Learn Danish: Børnene vil gerne heppe på spillerne. - The children want to cheer for the players.

While vil alone can mean "want to", it often implies a strong demand, pure willpower, or the future tense ("will"). Adding gerne softens it to a natural desire, much like "would like to" or a standard "want to" in English.

The English translation says "want to cheer", so why isn't there an at before heppe?

Vil is a modal verb. In Danish, modal verbs are followed directly by the infinitive form of the main verb without using at (to). This is just like how we say "will cheer" instead of "will to cheer" in English.

Why is the preposition på used here to mean "for"?

In Danish, the verb heppe (to cheer) pairs specifically with the preposition på when you are supporting someone. Prepositions rarely translate one-to-one between languages, so it is best to memorize the phrase heppe på as a set package.

Why does "the children" end in -ene (børnene) while "the players" ends in just -ne (spillerne)?

Both are plural definite endings meaning "the", but they attach to the indefinite plural form of the noun. The plural of child is børn, so we add -ene to make børnene. The plural of player is spillere. Since it already ends in an -e, we just add -ne to make spillerne.