also be used adverbially; as, Selv min Mand så hende falde, 'My husband even saw her fall.'

Begge, 'both,' is used before the numeral to, 'two;' as, begge to, 'both of them.'

Sig, reflective pronoun, 'himself,' etc., and sin, reflective possessive pronoun, 'his,' etc., were originally used to refer to plural as well as to singular nouns; but during the present and past century they have, especially among Danes, been more strictly limited to the singular; dem and deres being substituted for them when the subject is in the plural; as, De tog deres Hatte, og gik, 'They took their (own) hats and went away.' This practice is regarded by modern grammarians as an objectionable deviation from the genuine Northern rule, due to German influences. The Norwegians more generally follow the older and more correct usage, as do the Swedes.