Jeg ringer til hospitalet.

Because ringer is the present tense form.

• at ringe = to call
• ringer = call / am calling

In Danish, the present tense usually ends in -r, and the same form is used for all persons:

• jeg ringer
• du ringer
• han/hun ringer
• vi ringer

So unlike English, Danish does not have separate present-tense forms like I call vs he calls.

Because the normal Danish pattern is at ringe til nogen/noget = to call someone/something.

English says call the hospital with no preposition, but Danish usually needs til:

• Jeg ringer til hospitalet
• Hun ringer til sin mor
• Vi ringer til politiet

So til is not optional here in standard Danish. It is part of how the verb is used.

In Danish, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun.

So:

• et hospital = a hospital
• hospitalet = the hospital

This is very common in Danish:

• et hus → huset
• en bil → bilen
• et hospital → hospitalet

So where English uses a separate word like the, Danish often adds an ending instead.

Because hospital is a neuter noun in Danish.

Danish nouns are mainly either:

• en-words
• et-words

Hospital is an et-word, so:

• et hospital
• hospitalet

Unfortunately, there is not always a simple rule that lets you guess the gender, so learners usually have to memorize the noun together with its article: et hospital, not just hospital.

Yes.

The Danish present tense often covers both the English simple present and present progressive, depending on context.

So Jeg ringer til hospitalet can mean:

• I call the hospital
• I am calling the hospital

In real life, context usually makes it clear. It can even sometimes refer to the near future, like I’ll call the hospital, if the situation makes that meaning obvious.

The basic word order here is:

subject + verb + prepositional phrase

• Jeg = subject
• ringer = verb
• til hospitalet = prepositional phrase

So it follows a very English-like order here.

But Danish also has the important verb-second rule in main clauses. That means if something else comes first, the verb still stays in second position:

• Nu ringer jeg til hospitalet
• I dag ringer jeg til hospitalet

So you do not say I dag jeg ringer... in standard Danish.

A rough learner-friendly approximation is:

yai RING-er til hospi-TAL-et

A few notes:

• jeg is often pronounced something like yai
• ringer has a clear first syllable: RING-
• hospitalet has the main stress on -tal-

This is only an approximation. Real Danish pronunciation is softer and less fully pronounced than the spelling suggests, especially in connected speech.

Not in standard Danish.

You normally need til after ringe when you mean phone/call:

• Jeg ringer til hospitalet
• Han ringer til lægen
• De ringer til os

So for a learner, the safest rule is:

ringe til + person/place/institution

Because they mean different things.

• ringe til hospitalet = call the hospital
• være på hospitalet = be at the hospital

So til here belongs with the verb ringe. It does not mean physical direction in this sentence.

Compare:

• Jeg ringer til hospitalet = I call the hospital
• Jeg er på hospitalet = I am at the hospital

That is a very common difference for learners to notice.

No. The basic verb ringe originally means to ring, as in a bell making a sound.

But ringe til is the normal everyday way to say phone / call.

So:

• Klokken ringer = the bell is ringing
• Jeg ringer til hospitalet = I am calling the hospital

The preposition til helps signal the phone-call meaning.

Yes, often you can.

• hospitalet = the hospital
• sygehuset = the hospital

Both are used in Danish. In everyday Danish, sygehus is very common, while hospital is also common and often appears in official names and more formal contexts.

So Jeg ringer til sygehuset would also be natural in many situations.