Det er hans karriere, der betyder meget for hans fremtid.

It is his career that is very important for his future.

Breakdown of Det er hans karriere, der betyder meget for hans fremtid.

• være: to be
• for: for
• betyde: to mean
• det: it
• meget: much
• hans: his
• der: that
• karrieren: the career
• fremtiden: the future

Questions & Answers about Det er hans karriere, der betyder meget for hans fremtid.

Why does the sentence start with Det er instead of just Hans karriere betyder meget for hans fremtid?

Because this is a cleft sentence, used for emphasis, just like in English:

• Det er hans karriere, der betyder meget for hans fremtid.
  = It is his career that matters a lot for his future.

The simpler version is:

• Hans karriere betyder meget for hans fremtid.
  = His career matters a lot for his future.

Both are correct.
The cleft form (Det er X, der …) highlights X (here: hans karriere) as the focused or contrasted element: It’s his career (and not something else) that matters…

What exactly does der do here, and is it the same as English there?

Here der is a relative pronoun, not the adverb der meaning there.

• It introduces the relative clause der betyder meget for hans fremtid.
• Inside that clause, der functions as the subject of betyder.

So structurally:

• Det er hans karriere, [der betyder meget for hans fremtid].
  = It is his career [that matters a lot for his future].

English uses that here; Danish uses der (or som) when the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause. This der does not mean there in this context.

Could you also say Det er hans karriere, som betyder meget for hans fremtid? What’s the difference between der and som?

Yes, you can say:

• Det er hans karriere, som betyder meget for hans fremtid.

In this sentence, der and som are practically interchangeable, because:

• The relative pronoun is the subject of the clause.
• In subject position, both der and som are normally allowed.

Nuances:

• der is slightly more common and neutral in subject relative clauses.
• som is the only option when the relative pronoun is object or follows a preposition (e.g. den person, som jeg talte med).

For everyday use in this sentence, choosing der or som doesn’t change the meaning.

Why is there a comma before der?

The comma before der is there because der betyder meget for hans fremtid is a relative clause.

Danish has two accepted comma systems:

1. Grammatical comma (traditional):

   • You put a comma before all subordinate clauses, including relative clauses.
   • Under this system, the comma in Det er hans karriere, der betyder… is required.

2. New (optional) comma:

   • You often omit the comma before many subordinate clauses.
   • Under this system, you can write it with or without the comma:
     • Det er hans karriere, der betyder meget for hans fremtid.
     • Det er hans karriere der betyder meget for hans fremtid.

Many writers still use the grammatical comma, so you will frequently see the comma there.

Why is hans used, and not sin?

hans is the non‑reflexive 3rd person possessive (his).
sin/sit/sine is the reflexive possessive (his own / her own / its own), referring back to the subject of the clause.

In this sentence, the subjects are:

• Main clause: det
• Relative clause: der

Neither of these refers to a specific person like he. So there is no subject like han that sin could refer back to. Therefore:

• Det er hans karriere … – correct
• Det er sin karriere … – wrong (because sin would have to refer to det)

So hans is the only natural choice here to mean his.

Why is hans repeated? Could you say Det er hans karriere, der betyder meget for fremtiden instead?

You can say both, but the meaning changes slightly:

1. Det er hans karriere, der betyder meget for hans fremtid.

   • Focuses on his personal future.
   • Both hans clearly refer to that same “him”.

2. Det er hans karriere, der betyder meget for fremtiden.

   • Now fremtiden is general: the future (in general).
   • It can suggest something broader, like how his career matters for the future (of a project, company, society, etc.), not necessarily only his own life.

Repeating hans keeps it clear that both karriere and fremtid belong to the same person and that you are talking specifically about his future, not the future in general.

Could you say Det er karrieren, der betyder meget for hans fremtid without hans before karriere?

Yes, that’s also grammatical:

• Det er karrieren, der betyder meget for hans fremtid.

Nuance:

• Det er hans karriere …
  – We introduce the career as his from the start; it’s new information and clearly linked to him.

• Det er karrieren …
  – Implies that “the career” is already known in the context.
  For example, you’ve just been talking about a particular job path, and now you say:
  It’s the career that matters a lot for his future.

So dropping hans before karriere shifts it from “his career (newly introduced)” to “the (already known) career”.

Why is there no article before fremtid? Why not for hans den fremtid or for hans fremtiden?

In Danish, you don’t use an article when you have a possessive:

• hans fremtid = his future
• You do not say den hans fremtid or hans fremtiden.

This is similar to English: we say his future, not the his future.

Also, there is a meaning difference:

• hans fremtid – his future (specific to him)
• fremtiden – the future (in general)

So for hans fremtid correctly means for his (personal) future without any extra article.

Why is the preposition for used in for hans fremtid and not something like til or af?

The verb betyde in the sense of to matter / to be important typically takes the preposition for:

• betyde (noget) for (nogen/noget)
  = to mean/matter (something) to/for (someone/something)

So:

• betyder meget for hans fremtid
  = matters a lot for his future / is very important for his future.

Other prepositions would be wrong here:

• af is used for origin/material/“of” (lavet af træ – made of wood).
• til is more directional or purposive (til dig – to you, til fremtiden – for the future in a planning sense, but not with betyde in this way).

With betyde in this “to matter” sense, for is the natural and idiomatic choice.

What is the difference between betyder meget and saying er meget vigtig?

Both are correct and very close in meaning:

• betyder meget (for …)
  – Literally: means a lot (for …)
  – Idiomatically: matters a lot (to/for …)

• er meget vigtig (for …)
  – is very important (for …)

Examples:

• Hans karriere betyder meget for hans fremtid.
• Hans karriere er meget vigtig for hans fremtid.

Both mean nearly the same. betyder meget for sounds very natural and is a common collocation; er meget vigtig for is slightly more direct and descriptive, but in everyday language they’re interchangeable in this context.

Is the word order der betyder meget for hans fremtid fixed, or can I move meget or for hans fremtid around?

The natural order here is:

• der (subject)
• betyder (finite verb)
• meget (degree/extent)
• for hans fremtid (prepositional phrase)

→ der betyder meget for hans fremtid

You cannot freely move things around. These would sound wrong or very odd:

• ✗ der meget betyder for hans fremtid
• ✗ der betyder for hans fremtid meget

General rule for a simple subordinate clause like this:

• Subject – (sentence adverb, if any) – Verb – Other elements

Since there’s no sentence adverb (like ikke, aldrig, etc.), you just get:

• der betyder meget for hans fremtid

So the given word order is the one you should stick to.