# Danish:  Det synes jeg også



## Agarina

I know this means "I think so too" or "I think that also."  But I was wondering why it isn't "Jeg synes det også."  That seems like it would fit better with the structure of other "I think" statements in Danish.  Or am I just expecting Danish sentence structure to be like English sensence structure too much?


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## Whodunit

I have never studied Danish, but I guess it's like in German: If you want to emphasize the object of a clause, you can put it in front, but remember that the verb goes to the second position, unlike in English.

_Det synes jeg også_ can literally be translated as _That I think, too_. It puts special emphasis on the object _det_, something aforementioned. Nevertheless, I think it is more common to use this inversion (_Det synes jeg også_) rather than the normal SVO order (_Jeg synes det også_) for this particular sentence.



Agarina said:


> Or am I just expecting Danish sentence structure to be like English sensence structure too much?



Yes, I'm afraid you do.


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## BoTrojan

You answered your own question correctly.  You have to resist the urge that everyone learning a language has:  to apply your own grammar and diction rules to the new language and to try and translate directly.

Specifically, most Danes, most of the time will say:

*Det synes jeg ogsaa* and not *Jeg synes det ogsaa*

Just as they will usually say:

*Det tror jeg* and not *Jeg tror det*

Just as they will usually say:

*Det ved jeg ikke* and not *Jeg ved det ikke*

However, all of these alternative formulations are possible and you will hear them from time to time.  Perhaps *Andreas Jensen* will chime in to give you the real scoop on this and under precisely what circumstances you might hear the less common formulations.  

But what it comes down to -- again -- is what sounds/is most natural most of the time, not what is grammatically, technically possible to say.


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## Agarina

Oh, I see.  Thanks.  But I was mostly wondering because another example my book gave was "Jeg synes det er en interessant rejse."  And since this is the same order as it would be in in English, I was just wondering if there was some rule about when you use which order.  Though Whodunit's explaination seems to make sense in this case.


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## Whodunit

Agarina said:


> Oh, I see.  Thanks.  But I was mostly wondering because another example my book gave was "Jeg synes det er en interessant rejse."  And since this is the same order as it would be in in English, I was just wondering if there was some rule about when you use which order.  Though Whodunit's explaination seems to make sense in this case.



You should treat the sentence _Jeg synes det er en interessant rejse_ like in English _I think this is an interesting trip_. If you want to make it clearer, you can insert _at_:

_Jeg synes, at det er en interessant rejse.
I know that this is an interesting trip._

You can't invert the word order here, unless you put the entire subordinate clause to the beginning:

_At det er en interessant rejse, synes jeg._ (Pay attention to the word order of _synes jeg_!)
_ That this is an interesting trip, I do think._

The English as well as the Danish sentence emphasizes that she knows exactly that fact and nothing else, which could be important at the moment.

It is the same with your example sentence:

_Jeg synes det også.
I think so, too.

Det synes jeg også.
That is what I also think._

The latter is more common for short sentences, especially with _det_, but I would omit such constructions for longer sentences, unless you are familiar with the language and you know exactly why you want to use it here.


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## Agarina

Hmm, okay, I think I understand.  Thanks to both of you!


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## Andreas_Jensen

Although the matter seems resolved, I can't help it but to "chime in" 

Whoodunit, if you've never studied Danish, then I'm seriously impressed! You can definitely add it to your "languages learning"  There are some minor issues I'd like to resolve though. 

First, the 100% correct translation of "Jeg synes det er en interessant rejse", would be "I think it is an interesting trip". If you wanted to say "this" you'd use "det her" or "dette" (VERY uncommon in spoken Danish). When using "det her" and "dette", you'd almost always add an "at": "Jeg synes at det her er en interessant rejse". 

Second, the correct rendering of the sentence in your second post would be "_At det er en interessant rejse, det synes jeg"_. I guess that _synes_ always needs an object (I'm not huge on grammatics!).

Getting back to the original subject, I largely agree with everything that has been said so far. 

*Det synes jeg også* is immensely more common than *jeg synes det også*. Personally, I don't hear a difference in meaning, and even though the latter is possible, I'd strongly advice you to always go with the former. 

Funnily enough, I'd say that *jeg tror det* is more common than *det tror jeg*, but these two seem equally valid to me. Maybe the first one seems more doubtful, but that's just speculationg  

*Det ved jeg ikke* and *Jeg ved det ikke *are also equally good, and used to almost the same degree. maybe BoTrojan is right about the first one being slightly more common, but personally, I'd use both.

For short exclamations like the above, you could put the *det* in both positions, but in long sentences with "proper" objects, other than merely *det* (again, not huge on grammatics), you always put_* det*_ after the verb. That's the best rule I can give. Of course, as Whodunit says, you can go for the "_At det er en interessant rejse, det synes jeg"_, but this is a hugely uncommon construction, and should be handled with care .

Andreas


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## Whodunit

Andreas_Jensen said:


> Whoodunit, if you've never studied Danish, then I'm seriously impressed! You can definitely add it to your "languages learning"



 tak ...



> There are some minor issues I'd like to resolve though.



No problem. I knew my post wouldn't be flawless. 



> First, the 100% correct translation of "Jeg synes det er en interessant rejse", would be "I think it is an interesting trip". If you wanted to say "this" you'd use "det her" or "dette" (VERY uncommon in spoken Danish). When using "det her" and "dette", you'd almost always add an "at": "Jeg synes at det her er en interessant rejse".


 
Interestingly, it's nearly the same in German.  Thanks for the advice!



> Second, the correct rendering of the sentence in your second post would be "_At det er en interessant rejse, det synes jeg"_. I guess that _synes_ always needs an object (I'm not huge on grammatics!).



That's very interesting, since I only know those constructions from colloquial German and colloquial French. By the way, _synes_ already has an object, which is the complete subordinate sentence in front of it. The repetition of the object in terms of a simple _het_ is quite interesting. 

Thanks again for your corrections and ... the compliments.


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## BoTrojan

Andreas_Jensen said:


> Funnily enough, I'd say that *jeg tror det* is more common than *det tror jeg*, but these two seem equally valid to me. Maybe the first one seems more doubtful, but that's just speculationg
> 
> Andreas


 
Andreas,

Do you really find that "*jeg tror det*" is a more common response than "*det tror jeg*"?  I'm imagining a simple question:

*Tror du at Lars kommer med til biografen?*

If I were asked this question, I and every Dane (that I know, at least) would almost certainly respond:

*Det tror jeg* or *det tror jeg nok.*

It just goes to show you how one's particular experience can color one's image of the truth.  I lived for almost three years primarily in Valby (Koebenhavn).  It's possible that people in that area have language tendencies that are different from the overall norm?  It might even, as I've suggested before, come down to the very people that I mostly interacted with.  I have no idea.

PS:  "*Funnily enough*" is a formulation you only very rarely hear in American English in my experience.  It seems rather common in British English, however.


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## kdfossum

I would respond "Ja, det tror jeg".  Nordic languages sounds like Yoda, when directly translated, I know


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## Fantasma

BoTrojan said:


> Andreas,
> 
> Do you really find that "*jeg tror det*" is a more common response than "*det tror jeg*"?  I'm imagining a simple question:
> 
> *Tror du at Lars kommer med til biografen?*
> 
> If I were asked this question, I and every Dane (that I know, at least) would almost certainly respond:
> 
> *Det tror jeg* or *det tror jeg nok. *


I know I am commenting on an old thread, but I definitely agree with you: _*Det tror jeg*_ is fairly more common than _*Jeg tror det*_, but in terms of semantics there are no differences between the two of them. I would use both, and I can't tell you when I would use one or the other.   


> It just goes to show you how one's particular experience can color one's image of the truth.  I lived for almost three years primarily in Valby (Koebenhavn).  It's possible that people in that area have language tendencies that are different from the overall norm?  It might even, as I've suggested before, come down to the very people that I mostly interacted with.  I have no idea.


Danish in Copenhagen is regarded by those who live there as the most right way of speaking Danish. I live in Århus, in Jutland, and we do not necessarily agree. Nevertheless, I think your comments were right as regards your comment on _*jeg tror det*_/_*det tror jeg*_, as the latter seems most common in colloquial language.


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## Lugubert

Andreas_Jensen said:


> *Det synes jeg også* is immensely more common than *jeg synes det også*. Personally, I don't hear a difference in meaning, and even though the latter is possible, I'd strongly advice you to always go with the former.


From my western Swedish point of view, I feel that the second variety is concentrating on that the speaker has this view. The first version stresses that the answer agrees with the expressed opinion.

*



			Det ved jeg ikke
		
Click to expand...

*


> and *Jeg ved det ikke *are also equally good, and used to almost the same degree. maybe BoTrojan is right about the first one being slightly more common, but personally, I'd use both.


Again, my non-native impression is that the moving forward of "the" stresses that a previous utterance is commnted on, while the other alternative sounds like the speaker is less interested in the subject, but rather resigned.


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