Jeg skylder elselskabet penge.

Because jeg is the subject form, like English I.

In this sentence, jeg is the person doing the action of owing, so Danish uses jeg:

• jeg = I
• mig = me

So:

• Jeg skylder ... = I owe ...
• not Mig skylder ...

Skylder is the present tense of the verb at skylde.

A few useful forms are:

• at skylde = to owe
• skylder = owe / am owing
• skyldte = owed
• har skyldt = have owed

So Jeg skylder elselskabet penge is in the present tense: I owe the electricity company money.

Because skylde usually takes its objects directly in Danish.

The basic pattern is:

skylde + someone + something

So:

• Jeg skylder elselskabet penge = literally I owe the electricity company money

English also allows this same pattern: I owe the company money.

In other words, Danish does not need a preposition here in the standard pattern.

Because Danish very often makes compound nouns by joining words together.

Here:

• el = electricity / electrical
• selskab = company

So:

• elselskab = electricity company

Then Danish adds the definite ending -et to the noun:

• et elselskab = an electricity company
• elselskabet = the electricity company

So elselskabet is one word because Danish compounds are normally written as one word, and -et is the built-in definite article.

Because Danish usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word before it.

For example:

• et selskab = a company
• selskabet = the company

That is exactly what happens in elselskabet.

A separate definite word like den/det is mainly used in other structures, especially when there is an adjective:

• det store elselskab = the big electricity company

But with just the noun by itself, the ending is enough:

• elselskabet

Because penge often works like a general, indefinite mass idea: money.

In this sentence, it does not mean the money or some specific coins/notes. It just means money in general, so Danish naturally uses bare penge:

• Jeg skylder elselskabet penge

This is similar to English, where we normally just say money, not a money.

You can add words like nogle in other contexts, but here it would usually sound less natural.

In modern Danish, penge is treated as a plural-only noun in normal use.

So even though English money behaves like a singular mass noun, Danish uses penge:

• Pengene er væk = The money is gone

You do not normally use a singular form like en penge.

If you want to talk about one unit, you use a currency word instead:

• en krone
• to kroner

So in this sentence, penge is the normal word for money.

The neutral word order here is:

subject + verb + objects

So:

• Jeg = subject
• skylder = finite verb
• elselskabet = the person/company owed
• penge = the thing owed

So the structure is:

Jeg skylder elselskabet penge.

This is a very natural Danish order.

More broadly, Danish is a V2 language, which means the finite verb is usually in the second position in a main clause. In this sentence, the subject comes first, so the verb follows it directly.

You may hear that kind of wording, and it will usually be understood, but the most standard and useful pattern to learn is:

skylde nogen noget
= owe someone something

So the best model sentence is:

Jeg skylder elselskabet penge.

If you are learning Danish, that is the structure to aim for first.

No. Skylde has a wider use.

It can mean:

1. to owe

   • Jeg skylder ham 100 kroner.

2. to be due to / to be caused by

   • Det skyldes vejret. = It is due to the weather.

So the verb is broader than just money, although in your sentence the money meaning is the one being used.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

yai SGÜL-er EL-sel-ska-beth PENG-uh

A more IPA-style version is approximately:

[jɑj ˈsgylɐ ˈeːlˌselskabəð ˈpʰeŋə]

A few notes:

• jeg often sounds like yai or even a shorter ya in everyday speech
• y in skylder is not an English vowel; it is closer to German ü
• the ending -et in elselskabet is weak and unstressed
• penge has two syllables: PENG-uh

If you want to sound natural, the hardest part is usually the vowel in skylder and the soft ending in elselskabet.