Word
Der var fire personer i køretøjet.
Meaning
There were four people in the vehicle.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Der var fire personer i køretøjet.
i
in
fire
four
der var
there was / there were
personen
the person (an individual)
Questions & Answers about Der var fire personer i køretøjet.
Why is personer used here to mean "people" instead of folk or mennesker?
Folk is a general, uncountable word for "people" in a collective sense, while mennesker emphasizes "humans" as a species. Personer is used for specific, countable individuals. It is also the preferred term in formal, journalistic, or police contexts, which matches the clinical tone of reporting who was in a vehicle.
How does the word køretøjet break down?
It is a compound of køre (to drive), tøj (gear or stuff), and the neuter definite suffix -et. While tøj usually means "clothes" today, historically it meant tools or equipment. A køretøj is literally "driving equipment"—the standard word for "vehicle". You see this same older meaning in værktøj (tools) and legetøj (toys).
Could I use Det var instead of Der var?
No. Just like in English, Danish uses der (there) to express that something exists (the existential "there is/are"). If you wrote Det var fire personer, it would literally mean "It was four people," which is grammatically incorrect for expressing existence.
Why do we use the preposition i rather than på for this vehicle?