Learn Hardcore Danish: Hun tager sin jakke, før hun går ud af huset. - She takes her jacket before she goes out of the house.

So without på, we normally understand it as “take (with you)”. Context can blur the line a bit, but grammatically på is what clearly gives the meaning “put on (clothes)”.

Why is it sin jakke and not hendes jakke?

Danish has a special “reflexive” possessive, sin/sit/sine, used when the possessor is the subject of the same clause.

Hun tager sin jakke
= She takes her own jacket.
Hun tager hendes jakke
= She takes her jacket (another woman’s jacket, not the subject’s).

So sin here shows that the jacket belongs to hun (the subject of that clause). Using hendes would usually mean it belongs to some other female person already known from the context.

Why is there a comma before før? Is it required in Danish?

In traditional Danish comma rules, you do put a comma before most subordinate clauses, including those introduced by før.

Hun tager sin jakke, før hun går ud af huset.

In modern Danish, there are two accepted systems:

With “grammatical comma” (traditional): comma before før is correct and expected.
With “new comma”: you may omit that comma:
Hun tager sin jakke før hun går ud af huset.

So the comma here is normal and very common, but depending on the comma system, it can be optional. Both versions are accepted in contemporary Danish.

Why is the word order “før hun går ud af huset” and not “før går hun ud af huset”?

Because “før hun går ud af huset” is a subordinate clause.

In main clauses, Danish is verb-second (V2):
Hun går ud af huset. / I dag går hun ud af huset.
In subordinate clauses, the finite verb usually comes after the subject, not in second position:
før hun går ud af huset (conjunction – subject – verb – rest).

So:

✅ før hun går ud af huset (correct subordinate clause)
❌ før går hun ud af huset (would be treated like a main clause and is wrong in this structure)

Why is it ud af huset and not just ud huset or fra huset?

Danish typically uses “ud af” to express motion from inside to outside something:

Hun går ud af huset. = She goes out of the house.
Han stiger ud af bilen. = He gets out of the car.
Hun tager bogen ud af tasken. = She takes the book out of the bag.

You cannot say ✗ ud huset; you need a preposition like af or fra.

“fra huset” means “from the house” (away from it as a point in space), not specifically “out of the inside of the house”.

Hun går væk fra huset. = She walks away from the house (she might already be outside).

So ud af huset explicitly expresses leaving the inside of the house.

Could you just say “Hun går ud” instead of “Hun går ud af huset”?

Yes, you can:

Hun går ud. = She goes out.

That usually means she goes outside (often understood as out of the building she’s in), but it doesn’t mention what she is going out of.
“ud af huset” is more explicit: it says clearly that she is going out of the house specifically.

What’s the difference between før and inden here?

Both can mean “before” in time expressions, and in this sentence you could also say:

Hun tager sin jakke, inden hun går ud af huset.

Some general tendencies:

før = “before” in a more direct, often slightly more neutral or written style.
inden = also “before”, often used:
- before clauses: inden jeg kommer
- before time expressions: inden klokken tre

In most everyday contexts with a clause (… hun går ud af huset), før and inden are interchangeable in meaning, and both sound natural here.

Why is it huset and not something like husetet? How does the definite form work?

hus is a neuter noun:

et hus = a house (indefinite)
huset = the house (definite)

In Danish, the definite article is usually a suffix:

en jakke → jakken (common gender)
et hus → huset (neuter)

You don’t repeat et: it’s not ✗ husetet.
It’s just hus + et → huset.

Why is the present tense used for both actions? Will this sentence also refer to the future?

Danish uses the present tense much more broadly than English:

Hun tager sin jakke, før hun går ud af huset.

Depending on context, this can mean:

a general habit: “She takes her jacket before she (normally) goes out of the house.”
a future plan with implicit future time: “(Tomorrow) she’ll take her jacket before she goes out of the house.”

Danish often doesn’t need a special future form. You only add vil or another auxiliary if you want to emphasize futurity or intention:

Hun vil tage sin jakke, før hun går ud af huset.
(She will take her jacket before she goes out of the house.)

But in ordinary speech, the simple present as in the original sentence is very natural, even for future events.

Why sin and not sit or sine?

All three (sin / sit / sine) are reflexive possessives. The form depends on the gender and number of the noun possessed:

sin
- common gender singular noun:
- sin jakke (en jakke)
- sin bil (en bil)
sit
- neuter singular noun:
- sit hus (et hus)
- sit barn (et barn)
sine
- any plural noun:
- sine jakker (plural)
- sine huse (plural)

Since jakke is common gender, singular (en jakke), the correct form is sin jakke.