Terningen ligger ved spillebrættet.

Because Danish usually puts the definite article onto the end of the noun.

• terning = die
• terningen = the die
• spillebræt = game board
• spillebrættet = the game board

So in a simple sentence like this, Danish does not normally use a separate word matching English the.

That depends on the noun’s gender.

Danish has two grammatical genders:

• common gender nouns usually take -en in the singular definite
• neuter nouns usually take -et in the singular definite

Here:

• en terning → terningen
• et spillebræt → spillebrættet

So terning is a common-gender noun, while spillebræt is a neuter noun.

ligger is the present tense of ligge.

• at ligge = to lie / to be lying
• ligger = lies / is lying

A very common Danish pattern is that the present tense ends in -r:

• bo → bor
• spille → spiller
• ligge → ligger

So this sentence is describing where the die is right now.

Danish often prefers a position verb where English would simply say is.

Here, ligger is natural because the die is understood as resting somewhere. Danish is more likely than English to specify whether something:

• ligger = lies
• står = stands
• sidder = sits

So Terningen ligger ved spillebrættet sounds more natural than just using er.

Often yes, but not always in a very strict geometric sense.

With objects, ligge is commonly used when something is:

• resting on a surface
• located somewhere
• not thought of as standing upright

A die would very naturally be described with ligger. Danish is not necessarily forcing you to imagine it dramatically stretched out like a person lying down; it is just the normal verb for an object like this being there.

ved usually means something like:

• by
• next to
• at
• near

In this sentence, it means the die is by / next to the game board.

It does not usually mean the die is on top of the board. If it were on the board, Danish would more likely use på:

• Terningen ligger på spillebrættet = The die is on the game board

So ved suggests closeness, not necessarily contact or being on it.

Because Danish forms compound nouns very freely, and they are usually written as one word.

So:

• spille
  • bræt → spillebræt

This is very normal in Danish. English sometimes writes similar ideas as two words, but Danish often joins them into a single compound noun.

The basic noun is bræt, and the definite form is brættet.

When the ending -et is added, Danish spelling often changes slightly to keep the expected sound pattern. So:

• bræt → brættet
• spillebræt → spillebrættet

This is a spelling pattern you will see in other Danish nouns too. The important thing for a learner is mainly to recognize spillebrættet as the definite form of spillebræt.

It is the normal Danish main-clause order:

• Terningen = subject
• ligger = verb
• ved spillebrættet = prepositional phrase

So the pattern is:

Subject + Verb + other information

This is the most basic word order in Danish. Also, Danish is a V2 language, which means the finite verb normally stays in the second position in main clauses. For example, you could also say:

Ved spillebrættet ligger terningen.

That is still correct, because ligger remains in second position.

The basic forms are:

• en terning = a die
• et spillebræt = a game board

Useful forms to know:

• en terning / terningen / terninger / terningerne
• et spillebræt / spillebrættet / spillebrætter / spillebrætterne

Learning nouns together with their article, definite form, and plural is very helpful in Danish.