Det lykkedes os at finde en fælles løsning, selv om vi først var uenige.

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Breakdown of Det lykkedes os at finde en fælles løsning, selv om vi først var uenige.

• være: to be
• vi: we
• finde: to find

Questions & Answers about Det lykkedes os at finde en fælles løsning, selv om vi først var uenige.

Why does the sentence start with Det when it does not seem to refer to anything?

Here Det is a dummy/formal subject. Danish often uses this kind of det with verbs like lykkes.

So:

• Det lykkedes os at finde en fælles løsning
  literally: It succeeded for us to find a common solution
• natural English: We managed to find a common solution

So the det is there because Danish grammar wants a subject, even though it does not point to a specific thing.

What does lykkedes mean here?

Lykkedes is the past tense of at lykkes.

In this sentence, at lykkes means:

• to succeed
• to manage to do something

So Det lykkedes os at finde... means We succeeded in finding... or more naturally We managed to find...

Some useful forms:

• det lykkes = it succeeds / we manage
• det lykkedes = it succeeded / we managed
• det er lykkedes = it has succeeded / we have managed

Why is it os and not vi?