Learn Hardcore Danish: Naboen låner sukker af min mor. - The neighbor borrows sugar from my mother.

Borrow: låne + thing + af + person (borrow something from someone)
Lend: låne + person + thing or låne + thing + til + person (lend someone something / lend something to someone)

So Naboen låner sukker af min mor = The neighbor is borrowing sugar from my mother.
Lend versions would be: Min mor låner naboen sukker or Min mor låner sukker til naboen.

Why is it af and not fra?

With borrowing from a person, Danish idiomatically uses af: låne noget af nogen.

af highlights the person as the source.
fra is common for places, directions, and more general origin. You’ll hear låne fra in speech, and it’s fine especially with institutions (e.g., låne fra biblioteket), but with a person af is the most idiomatic choice: af min mor.

Why is there no article before sukker?

Because sukker is an uncountable mass noun. Danish (like English) typically omits the article for mass nouns in the indefinite sense.

Optional ways to show “some”: noget sukker, lidt sukker, en smule sukker.
If you mean “the sugar,” use the definite form: sukkeret.

Why is it min (not mit or mine) before mor?

Danish possessives agree with the noun’s gender and number:

min = common gender, singular (en-words), e.g., min mor, min nabo
mit = neuter, singular (et-words), e.g., mit hus
mine = all plurals, e.g., mine naboer

What’s the basic word order here?

Main-clause V2 (verb-second) word order:

Subject in first position, finite verb in second: Naboen (1) låner (2) sukker af min mor.
If you front something else, the finite verb still stays second:
- I dag låner naboen sukker af min mor.
- With a frequency adverb: Naboen låner ofte sukker af min mor. (adverb after the verb)

Where does negation (ikke) go?

With a full noun object: S V ikke O …
- Naboen låner ikke sukker af min mor.
With a pronoun object, the pronoun comes before ikke:
- Naboen låner det ikke af hende.

Can I say Naboen låner min mors sukker instead of af min mor?

Yes. Naboen låner min mors sukker emphasizes whose sugar it is (possession).
… af min mor emphasizes the person as the source of the loan. Both are natural; for “borrow from,” the af construction is the default.

How do I say “My mother lends the neighbor some sugar”?

Two common ways:

Double-object: Min mor låner naboen (noget/lidt) sukker.
With a preposition: Min mor låner (noget/lidt) sukker til naboen.

What tense is låner, and how do I say it in the past?

låner = present (can be present-time or habitual).
Simple past: lånte — Naboen lånte sukker af min mor i går.
Present perfect: har lånt — Naboen har lånt sukker af min mor. To express “right now,” Danish often uses the simple present plus a time word: Lige nu låner naboen sukker af min mor.

Can I use vores nabo instead of Naboen? And can I combine a possessive with the -en ending?

Yes: Vores nabo låner sukker af min mor.
You cannot combine a possessive with the definite suffix: say min/vores nabo, not min/vores naboen.
Naboen (with -en) means “the neighbor” (already definite/known from context).

How do I refer to multiple neighbors?

Singular: en nabo (a neighbor), naboen (the neighbor)
Plural: naboer (neighbors), naboerne (the neighbors)
Example: Naboerne låner sukker af min mor.

Any quick pronunciation tips?

Very rough guides:

låner: roughly “LOH-ner” (the å is like the vowel in “law/born”).
sukker: roughly “SUK-er” (u like in “book”).
af: often sounds like “av.”
mor: like “moor.”
Regional accents vary; these are only approximations.

Is it okay to say just Naboen låner sukker?

Grammatically yes, but it sounds incomplete unless context already makes the source obvious. Normally you add from whom or where:

Naboen låner sukker af min mor.
Naboen låner sukker fra biblioteket (if it were a thing you can loan from an institution).