Question 1

Why do we use den kørende and den gående instead of regular nouns for 'motorist' and 'pedestrian'?

Accepted Answer

These are present participles (verbs ending in -nde, similar to the English '-ing' form) that are being used as nouns. While Danish has words like bilist (motorist) and fodgænger (pedestrian), using den kørende (the driving one) and den gående (the walking one) is extremely common in official language or traffic contexts to define people purely by their current action.

Question 2

Why is the definite article den placed in front of kørende and gående instead of attaching to the end like a normal noun?

Accepted Answer

Because kørende and gående are verb forms functioning as adjectives here, they follow the rules for definite adjectives. Instead of taking a noun suffix (like -en or -et), they require the free-standing definite article den (for singular common gender).

Question 3

How would this sentence change if we were talking about multiple motorists and pedestrians?

Accepted Answer

You would only change the front article to the plural de: De kørende stopper idet de gående krydser gaden. Present participles used as nouns are invariant, meaning their spelling never changes regardless of gender or number.

Question 4

Could I use når or da instead of idet for 'as'?

Accepted Answer

You could technically use når for a repeated action ('whenever') or da if this were a past-tense sentence ('when'), but idet specifically emphasizes that two actions are happening at the exact same moment. It translates perfectly to 'as' or 'just as' here, highlighting the simultaneous timing of the stopping and the crossing.

Den kørende stopper idet den gående krydser gaden.

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