Breakdown of Der sidder en kvinde foran kaffebaren.
der
there
kvinden
the woman
en
a / an (common)
foran
in front of
Questions & Answers about Der sidder en kvinde foran kaffebaren.
Why do we start the sentence with der sidder instead of just saying En kvinde sidder?
When introducing a new, undefined person or thing (like en kvinde) into a scene, Danish prefers to use der (there) as a dummy subject. While En kvinde sidder foran kaffebaren is grammatically possible, it sounds unnatural. The der construction is the standard way to present new information, much like saying 'There is a woman sitting...' in English.
Why is the verb sidder used here instead of er?
In presentational der sentences, Danish frequently uses posture verbs like sidder (sits), står (stands), or ligger (lies) rather than the verb 'to be'. Because the woman is physically seated, these active intransitive verbs give a much more natural and descriptive picture of the scene than er would.
The English translation says 'is sitting'. Why isn't there an equivalent to 'is' in the Danish sentence?
Danish does not have a continuous tense (an '-ing' form) like English. The simple present tense sidder translates to both 'sits' and 'is sitting'. Context tells you that the action is happening right now.
How does the ending on kaffebaren work?