Learn Hardcore Danish: Barnet elsker sit lille bibliotek i rummet. - The child loves its small library in the room.

sin – before a common gender noun (en-word)
- Han elsker sin bog. – He loves his (own) book. (bog = en bog)
sit – before a neuter noun (et-word)
- Barnet elsker sit bibliotek. – The child loves its (own) library. (bibliotek = et bibliotek)
sine – before a plural noun
- Hun elsker sine bøger. – She loves her (own) books. (bøger = plural)

In your sentence, bibliotek is a neuter et-word, so you must use sit.

Why is it bibliotek and not biblioteket after sit?

In Danish, after a possessive pronoun (like min, mit, mine, din, dit, dine, sin, sit, sine, vores, jeres, deres), the noun is normally indefinite, even though the meaning is definite in English.

Compare:

mit hus = my house (not mit huset)
min bog = my book (not min bogen)
sit bibliotek = its library (not sit biblioteket)

So:

Barnet elsker sit lille bibliotek
literally: The child loves its little library
grammatically: possessive (sit) + indefinite noun (bibliotek), not biblioteket.

Danish expresses the “definiteness” here through the possessive, not with the definite ending -et.

What exactly does i rummet mean? Could it also mean “in space”?

Literally, i rummet means “in the room”.

rum = room / space (neuter noun)
rummet = the room / the space

In everyday contexts (like a child with a little library), i rummet will almost always be understood as in the room (a physical room).

In other contexts, especially with words about the universe, science, or planets, rummet can mean outer space:

Der er ingen lyd i rummet. – There is no sound in space.

So the meaning depends on context. In your sentence, it’s naturally read as “in the (child’s) room.”

Why is it Barnet and not Det barn?

Danish usually marks definiteness by adding a suffix to the noun, not by a separate word like English the.

barn = child
barnet = the child

You only use det before adjectives:

det barn – sounds incomplete or archaic; you’d normally avoid this.
det lille barn – the little child.

So:

Barnet elsker sit lille bibliotek … – The child loves its little library …
is completely normal.

If you wanted to emphasize little with an adjective in front of barn, you would say:

Det lille barn elsker sit lille bibliotek i rummet.

Why is the adjective lille and not something like lillet or små?

Lille is an irregular adjective in Danish.

For most adjectives, the pattern is:

Indefinite common: en stor bil (a big car)
Indefinite neuter: et stort hus (a big house)
Definite or plural: den store bil, de store huse

But lille works differently:

Indefinite singular (both genders): en lille bil, et lille hus
Plural: små biler, små huse
Definite singular: den lille bil, det lille hus

So in your sentence:

sit → shows bibliotek is neuter singular (et bibliotek)
Irregular adjective form before neuter singular: lille

Therefore: sit lille bibliotek, not sit lillet bibliotek and not små (that’s for plural).

What grammatical gender are barn and bibliotek, and how does that affect the sentence?

Both barn and bibliotek are neuter nouns (et-words).

et barn, barnet – a child, the child
et bibliotek, biblioteket – a library, the library

This matters for two things in your sentence:

Definite ending on barn
- Neuter definite singular uses -et → barnet (“the child”).
Form of the possessive pronoun
- Neuter singular possessed noun → sit
- So you get sit lille bibliotek (not sin lille bibliotek).

If bibliotek were a common gender noun, you would say sin lille X instead.

Can I move i rummet to another place in the sentence?

Yes, Danish word order is fairly flexible for adverbials like i rummet, as long as the finite verb stays in second position (the V2 rule).

Neutral order (as in your sentence):

Barnet elsker sit lille bibliotek i rummet.
Subject – verb – object – place.

You can also front the place phrase for emphasis or contrast:

I rummet elsker barnet sit lille bibliotek.
(In the room, the child loves its little library — maybe in contrast to another place.)

But you cannot break the V2 rule:

❌ Barnet sit lille bibliotek elsker i rummet. – wrong
✅ Barnet elsker i rummet sit lille bibliotek. – grammatically possible, but unusual and marked.

The version you have is the most natural everyday order.

Is elsker used like English “love”? Could I say kan lide instead?

Elske (elsker) is very close to English “to love”, but Danish speakers use it a bit more directly and less often for weaker preferences.

Jeg elsker dig. – I love you.
Jeg elsker chokolade. – I love chocolate (very strong enthusiasm).

Kan lide means “to like”:

Barnet kan lide sit lille bibliotek i rummet.
– The child likes its little library in the room.

In your original sentence, elsker makes it sound like the child is very fond of the little library, maybe emotionally attached. If you just mean a normal preference, kan lide might be more neutral.

Could bibliotek here mean just “bookshelf” or “book corner”, or must it be a real library?

Literally, bibliotek is a library in the normal sense – a place (or collection) with many books, often public.

In modern Danish:

bibliotek usually = an actual library (institution/place).
For a bookshelf or bookcase, you’d say bogreol.
For a little reading corner or mini-library in a room, people might still playfully call it et lille bibliotek.

So in a natural context about a child’s room, sit lille bibliotek could be understood as:

a small shelf of books, or
a small corner with books and maybe a chair,

even though the strict word is library. The nuance is often affectionate or slightly metaphorical.

How would the sentence change if we talked about the children instead of the child?

First, change the subject from singular to plural:

Barnet → børnene (irregular plural)
- et barn – a child
- børn – children
- børnene – the children

Then adjust the verb to plural (same form in the present):

elsker stays elsker.

For the possessive, there are two common possibilities:

Neutral, everyday way (often a bit ambiguous):
- Børnene elsker deres lille bibliotek i rummet.
  = The children love their little library in the room.
  (deres can mean “their own” or “someone else’s” depending on context.)
If you clearly want it to mean their own shared library (more clearly reflexive):
- Børnene elsker sit lille bibliotek i rummet.
  Here sit refers back to the subject børnene and says it’s their own library
  (one shared library, neuter noun bibliotek → sit).

Both are possible; many modern speakers default to deres, but sit is also grammatically correct if you want explicit reflexive meaning.

How do you pronounce “Barnet elsker sit lille bibliotek i rummet”?

Approximate Standard Danish pronunciation (IPA):

Barnet – [ˈbɑːˀnə(ð)]
elsker – [ˈelsɡɐ]
sit – [ˈsid̥]
lille – [ˈlilə]
bibliotek – [biblioˈtɛːɡ̊] (you’ll often hear something like “bib-li-o-TEK”)
i – [iː]
rummet – [ˈʁɔmˀə(ð)]

Very rough English-like guide:

Barnet – “BAHR-neh(d)” (long a, like in father)
elsker – “EL-sga” (the r is weak, almost like a vowel)
sit – “sit” (short, final t is soft)
lille – “LIL-leh”
bibliotek – “bib-li-o-TEK” (stress on the last syllable)
i – “ee”
rummet – “RUM-eth” with a short u like UK cup, and a very soft final d.

Spoken naturally, many final -t and -d sounds are very soft or almost disappear, and the words connect smoothly:

[ˈbɑːˀnə(ð) ˈelsɡɐ ˈsid̥ ˈlilə biblioˈtɛːɡ̊ i ˈʁɔmˀə(ð)]