A Simplified Grammar of the Danish Language/Part II/The Definite Article
The Definite Articles. (De bestemte Kendeord.)
The agglutination with the noun of the affix-article en or n (m.f.), et or t (n.), ene or ne (pl.), which constitutes the most striking characteristic of the Scandinavian tongues, has been derived from the Old Northern, although it does not occur in Old Gothic. It is met with, however, under a modified form in Roumanian and Bulgarian, as well as in Albanian, which must be regarded as more original in structure than either of the former.
In the most ancient Icelandic writings the definite noun-article is not to be found, but it would appear that the demonstrative pronoun hinn (m.), hin (f.), hitt (n.), 'that,' was early used after the noun to define the latter, as is still frequently done by Norwegians in the case of the pronouns min, din, sin; as, Fader min, 'father mine;' Broder din, 'brother thine;' &c. The Danes and Norwegians, following
the rule of the ancient mother-tongue, originally wrote Mand hin, 'man that;' Hus hit, 'house that;' Börn hine, 'children those.' And as in Icelandic these demonstrative pronouns, when appended to a noun to give it its definite inflected formm, lost the h, and appeared as the affixes inn, (m.), in (f.), itt (n.), &c., so in Danish the pronoun has become converted into en or n (m. f.), et or t (n.), &c., and now constitutes the simple noun-article. The intermediate stage between the older Mand hin, and the modern Manden, 'the man,' was Mandhen.
In their present form these affixes have the precise meaning of the definite article "the," but can only be thus used when the noun is not qualified by an adjective; as, Gutten er min Broder, "The boy is my brother;" Huset er hans Kones, "The house is his wife's;" Börnene lege i Haven med Hunden, "The children are playing in the garden with the dog."
The independent adjective-article is:—
den, c. g. det, n. de, pl. of both genders.
This article is the unaccentuated representative of the demonstrative pronoun dēn, dēt, dē, derived, like the affix noun-form of the article, from the Old Northern demonstrative pronoun hinn (m.), hin (f.), hitt (n.), hinir (pl. m.), hinar (pl. f.), hin (pl. n.), 'that.'
It must directly precede the adjective which qualifies the noun; as, den lange Gut, 'the tall boy;' det höje Træ, 'the high tree;' de små Börn, 'the little children.'
The independent adjective-article may be used in the place of the noun-affixes when special emphasis, or a distinct meaning is to be given to the word; as, Aldrig lader den Mand sine Börn i Fred! "The man never leaves his children in peace!" Siger den Soldat at jeg er döv? "Does the soldier really say that I am deaf?" In such cases, however, den may be considered to be used more in the sense of a demonstrative pronoun than a mere article, although still retaining its unaccented tone.
The position of the noun in a simple sentence is the same as in English. The subject precedes, and the object follows, the verb; as, Manden slå Drengen, "The man beat the boy."
In a secondary part of a sentence subject to, or conditional on, the preceding part, and in interrogations, the noun, with its article or pronoun, and its qualifying adjective, is invariably placed after the verb; as, hvis Læreren var her, vovede disse unartige Drenge sig ikke at göre sådant et spektakel, "If the master were here those naughty boys would not dare to make so much noise." Går De ikke i Haven i Dag? "Are you not going into the garden to-day?"
The genitive precedes the subject or the object to which it refers; as, Den gode Mands små Börn, "The good man's little children." For Guds skyld, "For God's sake."
Where several words are used to indicate the noun standing in the genitive, the last only takes s, or es; as, Victoria, Dronning af Englands Rige, "The dominions of Victoria, Queen of England."
The genitive may be used where a comparison between the qualities of two persons or things is made, without repeating the word designating the quality; as, Guldets Pris er höjere en Sölvets, "The price of gold is higher than (that of) silver;" Kapteinens Heltemod var större end Generalens, "The Captain's valour was greater than the General's."
The prepositions ad, af, til, etc., may be used to indicate the genitive; as, en Sön ad (af, or til) Dronningen, "A son of the Queen."
Words expressing weight and quality are placed in direct apposition to the noun which they govern, without taking the genitive case, or using a preposition; as, et Pund Smör, 'a pound (of) butter;' et Glas Vin, 'a glass (of) wine.'
The objective noun which is used directly in the dative precedes the simple objective; as, Manden gav Drengen Blommen, "The man gave the boy the plum;" but where the dative is governed by a preposition, it follows the objective; as, Manden gav Blommen til Drengen, "The man gave the plum to the boy."
Traces of the inflections of nouns in the Old Northern yet linger in Danish in certain forms of expression, in which the ancient terminations of cases (generally the genitive and dative) have survived; as, ad Hjærtens Lyst, 'to one's heart's content;' at have i Sinde, 'to intend' (have in one's mind); i Live, 'alive;' til Döde, 'till (or to) death.'
In the oldest forms of Dano-Norwegian, nouns were classed under three genders, survivals of which are still to be found in the provinces, where the peasants retain the use of the feminine gender for various inanimate objects.
Nouns of the common gender acquire a distinct feminine significance, (1) by the addition of inde, or ske; as, en Dandser (m.), 'a male dancer;' en Dandserinde (f.), 'a woman dancer;' en Holländer, 'a Dutchman;' en Hollånderinde, 'a Dutchwoman;' en Syerske, 'a workwoman.' (2) By the use of a characteristic noun or pronoun; as, en Bondekone, 'a peasant woman;' en Hunkanin, 'a doe-rabbit.'
Some nouns have changed their gender in the course of time; and in regard to others, it may be said that their right gender is undecided, as in the case of Slags, 'kind,' Helbred, 'health,' Punkt, 'point,' which may be used with an article and adjective of the common, or the neuter gender.
The older and original form of gender may often be determined by the survival of some idiomatic expression; as, at gå i Tåget, 'to be in (a cloud), a muddle;' efter Bogstaven, 'literally,' 'according to the letter,' although Tåge, 'a mist,' is now of the common gender, and Bogstav, 'letter,' is neuter.
The following list gives some examples of the numerous nouns which vary in meaning in accordance with differences of gender:—
en Ark, an ark; et Ark, a sheet of paper. en Birk, a birch; et Birk, Danish provincial jurisdiction. en Bo, a dwelling; et Bo, an estate. en Flor, a bloom; et Flor, gauze. en Frö, a frog; et Frö, a seed. en Gran, a spruce-fir; et Gran, an atom, grain. en Kuld, a cold; et Kuld, descendant of same parents.
en Led, a side; et Led, a link; wicket-gate. en Lod, a portion; et Lod, a plummet, ounce-weight. en Mor, a moor (Dan.) et Mor, moire (silk fabric). en Nögle, a key; et Nögle, a ball of thread (Dan.) en Rim, a hoar-frost; et Rim, a rhyme. en Segl, a sickle; et Segl, a seal; sail (Norw.) en Spand, a bucket; (Dan.) et Spand, a span; team of horses; bucket, (Norw.) en Söm, a seam; sewing; nail (Norw.) et Söm, a nail (Dan.) en Vår, spring (of the year); et Vår, a pillow-case. en Öre, a piece of money; et Öre, an ear.
In former times there was a larger number of such words than at present, for the tendency here, as elsewhere in Dano-Norwegian, is to simplify and minimize rules and exceptions. Thus many words having different meanings, which were formerly distinguished by differences of gender, are now reduced to one gender, while their special significance is often indicated by some slight but definite accentuation. Danes and Norwegians in some cases use different genders, as Smäld, 'crack,' 'smack,' which the former refer to the neuter, and the latter to the common gender.
Danish adapts itself with the most facile readiness to the formation of compounds, the gender of which is regulated by that of the last word in the compound group; as, et Moderland (n.), 'a mother-land;' en Klædebod, 'draper's shop;' Handklædetöj (n.), 'towelling.'