A Danish and Dano-Norwegian Grammar/Conjunctions

4215305A Danish and Dano-Norwegian Grammar — The Conjunctions1894Peter Olsen Groth

CONJUNCTIONS.


243. The conjunctions are divided into co-ordinating and sub-ordinating; both these classes are again divided according to their signification into several subdivisions.

The grammarians mostly enumerate the conjunctions belonging to the several classes, but we shall here only mention those of special importance or about the use of which there is anything to remark.

A. Co-ordinating:

og and; baadeog both–and; in the same meaning: saa velsom as well–as: jeg saarel som du or saavel jeg som du I as well as you; delsdels partly–partly; snartsnart now–now; han er snart kold, (og) snart varm now he feels cold, now warm; eller or; enteneller either–or; hverkeneller neither–nor; thi for; men but.

B. Subordinating:

da when, as; indicates both time and cause; da lian kom, var jeg allerede gaaet when he came I was already gone; da han har forbrudt sig, maa han straffes as he has offended, he must be punished; siden since (temp. and causal); forsaavidt (som) in so far as; hvis, dersom, om if; hvis ikke, medmindre if not, unless; skjönt, endskjönt, omendskjönt although, admit something actually existing; om end, selv om though, even if, admit something supposed; at that: jeg ved at De har været her I know that you have been here; at may also be omitted: jeg ved De liar været her I know you have been here; forat in order that. Ex.: Kjöbmanden sendte sin Sön til Udlandet, forat han skulde lære Sprog the merchant sent his son abroad in order that he should learn languages (also forat læere Sprog to study languages, see § 228;) jeg lægger op Penge, forat jeg kan nyde en sorgfri Alderdom I lay money by in order to be able to enjoy a comfortable old age (or for at kunne nyde en sorgfri Alderdom); jeg gav ham en Krone, forat han skulde give den til Tiggeren I gave him a Crown to give to the beggar. The infinitive construction is regularly employed when the infinitive and the predicate verb have the same subject, and often when the subject of the infinitive is the object of the predicate verb; in other cases forat must be used with a sentence. (Obs. for with an infinitive at written separately: for at, while the conjunction is written as one word: forat); forat ikke (or after a verb signifying fear forat) lest; Ex. Borgerne brændte Byen, forat den ikke skulde falde i Fiendens Hænder the citizens burned the town, lest it should fall into the hands of the enemies; Borgerne var bange for, at Byen skulde falde i Fiendernes Hænder the citizens were afraid, lest the town should fall into the hands of the enemies; saa at so as to; Ex. mine Reisefæller har forladt mig, saa at (or only: saa) jeg er nu ganske alene my traveling companions have left me, so I am now perfectly alone; Stedet er saa öde, at det er formeligt uhyggeligt the place is so desolate that it is (or: as to be) dismal; end than; han er större end jeg he is larger than I (colloquially is said: han er storre end mig he is larger than me but only: Hr. Persen har et större Hus end jeg Mr. P. has a larger house than I); dette er noget ganske andet, end hvad vi saa igaar this is something quite different from what we saw yesterday.