Tja, grillen er kold.

Tja is an interjection, similar to English well, hmm, so, or I guess depending on tone and context. It often suggests hesitation, mild resignation, or a not-very-enthusiastic conclusion.

In Tja, grillen er kold, it gives the sentence a slightly reflective or resigned feeling, like:

• Well, the grill is cold.
• Hmm, the grill is cold.

It is very common in spoken Danish.

Because grillen means the grill, while grill means a grill.

In Danish, the definite article is often added to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word in front.

• en grill = a grill
• grillen = the grill

This is one of the most important differences from English.

The ending -en is the definite ending for many common gender nouns in Danish.

Since grill is a common gender noun:

• en grill = a grill
• grillen = the grill

If the noun were neuter, it would often take -et instead:

• et hus = a house
• huset = the house

So the ending tells you both that the noun is definite and, often, what gender it has.

You usually have to learn the gender along with the noun:

• en grill

There is no completely reliable rule that lets you guess every noun’s gender, so learners normally memorize the article as part of the word. A good habit is to learn nouns as whole units:

• en grill
• et bord
• en bil

That way, forms like grillen become much easier.

This is the normal Danish word order for a simple statement:

subject + verb + complement

So:

• grillen = subject
• er = verb
• kold = adjective/predicative complement

Literally:

• grillen = the grill
• er = is
• kold = cold

So it matches English very closely: The grill is cold.

Yes. Er is the present tense of at være = to be.

So:

• jeg er = I am
• du er = you are
• den er = it is
• grillen er = the grill is

Unlike English, Danish uses the same present form er with all persons.

Here kold is used after the verb er, so it is a predicative adjective.

The noun grillen is singular and common gender, so the adjective stays in its basic common-gender/singular form:

• grillen er kold = the grill is cold

Compare:

• et hus er koldt = a house is cold
  because hus is neuter
• grillene er kolde = the grills are cold
  because it is plural

So the form changes depending on gender and number.

Yes, if it is already clear which grill you mean.

• Grillen er kold = The grill is cold
• Den er kold = It is cold

Since grill is a common gender noun, the pronoun is den.

If the noun were neuter, you would use det instead.

Because Tja is being used as a separate discourse word or interjection at the start of the sentence. In writing, Danish often separates that kind of opening element with a comma:

• Tja, grillen er kold.

It works much like English punctuation in:

• Well, the grill is cold.

In very informal writing, people may sometimes punctuate loosely, but the comma is normal here.

A careful learner-friendly approximation would be something like:

• Tja ≈ tya or cha with a soft y sound
• grillen ≈ GRIL-en
• er ≈ a short, reduced vowel sound, often not strongly pronounced
• kold ≈ somewhat like kohl
  • a soft Danish d

A rough full approximation:

tya, GRIL-en er kol

A few notes:

• Danish r is not like a strong English r
• final d in words like kold is often soft or weakened
• unstressed words like er can be reduced a lot in natural speech

If you want to sound natural, the rhythm matters as much as the individual sounds.

Usually, yes, but context matters.

In Danish, grill can refer to:

• the physical grill/barbecue
• sometimes a grill device or rack
• in some contexts, things related to grilling more generally

In grillen er kold, the most natural reading is the grill/barbecue is cold.

Yes, it sounds completely natural. It is short, simple, and idiomatic.

With Tja, it especially sounds like spoken Danish: a person is observing the situation and making a calm or slightly resigned comment.

Without Tja, it would still be natural:

• Grillen er kold.

With Tja, it feels more conversational.