Breakdown of Hvis hunden gør, er det klogt at ignorere den.
være
to be
den
it (common)
det
it (neuter)
hunden
the dog
Questions & Answers about Hvis hunden gør, er det klogt at ignorere den.
In the phrase er det klogt, is det acting just like 'it' does in English?
Yes! Just like in English, Danish uses an "empty" or placeholder subject to set up a general statement. det acts as the subject for the adjective klogt (smart), pointing forward to the actual action that comes later: at ignorere den (to ignore it).
Why does klogt end with a -t?
In Danish, adjectives must match the gender of the noun or pronoun they describe. Because the placeholder subject in this sentence structure is always the neuter pronoun det, you must use the neuter form of the adjective. You do this by adding a -t to the base word klog to get klogt.
Why is the verb er placed before the subject det?
This is a great example of the V2 (verb-second) rule! In Danish main clauses, the verb must be the second idea in the sentence. The entire "if" phrase (Hvis hunden gør) counts as idea number one. Therefore, the verb er must come right after the comma to take the second position, pushing the subject det to the third spot.
I thought gør meant 'does' or 'makes'. Why is it used here?