Det stakkels barn er sultent.

Here det is the definite article for a neuter noun, so it means the, not it.

So det stakkels barn means the poor child.

Danish often uses den/det/de before an adjective:

• den lille pige = the little girl
• det stakkels barn = the poor child
• de gamle huse = the old houses

Because barn is a neuter noun in Danish.

Danish common pattern:

• den for common gender nouns
• det for neuter nouns

Examples:

• den store bil = the big car
• det store hus = the big house
• det stakkels barn = the poor child

Even though a child is a person, the noun barn is grammatically neuter.

Because when a noun has an adjective in front of it, Danish normally uses:

den/det/de + adjective + noun

So you get:

• det stakkels barn

Without an adjective, you would normally use the suffixed definite form:

• barnet = the child

Compare:

• barnet er sultent = the child is hungry
• det stakkels barn er sultent = the poor child is hungry

No. Stakkels means poor in the sense of unfortunate, pitiful, or deserving sympathy.

So det stakkels barn means something like:

• the poor child
• the unfortunate child

If you mean poor financially, Danish would usually use fattig, not stakkels.

Because stakkels is a special indeclinable word. Its form stays the same regardless of gender or number.

So you can say:

• den stakkels pige
• det stakkels barn
• de stakkels børn

That is different from most adjectives, which usually change form depending on gender and number.

Because sulten is a normal adjective, and here it agrees with barn, which is neuter singular.

Basic forms:

• sulten = common gender singular
• sultent = neuter singular
• sultne = plural

So:

• en pige er sulten
• et barn er sultent
• børnene er sultne

Since barn is neuter singular, sultent is the correct form.

They are doing two different jobs.

• stakkels is an attributive adjective: it comes directly before the noun and is part of the noun phrase

  • det stakkels barn = the poor child

• sultent is a predicative adjective: it comes after er and describes the subject

  • barnet er sultent = the child is hungry

So the sentence structure is:

Det stakkels barn + er + sultent

Yes. In Danish, articles and adjective endings follow grammatical gender, not natural gender.

The noun barn is grammatically neuter, so it takes:

• det
• neuter adjective forms like sultent

This does not mean Danish speakers think of the child as an object. It is just how the noun barn behaves grammatically.

It is the normal main-clause order:

Subject + verb + complement

So:

• Det stakkels barn = subject
• er = verb
• sultent = complement/predicative adjective

This looks very similar to English here.
The full structure is simply:

The poor child is hungry.

Yes, absolutely.

• Barnet er sultent = The child is hungry
• Det stakkels barn er sultent = The poor child is hungry

The version with stakkels adds sympathy or emotion.

If you wanted both adjectives inside one noun phrase, you could also say:

• det stakkels sultne barn = the poor hungry child