Marinaden er klar.

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

• en marinade = a marinade
• marinaden = the marinade

So the -en here means the.

In Danish, the definite article is often attached directly to the noun instead of standing before it.

Compare:

• English: the marinade
• Danish: marinaden

This is very common in Danish with nouns like:

• en bil → bilen
• en bog → bogen
• en marinade → marinaden

Er is the present tense of at være (to be).

So:

• jeg er = I am
• du er = you are
• marinaden er = the marinade is

Danish does not change the verb by person the way English does. The same form er is used with different subjects.

Because marinaden is a common-gender singular noun, and predicate adjectives agree with the noun.

Here’s the pattern with klar:

• common gender singular: klar
• neuter singular: klart
• plural: klare

Examples:

• Marinaden er klar.
• Huset er klart.
• Grøntsagerne er klare.

Since marinade is an en-word, klar is the correct form.

You usually learn the gender together with the noun:

• en marinade

That tells you it is a common-gender noun. In Danish, noun gender is something you mostly have to memorize noun by noun, although some patterns can help.

Because it is en marinade, the definite form becomes marinaden.

No, this is a very basic Danish sentence pattern:

subject + verb + adjective

• Marinaden = subject
• er = verb
• klar = adjective/complement

It works much like English:

• The marinade is ready.

A simple learner-friendly approximation is:

mah-ree-NA-thən air klahr

A few notes:

• d in marinaden is often softened, not pronounced like a strong English d
• er is often pronounced very lightly in normal speech
• klar has a broad a sound

If you want to sound more natural, listen to native audio, because Danish pronunciation is often less phonetic than the spelling suggests.

No. Klar can mean several related things depending on context, including:

• ready
• clear
• finished/prepared
• sometimes obvious or plain

In Marinaden er klar, the natural meaning is ready or prepared.

Yes, often you can, but there is a small difference in feel.

• klar = ready, prepared for use, set
• færdig = finished, done

With food, both can work depending on context.
Marinaden er klar often sounds like the marinade is ready.
Marinaden er færdig can sound more like the marinade is finished/completed.

You add ikke after the verb:

Marinaden er ikke klar.

That means The marinade is not ready.

This is the normal placement in a simple main clause:

• subject + verb + ikke
  • rest

That would be:

En marinade er klar.

This means A marinade is ready.

So compare:

• En marinade = a marinade
• Marinaden = the marinade

The difference is just definiteness.

Then the adjective changes to the plural form klare.

Example:

• Marinaderne er klare. = The marinades are ready.

So the adjective forms are:

• klar for common singular
• klart for neuter singular
• klare for plural

That agreement pattern is very useful to learn early.