Questions & Answers about Det er enten hunden eller katten.
How does the pair enten ... eller work in this sentence?
Enten ... eller is the exact Danish equivalent of the English pair "either ... or". Just like in English, you place enten before the first option (hunden) and eller before the second option (katten).
Why does the sentence start with the neuter word det if both dog and cat are common gender words?
When we say "It is..." to point out or identify something in general, Danish uses the neuter pronoun det, regardless of the gender of the noun that follows. Even though hund and kat are common gender words, the introductory "It is..." must be Det er....
Why is it hunden and katten instead of just hund and kat?
The -en ending on these words acts as the definite article, which corresponds to "the" in English. So hunden means "the dog" and katten means "the cat". If you just said enten hund eller kat, it would translate to "either dog or cat".
How would I change this sentence to mean "neither the dog nor the cat"?
You would swap out enten ... eller for the negative pair taught in this lesson: hverken ... eller. The sentence would then become Det er hverken hunden eller katten.