Breakdown of Han siger at risikoen er stor, men det frygter jeg ikke.
jeg
I
være
to be
han
he
det
it (neuter)
Questions & Answers about Han siger at risikoen er stor, men det frygter jeg ikke.
What exactly does det refer to in the second half of the sentence?
It refers back to the entire phrase at risikoen er stor (that the risk is big). When you want to refer to a whole clause, fact, or situation that was just mentioned, Danish uses det to stand in for it as the object of the new sentence, much like saying "that" or "it" in English.
Why is the word order det frygter jeg instead of jeg frygter det?
The word det is placed at the front of the clause to connect back to the first half of the sentence. Because Danish main clauses strictly follow the V2 rule (the verb must be the second piece of information), putting the object det first forces the verb frygter to swap places with the subject jeg.
Why does ikke come at the very end of the sentence?
In a standard Danish main clause, ikke usually sits after the central verb. However, because this clause has inverted word order (det frygter jeg), the subject jeg is pushed to the spot after the verb. The negation ikke then directly follows the subject.
How does the word risikoen get its meaning?
The suffix -en is the definite article meaning "the". Because risiko is an en-word, you attach -en to the end of it to say "the risk" (risikoen) instead of just "a risk".