Learn Danish: Det undrer mig at byrådet sælger parken. - It surprises me that the city council is selling the park.

Here, det acts as a dummy subject. With psychological verbs like undrer or glæder, Danish often uses this impersonal structure when the real trigger for the emotion is an entire clause. The placeholder det takes the subject position, followed by the verb, the person experiencing the feeling (mig), and finally the at-clause that explains the cause.

Could I use overrasker instead of undrer here?

Yes, but the nuance changes. overrasker implies a sudden or unexpected shock. undrer is related to the English word wonder and implies that the action baffles or puzzles you. By using undrer, the speaker is expressing confusion about the city council's decision, not just pure shock.

If I want to add a word like ikke to the second part of the sentence, where does it go?

The word ikke would go right before the verb sælger. Because at byrådet sælger parken is a subordinate clause, sentence adverbs like ofte, ikke, or altid must be placed between the subject (byrådet) and the conjugated verb.

How is the word byrådet constructed?