Breakdown of Det er i øvrigt dejligt at se dig igen.
være
to be
det
it (neuter)
se
to see / to look at
dig
you (singular object)
at
to
dejlig
lovely
igen
again
i øvrigt
by the way (besides)
Questions & Answers about Det er i øvrigt dejligt at se dig igen.
Why is i øvrigt placed right after the verb, rather than at the end like in English?
In Danish main clauses, sentence adverbs (like i øvrigt, ikke, or ofte) usually take the central adverb position right after the finite verb. While English often tacks "by the way" onto the end of a sentence, putting i øvrigt at the very end in Danish usually sounds unnatural.
Could I use for resten instead of i øvrigt here?
Absolutely. You could say Det er for resten dejligt at se dig igen. Both phrases mean "by the way" or "incidentally." I øvrigt can sometimes feel a tiny bit more formal than for resten, but in a friendly conversational phrase like this one, they are completely interchangeable.
If I want to emphasize the topic shift, can I start the sentence with i øvrigt?
Yes, you can! Just remember the V2 rule (where the verb must be the second element). If you move i øvrigt to the front, the subject and verb must swap places, giving you: I øvrigt er det dejligt at se dig igen.
Why does the adjective dejligt end in -t in this sentence?
It takes the neuter -t ending to agree with the dummy pronoun det. In this sentence structure, det serves as a grammatical placeholder for the actual logical subject of the sentence, which is the entire infinitive phrase at se dig igen (to see you again).
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