Learn Danish: Lejligheden er lille. Til gengæld ligger den midt i byen. - The apartment is small. On the other hand, it is in the middle of town.

Til gengæld literally translates to something like "in return" or "as compensation." In Danish, it is very commonly used to mean "on the other hand," "however," or "then again." It is the perfect phrase to introduce a positive contrast that makes up for a negative thing you just mentioned—in this case, the great location making up for the small size of the apartment.

Why does the second sentence say "ligger den" instead of "den ligger"?

This happens because of the Danish V2 (verb-second) rule. The phrase Til gengæld takes up the first position in the sentence. Because the verb must always be the second idea in a main clause, the verb ligger comes next, pushing the subject den to the other side of the verb.

Why use the verb "ligger" here instead of "er" to say "it is"?

While you could technically use er (is), Danish strongly prefers using positional verbs like ligger (lies) or står (stands) to describe the physical location of things. Because a building or an apartment is spread out flat on the ground or within an area, Danish speakers say that it ligger in the city.

Why is the pronoun "den" used for "it" instead of "det"?