Open port

[Xinfu]

Are my sentences correct English?:

-Homere opened port to Portugal in 1552, and at that time (the) Denmark-Portugal relationship(s) was/were not good.

Nothing about this relationship has been mentioned or alluded to in the previous context.

[Donquick]

Hi - not really sure what you mean by 'opened port', so I can't translate the first clause for you but the second part could be:

- at that time the relationship between Denmark and Potugal was not good.

Personally I would normally say this: at that time the relationship between Denmark and Portugal was poor (or bad). There is certainly some subjectivity in it, but we would usually say 'bad' rather than 'not good' unless there is a particular reason for it.

The 'relationship' is singular however you choose to write the sentence and not plural so it is 'was' not were and you probably need a 'between' in there somewhere.

There is an alternative which is nearer your original but it is complicated as you need to turn the countries into a possessive type of thing that the relationship belongs to: E.g. ...at that time the Anglo-French relationship was poor... So in your case 'Danish-Portugese'??? or something like that.

Sorry this has got a bit complicated, but hope it helps anyway.

[Xinfu]

Thank you.

1. What's your first language?

2. OPEN PORT was intended to mean the situation that a city is forced to be open to the world or a certain country that has triumphed over the other that possesses that city; this city would have to do business, etc. What would be the correct phrase?

[poli]

The term I know is open city

[Donquick]

Hi Xinfu

My first language is UK English. I'm afriad I still don't know if there is an expression for the port thing even though you have explained it - sorry. There is probably a historic term, but to be honest, I wouldn't bother too much if I were you as I have got to the age of 45 without ever needing to know the expression so I don't think you will need it again in a hurry :-)

You could use a word like 'capitulate' or 'relented' or 'ceded' more generally, but I can't help with the actual term you are looking for.

Nice capabara Poli!

[Xinfu]

Thank you, Donquick~

The term I know is open city

Do you mean we could simply say

eg Athens opened city to Rome after the defeat. (no THE, etc.)

[poli]

No. It would be open city. Refer to "Rome Open City." Both open city and "Rome, Open City" can be googled for further info, but it refers to a city occupied by hostile invaders. It definitely has Latin roots as in citta aperta. I'm not sure if it translates to Spanish though. Although open city is a term in English, I believe few people would understand the term out of context.

[Xinfu]

Thank you~