Freden er vigtig.

Fred is the basic noun meaning peace.
Freden is the definite form, literally the peace.

Danish usually marks definiteness by adding an ending to the noun:

• fred = peace
• freden = the peace

In context, English may translate freden as either the peace or simply peace, especially with abstract ideas.

Because fred is a common-gender noun in Danish.

Danish has two grammatical genders:

• common gender → definite ending -en
• neuter → definite ending -et

So:

• en bil → bilen
• et hus → huset
• en fred → freden

A good habit is to learn Danish nouns together with their article, for example en fred or just note that fred is common gender.

In Danish, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of appearing as a separate word.

So English:

• the peace

becomes Danish:

• freden

This is very normal in Danish. A separate article such as den/det/de is mainly used when there is an adjective before the noun:

• den vigtige fred = the important peace

But in Freden er vigtig, no separate article is needed.

Er is the present tense of at være, which means to be.

So:

• er = am / is / are

Unlike English, Danish verbs do not change depending on the subject:

• jeg er
• du er
• han er
• freden er

So Freden er vigtig uses the normal present-tense form of to be.

Because the adjective agrees with the noun.

Here, freden is:

• singular
• common gender

So the adjective takes the basic form:

• vigtig

Compare:

• Freden er vigtig. = common gender singular
• Huset er vigtigt. = neuter singular
• Tingene er vigtige. = plural

So vigtig is exactly the form you expect after a singular common-gender subject.

Literally, freden means the peace, so the sentence is literally The peace is important.

But the most natural English translation may still be Peace is important, depending on context. English often leaves out the article with abstract nouns more easily than Danish does.

So the best translation depends on what is meant:

• specific peace already known in the conversation → The peace is important
• more general idea of peace → often Peace is important

The order is:

• Freden = subject
• er = verb
• vigtig = subject complement

So it follows a simple pattern:

subject + verb + adjective

This is the most basic Danish sentence pattern.

Also, Danish is a verb-second language in main clauses. That means the finite verb usually comes second. Here the subject comes first, so the verb naturally comes second:

• Freden er vigtig

If another element comes first, the verb still stays second:

• I dag er freden vigtig. = Today, peace/the peace is important.

A learner usually notices two things here:

1. The d in fred/freden is a soft d, not a hard English d.
2. The ending -en is usually weak and unstressed.

So freden does not sound like fully pronounced English fred-en.

A rough learner-friendly idea is:

• fred: the d is soft, a bit like the th in the, though not exactly the same
• freden: the last syllable is reduced and light

The exact Danish pronunciation takes practice, but the main thing is: do not pronounce the d as a strong English d.