Questions & Answers about De gemmer den ikke væk.
Why is væk at the very end of the sentence?
The verb here is the separable phrasal verb at gemme væk (to hide away). In Danish main clauses, the main verb (gemmer) stays in the second position, but its particle (væk) gets pushed to the end of the sentence, after the object (den) and the negation (ikke).
Why is ikke placed after the object den, instead of right after the verb?
Usually, ikke comes right after the verb. However, when the object is a short pronoun like den, det, or mig, it jumps ahead of ikke. If the object were a full noun, like bogen (the book), it would be placed after the negation: De gemmer ikke bogen væk.
Why use den for "it" instead of det?
In Danish, "it" translates to den if it refers to a common-gender (en) word, and det if it refers to a neuter (et) word. Since den is used here, whatever they are hiding must be an "en" word, like nøglen (the key) or bogen (the book).
Does gemmer always mean "hide"?
On its own, gemmer often means "saves" or "keeps" (like saving a file on your computer). Adding the particle væk makes it specifically mean "hides away" or "puts away out of sight."