"Det är mina nycklar."

Translation: It is my keys.

[kathryn.ne]

Why shouldn't this be "dom är mina nycklar"?

[Arnauti]

det does not refer to the keys, it is an empty word referring to 'the thing I am talking about' and it does not change for gender or number. We usually compare it to 'it' in 'It is raining'.

[Arnauti]

I just wrote a longer post about this here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9708920

[jeremyswedish]

They (as in people) are my keys

[ClockworkElf]

What about "dem är mina nycklar".?

[Arnauti]

Apart from what I just wrote in answer to kathryn.ne, dem är mina nycklar is actually even worse. dem is an object form and can never be used as a subject in a sentence at all. (since de and dem are pronounced the same way, many Swedes struggle with this, so it is a pretty frequently made error, but it's still considered wrong).

[tsuj1g1r1]

I typed in "These are my keys", only to be told it has to be "Those are my keys."

[Arnauti]

Quite right. det can mean 'it' or 'that' – and in sentences like this, where you don't say 'It's my keys' in English – 'they' or 'those'. For 'these are my keys', we would have said det här or detta.

[tsuj1g1r1]

Tack!

[Jeffrey424760]

”They are my keys”. The correct answer in the English speaking country I live in.

[datzysve]

I heard "de är mina nicklar". Is it wrong?

[Arnauti]

We normally don't say the t in det in everyday speech.

There's a clear difference between the /i/ sound and the /y/ sound, but the /y/ sound is usually hard
for learners to pick up, so just keep listening and you'll hear the difference eventually.

[Ezra746950]

Is "de är mina nycklar" gramatically correct and if so, would it not translate to "they are my keys"?