Breakdown of Er der en fisker der reparerer det store net?
en
a / an (common)
stor
big
det
the (neuter, before adjective)
reparere
to repair
der er
there is, there are
der
who, which (relative, subject)
fiskeren
the fisherman
nettet
the net
Questions & Answers about Er der en fisker der reparerer det store net?
Why does the word der appear twice in this sentence?
The first der is the dummy subject, just like the word there in the English phrase is there. The second der is the relative pronoun, meaning who or that, which acts as the subject for the verb reparerer. This combination of der ... der is the standard presentational construction in Danish for introducing a new, indefinite subject that is performing an action.
Since English says a fisherman repairing, can I use the Danish present participle reparerende here?
No. While English freely uses -ing forms to describe what a noun is doing, Danish rarely uses its present participle, which ends in -ende, this way. Instead, you must use a relative clause with a conjugated verb, literally phrasing it as a fisherman who repairs (en fisker der reparerer).
Could I use som instead of the second der?
Yes, absolutely. Both som and der can be used as relative pronouns when they are the subject of the relative clause. In presentational sentences like this, repeating der is very common and natural, but saying Er der en fisker som reparerer... is equally correct and means the exact same thing.
Why is it store instead of stort, given that net is an et-word?
Because the phrase is definite. Even though net is an et-word, which takes stort in the indefinite phrase et stort net, the presence of the independent definite article det forces the adjective into its definite form. The definite form of almost all Danish adjectives adds an -e.
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