Hver gang viceværten tjekker nødudgangen, tjekker han også branddøren.

Hver gang means every time or whenever.

In this sentence, it shows that the action happens repeatedly:

• Hver gang viceværten tjekker nødudgangen = Every time the caretaker checks the emergency exit
• tjekker han også branddøren = he also checks the fire door

So this is not about one single event. It describes a regular pattern or habit.

This is because Danish uses verb-second word order in main clauses.

When a sentence starts with something other than the subject, the finite verb usually comes next. Here, the sentence begins with the subordinate clause:

• Hver gang viceværten tjekker nødudgangen

After that, the main clause starts, and Danish puts the verb first:

• tjekker han også branddøren

If you wrote the main clause by itself, it would normally be:

• Han tjekker også branddøren.

But because something else comes first, it changes to:

• ..., tjekker han også branddøren.

This inversion is very common in Danish.

The comma separates the subordinate clause from the main clause.

• Subordinate clause: Hver gang viceværten tjekker nødudgangen
• Main clause: tjekker han også branddøren

In standard Danish punctuation, this kind of clause boundary is usually marked with a comma. So the comma helps show the structure of the sentence.

That -en ending marks the definite form for many Danish common-gender nouns. It often corresponds to English the.

So:

• vicevært = caretaker / building superintendent

• viceværten = the caretaker

• nødudgang = emergency exit

• nødudgangen = the emergency exit

• branddør = fire door
• branddøren = the fire door

Unlike English, Danish often adds the definite article to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word in front.

Here han means he, referring to an actual male person: viceværten.

This is about the person's natural gender, not just noun grammar. Danish nouns do have grammatical gender, but for people, pronouns usually follow the person's real sex:

• viceværten ... han = the caretaker ... he

If the sentence referred to a woman, you would normally use hun.

Danish often uses the present tense to describe habitual or repeated actions, just like English does.

So:

• Hver gang viceværten tjekker nødudgangen, tjekker han også branddøren.

means something like:

• Every time the caretaker checks the emergency exit, he also checks the fire door.

It is not necessarily happening right now. It describes what he regularly does.

Også means also.

In this sentence, it shows that checking the fire door is an additional action:

• tjekker han også branddøren = he also checks the fire door

Its placement is natural Danish word order. In a main clause like this, også often comes after the subject or around that central verb area, depending on what exactly it modifies.

Here the sentence means:

• he checks the emergency exit
• and he also checks the fire door

So også connects the second checked item to the first one.

Vicevært is a building-related job title. Depending on context, it can mean:

• caretaker
• janitor
• building superintendent
• property caretaker

It is someone responsible for practical maintenance or supervision of a building or housing complex.

So viceværten means the caretaker / the building superintendent.

Yes. Danish forms many nouns by combining smaller words.

• nødudgang = nød

  • udgang
  • nød = emergency
  • udgang = exit
  • so: emergency exit

• branddør = brand

  • dør
  • brand = fire
  • dør = door
  • so: fire door

Then the definite ending -en is added:

• nødudgangen = the emergency exit
• branddøren = the fire door

This kind of compounding is extremely common in Danish.

Yes, but only if you change the sentence structure.

If the main clause comes first, you can say:

• Han tjekker også branddøren, hver gang viceværten tjekker nødudgangen.

That is grammatically fine.

But if the sentence begins with the hver gang clause, then standard Danish requires inversion in the main clause:

• Hver gang viceværten tjekker nødudgangen, tjekker han også branddøren.

So both are possible, but the word order depends on what comes first.

Danish often repeats the verb clearly in each clause, especially when the sentence has two separate clause parts.

Here the structure is:

• every time he checks X,
• he also checks Y

So repeating tjekker makes the relationship explicit and natural:

• Hver gang ... tjekker ..., tjekker han også ...

English sometimes also does this:

• Every time he checks the emergency exit, he also checks the fire door.

So the repetition is normal and not awkward.

Sometimes yes, but they are not exactly the same.

• Hver gang = every time, strongly emphasizing repetition
• når can often mean when in a general or repeated sense

So you might hear:

• Når viceværten tjekker nødudgangen, tjekker han også branddøren.

That can also make sense, but hver gang is more explicit: it clearly means this happens on every such occasion.

Yes, most likely. The definite forms:

• viceværten = the caretaker
• nødudgangen = the emergency exit
• branddøren = the fire door

suggest that the speaker and listener know which caretaker, emergency exit, and fire door are being talked about.

So the sentence sounds like it refers to known things in a particular building or situation.