Learn Hardcore Danish: Det er ikke altid os, der vinder konkurrencen, men vi lærer noget hver gang. - It is not always us who win the competition, but we learn something each time.

In Danish, when a personal pronoun comes after the verb "at være" (to be) in sentences like "Det er X", you normally use the object form, not the subject form.

Subject forms: jeg, du, han, hun, vi, I, de
Object forms: mig, dig, ham, hende, os, jer, dem

So you say:

Det er mig. – It is me.
Det er os. – It is us.
not Det er jeg / Det er vi.

Therefore, "Det er ikke altid os..." is the standard and natural form.

What is the role of "det" in "Det er ikke altid os..."? Is it referring to something specific?

Here "det" is mostly a dummy subject (an impersonal "it") used to introduce a general statement. It works much like English "it" in:

It is not always us who win the competition.

The structure "Det er (ikke) X, der..." is very common in Danish and is often used for emphasis or focus:

Det er os, der bestemmer. – It is us who decide.
Det er ikke dig, der har ret. – It is not you who is right.

So "det" isn’t a concrete thing; it’s a grammatical tool to build this kind of cleft sentence.

Why is there a comma before "der" and what is "der" in "os, der vinder konkurrencen"?

The part "der vinder konkurrencen" is a relative clause describing "os" (us). In English that would be "us who win the competition".

"der" here is a relative pronoun, functioning as the subject of the relative clause.

Danish normally puts a comma before a relative clause:

os, der vinder konkurrencen – us who win the competition
manden, der bor derovre – the man who lives over there

So the comma marks the start of the relative clause introduced by "der".

What’s the difference between "der" and "som" in this kind of sentence? Could you say "os, som vinder konkurrencen"?

Yes, you can say "os, som vinder konkurrencen". Both are correct.

The general rules:

When the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause, you can usually use either:
- "der" or "som"
- os, der vinder... = os, som vinder...
When the relative pronoun is an object, you must use "som", not "der":
- Bogen, som jeg læser. – The book that I am reading.
- You cannot say: Bogen, der jeg læser. ✗

In everyday speech, "der" is very common as the subject relative pronoun, so "os, der vinder konkurrencen" sounds very natural.

Why is it "ikke altid" and not "altid ikke"?

In Danish, "ikke" (not) usually comes before adverbs like "altid" (always) when you want to say "not always" as a unit:

ikke altid = not always
ikke helt = not completely
ikke ofte = not often

So "Det er ikke altid os..." = It is not always us...

The phrase "altid ikke" (always not) would be very strange and is practically never used in this way. If you want to say never, you use "aldrig":

Det er aldrig os, der vinder konkurrencen. – It is never us who win the competition.

Why is it "konkurrencen" and not just "konkurrence"?

Danish usually marks definiteness with a suffix on the noun:

en konkurrence – a competition
konkurrencen – the competition

Here "konkurrencen" means "the competition", i.e. a specific, known competition (for example, the one you usually take part in).

If you said:

Det er ikke altid os, der vinder en konkurrence.

that would mean "It’s not always us who win a competition" (any competition, more general, less specific).

What nuance does "ikke altid" have compared to "aldrig"?

The difference is important:

ikke altid = not always
- Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
- Det er ikke altid os, der vinder...
  → Sometimes we win, sometimes someone else wins.
aldrig = never
- It never happens.
- Det er aldrig os, der vinder konkurrencen.
  → We never win the competition.

So "ikke altid" is weaker and more neutral: it just says it does not happen every time.

What does "hver gang" literally mean, and how is it used?

Literally, "hver gang" is "each time" / "every time".

hver = every / each
gang = time, occasion (not clock time, but instance)

Examples:

Vi lærer noget hver gang. – We learn something every time.
Hver gang jeg ser dig, bliver jeg glad. – Every time I see you, I get happy.

You normally use "hver gang" with a verb to talk about something that happens on every occasion. You don’t say "hver tid" in this meaning; for all the time / constantly you would use "hele tiden".

What exactly does "noget" mean in "vi lærer noget hver gang"?

Here "noget" is an indefinite pronoun meaning "something".

vi lærer noget – we learn something

In negative or question contexts, "noget" can also correspond to English "anything":

Lærte du noget? – Did you learn anything?
Jeg lærte ikke noget. – I didn’t learn anything.

But in this positive sentence (vi lærer noget hver gang), it is naturally understood as "something" (unspecified knowledge or experience).

Could you change the word order in "men vi lærer noget hver gang"? For example, can you say "men hver gang lærer vi noget" or "men vi lærer hver gang noget"?

Two versions are natural:

men vi lærer noget hver gang
– Neutral, standard word order.
men hver gang lærer vi noget
– Also correct; "hver gang" is fronted for emphasis (Every time we learn something).

What you normally don’t say is:

✗ men vi lærer hver gang noget

Placing "hver gang" between the verb (lærer) and the direct object (noget) sounds wrong or at least very unnatural in Danish. Adverbials like "hver gang" usually go after the object, or at the very beginning of the clause for emphasis.