Breakdown of Det er typisk at barnet aldrig sover om natten.
være
to be
det
it (neuter)
barnet
the child
sove
to sleep
Questions & Answers about Det er typisk at barnet aldrig sover om natten.
Why is aldrig placed before sover here? In simple sentences, the verb usually comes before the adverb.
You have spotted the key rule for this lesson! The second part of the sentence is a subordinate clause, introduced by at (that). In Danish subordinate clauses, central adverbs like aldrig, altid, and ofte must come before the verb. If this were a standalone main clause, it would be Barnet sover aldrig, but as a subordinate clause it becomes ... at barnet aldrig sover.
Why do we use om natten to say 'at night'?
In Danish, to describe something that happens regularly or generally during a specific part of the day, we use the preposition om plus the definite form of the noun. So, om natten means 'at night' or 'during the night' in a general, repeating sense. You will also see this in om morgenen (in the morning) and om aftenen (in the evening).
I know barn means child, but why is it barnet here?
Barnet is the definite form, meaning the child. Because barn is an et-word (neuter), you add -et to the end of the word to make it definite. If it were an en-word (common gender) like hund (dog), you would add -en to make hunden.
Shouldn't typisk have a -t at the end, since it describes the neuter word Det?