Questions & Answers about Det er et faktum.
Why does the sentence start with det?
In Det er et faktum, det works like it in English It is a fact.
Here, det does not point to a specific object. It is a general subject pronoun used in a very common Norwegian sentence pattern:
- Det er ... = It is ... / There is ...
So in this sentence, det is just the normal way to introduce the statement.
Compare:
- Det er et problem. = It is a problem.
- Det er sant. = It is true.
Why is it et faktum and not en faktum?
Because faktum is a neuter noun in Norwegian.
Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender, and the indefinite article depends on the gender:
- en for many masculine nouns
- ei for feminine nouns
- et for neuter nouns
Since faktum is neuter, you say:
- et faktum = a fact
Not:
- en faktum
What is er here?