Questions & Answers about Det er ikke typisk for ham at komme for sent til sport.
Why does the sentence start with Det er instead of Han er?
In Danish, det is often used as a dummy subject (like “it” in English in sentences such as “It is typical for him to…”).
- Det er ikke typisk for ham at komme for sent til sport.
= It is not typical for him to come late to sports.
If you said Han er ikke typisk…, it would sound wrong or at least very odd, because typisk here does not directly describe him (like “He is typical”), but the situation of him coming late. So you need the pattern:
- Det er (ikke) typisk for [person] at [verb] …
Why do we say typisk for ham and not typisk af ham or something else?
With typisk, Danish usually uses for to show who it is typical of:
- Det er typisk for ham at… – It’s typical of him to…
- Det er typisk for hende at… – It’s typical of her to…
Using af here (✗ typisk af ham) would be incorrect. Af is used in other structures, e.g. lavet af ham (made by him), but not with typisk in this meaning.
So the fixed pattern to remember:
- typisk for [person / group] at [verb]