Word
Skal de blive hjemme? Ja, det kan jeg naturligvis garantere.
Meaning
Will they stay home? Yes, of course I can guarantee that.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Skal de blive hjemme? Ja, det kan jeg naturligvis garantere.
jeg
I
det
it (neuter)
de
they
ja
yes
Questions & Answers about Skal de blive hjemme? Ja, det kan jeg naturligvis garantere.
What exactly does det refer to in the second sentence?
In this sentence, det translates to "that," but it doesn't point to a physical object. Instead, it replaces the entire idea from the first question ("that they will stay home"). This is called clausal object substitution, and it is a common way to avoid repeating a whole phrase in Danish.
Why is the word order det kan jeg instead of det jeg kan?
Danish strictly follows the V2 (verb-second) rule in main clauses, meaning the conjugated verb must be the second piece of information. Because the object det is pulled to the front of the sentence for emphasis, the verb kan must come immediately after it, pushing the subject jeg to the third position.
Why is the adverb naturligvis placed after the subject?
In a main clause, sentence adverbs like naturligvis (naturally / of course) normally come right after the first conjugated verb. However, because the V2 rule forced the subject jeg to swap places with the verb kan, the adverb is placed immediately after the subject instead.
Why does the sentence use hjemme instead of hjem?
Danish makes a strict difference between being at a location and moving towards a location. You use hjemme when someone is stationary at home (location). If the question was asking if they were going home, you would use the motion word hjem.