Highlighting Information with "Hvad der"
When discussing optical illusions, you will often want to emphasize exactly what is tricking your eye or fascinating your brain. In English, you might say, "What confuses me is the illusion." To do this in Danish, you use a free relative clause starting with hvad der.
Whenever "what" acts as the subject of a relative clause (meaning "what" is performing the action), Danish requires you to add der. You cannot simply say "hvad"; it must be hvad der (literally: "what that").
You can use this entire "hvad der" clause as the subject of your main sentence. When writing, it is standard to place a comma at the end of the "hvad der" clause, right before the main verb.
| What confuses me is the optical illusion. | Hvad der forvirrer mig, er synsbedraget. |
| What fascinates me is my own brain. | Hvad der fascinerer mig, er min egen hjerne. |
| What happens in the background is hard to perceive. | Hvad der sker i baggrunden, er svært at opfatte. |
Describing Perception
This "hvad der" structure is incredibly useful for expressing your reactions to visual tricks. In this lesson, you will practice using it alongside several key verbs related to the senses and perception:
- at opfatte (to perceive)
- at bemærke (to notice)
- at fornemme (to sense)
| What creates the optical illusion is hard to notice. | Hvad der skaber synsbedraget, er svært at bemærke. |
| What scares me is that I can sense her. | Hvad der skræmmer mig, er at jeg kan fornemme hende. |