Det er lønnen, der viser, hvor meget hun tjener hver uge.

It is the salary that shows how much she earns each week.

Breakdown of Det er lønnen, der viser, hvor meget hun tjener hver uge.

• være: to be
• hver: every
• hun: she
• det: it
• ugen: the week
• meget: much
• vise: to show
• der: that
• lønnen: the salary
• tjene: to earn
• hvor: how

Questions & Answers about Det er lønnen, der viser, hvor meget hun tjener hver uge.

Why does the sentence say Det er lønnen, der viser… instead of just Lønnen viser…?

The structure Det er X, der … is a common Danish cleft sentence, similar to English It is X that ….

• Lønnen viser, hvor meget hun tjener hver uge.
  = The salary shows how much she earns each week. (neutral)
• Det er lønnen, der viser, hvor meget hun tjener hver uge.
  = It’s the salary that shows how much she earns each week. (emphasis on lønnen)

So the cleft construction is used to highlight or contrast lønnen (and not something else) as the thing that shows how much she earns.

What exactly does det do in Det er lønnen? Is it just like English “it”?

Yes, here det is a kind of dummy / anticipatory subject, like English it in It is the salary that….

• Det starts the sentence and fills the subject slot.
• The “real” focused element (lønnen) comes after er.
• Then we specify what lønnen does: … der viser, hvor meget hun tjener hver uge.

So Det er lønnen, der… is structurally parallel to It is the salary that… in English.

Why is it lønnen and not just løn?

Løn is the indefinite form (salary, pay), and lønnen is the definite form (the salary, the pay).

• en løn = a salary
• lønnen = the salary

In this sentence we are talking about a specific, known salary (hers), so the definite form lønnen is used.

Even if you translate it more naturally as her pay, in Danish it is still the salary: lønnen.

Could we say Det er lønnen, som viser… instead of der viser…? What’s the difference between der and som here?

In relative clauses referring to a subject, Danish often allows both der and som:

• Det er lønnen, der viser…
• Det er lønnen, som viser…

Both are grammatically correct and mean the same in this context. Some tendencies:

• der is very common in spoken Danish and feels a bit more neutral.
• som can sound slightly more formal or written, but is also used in speech.

You cannot use der when the relative pronoun is not the subject (e.g., after a preposition), but here it is the subject of viser, so both work.

Why is there a comma before der viser?

Danish has a strong tradition of using a comma before subordinate clauses, including relative clauses like der viser….

So lønnen, der viser… has a comma because:

• der viser, hvor meget hun tjener hver uge is a relative clause describing lønnen.
• Danish punctuation rules (especially the traditional grammatical comma) require a comma before that clause.

Modern “new comma” rules sometimes differ in details, but most writing you see will still include this comma.

Why does der viser have verb-second word order, but hvor meget hun tjener has hun before the verb?

You have two different types of clauses:

1. der viser
   This is a finite main-like relative clause:

   • der (subject) + viser (verb)
     → Subject–Verb (S–V) order, like a normal main clause.

2. hvor meget hun tjener
   This is a subordinate clause (an embedded question / content clause):

   • hvor meget (question word)
   • hun (subject)
   • tjener (verb)
     → Question word + S–V (not Question word + V–S).

Danish, like English, uses main-clause word order in statements, but subordinate clauses typically have the subject before the verb (S–V), so hun tjener, not tjener hun, inside this clause.

Why is it hvor meget hun tjener and not hvor meget tjener hun, like in a direct question?

Because here hvor meget hun tjener is not a direct question. It is an embedded clause that functions as the object of viser:

• Direct question: Hvor meget tjener hun hver uge?
  (How much does she earn each week?) → Question word + tjener hun (V–S)
• Embedded: … der viser, hvor meget hun tjener hver uge.
  (… that shows how much she earns each week.) → Question word + hun tjener (S–V)

Danish behaves like English here:

• Direct: How much does she earn?
• Embedded: … shows how much she earns. (not how much does she earn)

What exactly does hvor meget mean here? Is it just “how much”?

Yes, hvor meget literally means how much.

In this sentence:

• hvor = how / where / when (depending on context; here: how)
• meget = much / a lot

Together hvor meget = how much, introducing the idea of a quantity of money:

• … hvor meget hun tjener hver uge
  = … how much she earns each week.

What is the nuance or difference between hver uge and om ugen?

Both can translate as “per week” / “every week”, but there is a slight nuance:

• hver uge = every week, focusing on each individual week
  → more literally like English every week.
• om ugen = per week / a week, focusing on the rate
  → like She earns 5,000 kroner a week / per week.

You could say:

• Det er lønnen, der viser, hvor meget hun tjener om ugen.
  This would be very natural and maybe a bit more typical if you’re talking about an amount of money stated “per week” as a rate.

How is tjener pronounced, and why is it spelled with tj?

Tjener (present tense of tjene, to earn or to serve) is pronounced roughly like:

• [ˈtʃeːnɐ] in many standard pronunciations.

So:

• tj is pronounced like ch in English chair.
• The e is long: like the e in say but a bit more closed.
• Final -er is often reduced to a weak -ə / -ɐ sound.

The spelling tj reflects an older spelling pattern; in modern Danish it almost always corresponds to a ch-like sound, as in tjene, tjene, tjener and tjans.