Det personlige ansvaret kan være stort.

Here det is the neuter singular article the, used because ansvar is a neuter noun. In this sentence, det personlige ansvaret means the personal responsibility.

So det is not the dummy it here. It is part of the noun phrase:

• det = the
• personlige = personal
• ansvaret = responsibility / the responsibility

Norwegian often marks definiteness twice when an adjective comes before the noun:

• ansvaret = the responsibility
• det personlige ansvaret = the personal responsibility

This is called double definiteness.

Because in Norwegian, when a noun is definite and has an adjective in front of it, you normally use:

definite article + adjective + noun with definite ending

So:

• ansvar = responsibility
• ansvaret = the responsibility
• det personlige ansvaret = the personal responsibility

You need both:

• det before the adjective
• -et on ansvaret

This is very common in Norwegian:

• den store bilen = the big car
• det fine huset = the nice house
• de gamle bøkene = the old books

Because adjectives usually take the -e form when they are used:

1. after a definite article, or
2. with plural nouns

Here the noun phrase is definite: det personlige ansvaret.

Compare:

• et personlig ansvar = a personal responsibility
• det personlige ansvaret = the personal responsibility

So:

• personlig is the form you often see with an indefinite neuter noun
• personlige is the form used in the definite phrase here

Because stort agrees with ansvar, which is a neuter noun.

The adjective stor changes depending on gender and number:

• en stor bil = a big car
• et stort ansvar = a big/great responsibility
• store biler = big cars

In the sentence Det personlige ansvaret kan være stort, the adjective comes after være, but it still agrees with the noun:

• ansvar is neuter
• so the adjective becomes stort

Kan være means can be.

• kan = can / may
• være = be

In this sentence, kan være expresses possibility or general truth:

• Det personlige ansvaret kan være stort = The personal responsibility can be great / can be considerable

It does not necessarily mean ability in the physical sense. It is more like:

• may be
• can sometimes be
• is capable of being

Literally, yes, stor/stort often means big or large. But in this sentence, English would usually translate it more naturally as:

• great
• considerable
• significant

So while the literal sense is big, the natural meaning is more abstract:

• et stort ansvar = a great responsibility

This is very similar to English, where we say a big responsibility, but we often really mean an important or heavy responsibility.

This is standard Norwegian main-clause word order:

subject + verb + infinitive + complement

Breakdown:

• Det personlige ansvaret = subject
• kan = finite verb
• være = infinitive
• stort = subject complement

So the structure is:

• The personal responsibility
  • can
    • be
      • great

This is very close to English word order.

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• Det personlige ansvaret kan være stort = The personal responsibility can be great
  This refers to a specific or understood responsibility.

• Personlig ansvar kan være stort = Personal responsibility can be great
  This sounds more general and abstract.

So the original sentence is definite and points to a particular kind of responsibility, while the version without det ... ansvaret is more general.

The base form is ansvar, which means responsibility.

Forms:

• et ansvar = a responsibility
• ansvaret = the responsibility

So ansvaret is the definite singular form of the neuter noun ansvar.

You learn it from the dictionary form or article:

• et ansvar

In Norwegian, nouns are commonly learned with their article:

• en bil
• ei/en bok
• et hus
• et ansvar

Since it is et ansvar, it is neuter. That affects:

• the article: det
• adjective agreement: stort
• the definite noun ending: ansvaret

Yes, det can sometimes mean it as a dummy subject, for example:

• Det er kaldt. = It is cold.
• Det regner. = It is raining.

But that is not what is happening in this sentence.

Here, det belongs to the noun phrase det personlige ansvaret. You can see that because it is followed by an adjective and a noun:

• det + personlige + ansvaret

So here it means the, not dummy it.

Yes. In many contexts, kan can be translated as either can or may, depending on what sounds most natural in English.

Here:

• kan være could be understood as can be
• or more loosely may be

But can be is probably the most direct translation.

The exact English wording depends on style:

• The personal responsibility can be great
• The personal responsibility may be great
• Personal responsibility can be considerable

A few natural English versions are:

• The personal responsibility can be great.
• The personal responsibility can be considerable.
• Personal responsibility can be a heavy burden.
• The personal responsibility can be significant.

The most direct translation is the first one, but depending on context, English may choose a less literal adjective than big.