Det personlige ansvaret kan være stort.

to be

Breakdown of Det personlige ansvaret kan være stort.

• kunne: can
• stor: large
• det personlige ansvaret: the personal liability

Questions & Answers about Det personlige ansvaret kan være stort.

Why does the sentence start with det?

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.

Why is it det personlige ansvaret and not just personlige ansvaret?

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

Why is it personlige and not personlig?