Norwegian: Det å få en jobb...

[Kabouterke]

Hi there,

Question about this sentence:

"Det å få en jobb hvor du har ansvar for andre, trenger ikke nødvendigvis å bety at du er verken smart eller flink i jobben du har fått."

What is the function of the first word 'det'? How is this different than just saying "Å få en jobb hvor..."

Thanks for the help!

 

[Svenke]

I would say that the two are synonymous, but they can't always be used interchangeably.

For instance, you can say
Det trenger ikke å være hyggelig å få familiebesøk
but not
*Det trenger ikke å være hyggelig det å få familiebesøk
where the initial det doesn't refer to anything.

(But you could say
Det trenger ikke å være hyggelig, det å få familiebesøk
in which case å få familiebesøk refers back to the initial det.)

Also, it is OK to say
Nå har det å få familiebesøk blitt hyggelig
but normally not
*Nå har å få familiebesøk blitt hyggelig.

 

[Ben Jamin]

Hi there,

Question about this sentence:

"Det å få en jobb hvor du har ansvar for andre, trenger ikke nødvendigvis å bety at du er verken smart eller flink i jobben du har fått."

What is the function of the first word 'det'? How is this different than just saying "Å få en jobb hvor..."

Thanks for the help!

In colloquial speech you can drop the initial Det in this sentence, without changing the meaning or making the message less clear. Det is here just an additional clarifier and emphasizer. Translated Det literally to English (in this sentence) would be "The [act of] getting a job". Adding det in this sentence makes the speech more formal and careful.