Learn Hardcore Danish: Forældrene er stolte af deres barn, når det selv løser svære opgaver. - The parents are proud of their child when it solves difficult tasks by itself.

Danish usually forms the definite plural with -ne or -ene.
Forældre is an irregular plural, and its definite form is forældrene, not forældrerne.

In this sentence we mean “the parents” in general (a specific pair of parents), so we use the definite plural: Forældrene.

Why er stolte and not er stolt?

The adjective agrees with the number of the subject:

Han er stolt. – He is proud. (singular → stolt)
Hun er stolt. – She is proud. (singular → stolt)
Forældrene er stolte. – The parents are proud. (plural → stolte)

In the predicate (after er, bliver etc.), adjectives take -e in the plural.
So with plural Forældrene, you must say stolte, not stolt.

Why do you say stolte af – why the preposition af?

In Danish, some adjectives have fixed prepositions.
Stolt almost always takes af:

stolt af nogen/noget = proud of someone/something

So:

Forældrene er stolte af deres barn = The parents are proud of their child.

You can’t replace af with over here; stolt over is not standard in this sense.
Think of “stolt af” as one unit you should learn together.

Why is it deres barn and not sit barn or sine børn?

Possessive pronouns in Danish:

sin / sit / sine = reflexive, 3rd person singular (his/her/its own)
deres = their (can be both “their own” or “someone else’s”)

Crucial point: sin/sit/sine only work with a singular 3rd‑person subject (han, hun, den, det).
Here the subject is Forældrene (they, plural). For they, Danish does not use sin/sit/sine; it only uses deres.

So we must say:

Forældrene er stolte af deres barn.

You cannot say “Forældrene er stolte af sit barn.” – that’s ungrammatical.

Why is it når and not da or hvis?

Danish distinguishes several “when/if” words:

når = when/whenever (general, repeated, or present/future)
da = when (one specific time in the past)
hvis = if (conditional)

Here we have a general situation: any time the child solves difficult tasks, the parents are proud.

So:

Forældrene er stolte, når det selv løser svære opgaver.
= The parents are proud when(ever) it solves difficult tasks.

If it were about one single past event, you’d use da:

Forældrene var stolte, da det selv løste en svær opgave.
= …when it solved a difficult task (that time).

Hvis would change the meaning to a condition:

… hvis det selv løser svære opgaver. = if it solves difficult tasks (maybe it will, maybe it won’t).

Why does the child become det and not han or hun?

In Danish, pronouns often follow grammatical gender, not just biological sex.

et barn – child (neuter noun) → pronoun: det
en dreng – boy (common gender) → pronoun: han
en pige – girl (common gender) → pronoun: hun

Here we refer back to barn (neuter), so the neutral pronoun det is natural and does not specify gender:

… deres barn, når det selv løser svære opgaver.

If the gender were known and relevant, you could say:

… deres søn, når han selv løser svære opgaver.
… deres datter, når hun selv løser svære opgaver.

What exactly does selv do here, and why is it placed before løser?

Selv adds emphasis roughly like “itself / on its own” or “(by) itself”.

Placement:

When selv emphasizes the subject, it typically goes right after the subject:
- Det selv løser svære opgaver.
  = It itself solves difficult tasks (the child, not someone else, does it).
You can also see løser det selv or løser svære opgaver selv, but that often emphasizes how the action is done (“by itself, without help”) more than who is doing it.

In this sentence, det selv løser highlights that the child, not the parents or a teacher, is doing the solving.

Why is it svære opgaver and not svær opgave or svære opgaven?

Break it down:

en opgave = a task / exercise
opgaver = tasks (plural, indefinite)
svær = difficult (basic form)
svære = the form used for:
- plural (indefinite and definite), and
- all definite singulars

So:

en svær opgave – a difficult task (singular, indefinite)
svære opgaver – difficult tasks (plural, indefinite)
den svære opgave – the difficult task (singular, definite)
de svære opgaver – the difficult tasks (plural, definite)

In the sentence, we are speaking generally about difficult tasks (not “the difficult tasks”), so svære opgaver (plural, indefinite) is correct.

Why is there no article before barn – why deres barn and not deres et barn?

In Danish, when you use a possessive pronoun (min, din, hans, hendes, vores, jeres, deres, sin, sit, sine), you do not add an article:

et barn – a child
barnet – the child
deres barn – their child (no et)
mit barn – my child
hans barn – his child

So deres barn already includes the “possessive” idea; adding et or barnet would be wrong here:

❌ deres et barn
❌ deres barnet

Always: possessive + bare noun.

Why is there a comma before når?

Danish has (and has had) quite strict comma rules for subordinate clauses.

Når det selv løser svære opgaver is a subordinate clause introduced by når.
Under the “traditional” rule (and also allowed in the newer rules), you put a comma before such a clause when it follows the main clause.

So:

Forældrene er stolte af deres barn, når det selv løser svære opgaver.

With the “new” comma system it’s optional whether you write this comma, but many people (and most teaching materials) still use it.

Can I put the når-clause first? How does the word order change?

Yes, you can move the subordinate clause to the front. Then, in the main clause, you must use inversion (verb before subject):

Original:
- Forældrene er stolte af deres barn, når det selv løser svære opgaver.
Fronted subordinate clause:
- Når det selv løser svære opgaver, er forældrene stolte af deres barn.

Note the change:

er forældrene (verb er before subject forældrene)
not ❌ Forældrene er in that position.

This verb‑second rule applies to main clauses in Danish when something other than the subject (here, the når-clause) is in the first position.

What is the basic word order inside the når-clause?

In a typical Danish subordinate clause with når, the order is:

Conjunction: når
Subject: det
(Optional elements, like selv)
Verb: løser
Objects and adverbials: svære opgaver

So:

når det selv løser svære opgaver

You do not invert verb and subject inside this kind of subordinate clause.
You say:

når det løser …
not ❌ når løser det …