Impersonal Psychological Verbs
Instead of saying "I am surprised that..." or "We are glad that...", Danish often uses an impersonal structure equivalent to "It surprises me that...".
Use the dummy pronoun det (it) as the subject, followed by a psychological verb, the person experiencing the feeling (the object), and an at-clause:
Det + verb + object + at-clause
| It surprises me that the city council is selling the park. | Det undrer mig at byrådet sælger parken. |
The object receiving the feeling can be a pronoun (like mig or os) or a noun:
| It pleases the citizens' group that the city council is preserving the cultural centre. | Det glæder borgergruppen at byrådet bevarer kulturhuset. |
Stronger Reactions
This structure works for any psychological verb, whether the news astounds, frustrates, or outrages you.
| It astounds me that they want to tear down the cultural centre. | Det forbløffer mig at de vil rive kulturhuset ned. |
| It frustrates us that the mayor ignores the citizens' group. | Det frustrerer os at borgmesteren ignorerer borgergruppen. |
| It outrages the teacher that the city council demands this saving. | Det forarger læreren at byrådet kræver denne besparelse. |
Word Order and Inversion
Because det is the grammatical subject, standard V2 (verb-second) word order applies. If a time phrase or dependent clause begins the sentence, the main verb and det must invert.
| When we lived here, it always pleased us that the neighbours helped each other. | Da vi boede her, glædede det os altid at naboerne hjalp hinanden. |
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