Breakdown of Er bilen her? — Ja, det er den.
være
to be
her
here
bilen
the car
den
it (common)
det
it (neuter)
ja
yes
Questions & Answers about Er bilen her? — Ja, det er den.
Why does the answer say det er den instead of just den er?
In English, we can say Yes, it is. But in Danish short answers, you cannot leave the verb er hanging at the end. You need the placeholder word det at the beginning of the phrase to stand in for the missing information (in this case, being here). The structure is literally Yes, that is it, which is said as Ja, det er den.
Why use den at the end of the short answer?
The word den means it when referring to nouns that use the en article. Because a car is en bil, we must use den to say it. If the sentence was about an et word, like et hus (a house), the short answer would end with det instead.
How do we know the first sentence is a question without a helping word?
Danish does not use helping words like do or does to ask questions. Instead, it simply swaps the order of the subject and the verb. By moving the verb er to the very beginning, the normal statement bilen er her (the car is here) becomes a question.
How does bilen mean the car?
Instead of putting a separate word for the in front of the noun, Danish attaches it to the end. The word for a car is en bil. To say the car, you move that en to the end of the word, making it bilen.
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