Questions & Answers about Det er situationen, der gør hende nervøs.
Why does the sentence begin with Det er ... instead of just Situationen gør hende nervøs?
This is a very common Danish emphasis pattern, often called a cleft sentence.
- Situationen gør hende nervøs = The situation makes her nervous
- Det er situationen, der gør hende nervøs = It is the situation that makes her nervous
The second version puts special focus on situationen. It suggests something like:
- It’s the situation, not something else
- What makes her nervous is the situation
So the sentence does not just state a fact; it highlights what the cause is.
Why is it situationen and not situation?
Because situationen is the definite singular form of the noun.
- en situation = a situation
- situationen = the situation
In Danish, the definite article is often added to the end of the noun as a suffix.
Since the sentence means the situation, Danish uses situationen.
Why is there a comma before der?
The comma separates the main clause from the relative clause.
The structure is:
- Det er situationen = main clause
- der gør hende nervøs = relative clause
The relative clause describes situationen more closely: it is the situation that makes her nervous.
Modern Danish punctuation normally uses a comma before a relative clause like this.