Questions & Answers about Er hun ikke sulten? — Jo, det er hun.
Why does the reply start with Jo instead of Ja?
In Danish, jo is a special word for "yes" that you only use when answering a negative question. Because the first person asks "Er hun ikke sulten?" (Is she not hungry?), you must answer with jo to say "Yes, she is." If the question did not have ikke, you would just answer with ja.
Why is the word det used in the answer det er hun?
In English, you can simply reply "Yes, she is" and leave out the word "hungry". In Danish, you cannot leave the verb hanging like that. You use det (it/that) as a placeholder to stand in for the missing adjective (sulten). It translates literally as "Yes, that is she."
Why is the word order det er hun instead of hun er det?
This happens because of the Danish "verb-second" (V2) rule. When you start a sentence or clause with a placeholder word like det, the verb (er) must come right after it in the second position. The subject (hun) is then pushed to the third position.
Would the word sulten change if the subject was "it" instead of "she"?