Learn Danish: Børnene vil hellere spille brætspillet udendørs. - The children would rather play the board game outdoors.

In Danish, preferences are usually expressed using the modal verb vil (want to) along with the adverbs gerne, hellere, or helst. So vil hellere translates literally to 'wants to more gladly', which is the standard way to express 'would rather' in Danish.

Why is the verb spille in its infinitive form without at?

This is because of the modal verb vil. Just like in English where we say 'will play' instead of 'will to play', Danish modal verbs are followed directly by the bare infinitive of the main verb, so we leave out the at.

What is the base form of the word børnene?

The singular base word is et barn (a child). It has an irregular plural form: børn (children). To say 'the children', you add the definite plural ending -ene to get børnene.

How do I know that brætspillet takes the -et ending rather than -en?

Brætspillet is a compound noun made of et bræt (a board) and et spil (a game). In Danish, compound words always take the gender of the final word. Because it is et spil (a neuter word), the definite form 'the board game' must take the neuter ending -et.