Learn Hardcore Danish: Det andet museum er dyrt, og udstillingen er ikke så spændende. - The other museum is expensive, and the exhibition is not that exciting.

museum is neuter: et museum.
The adjective anden (“other”) has these forms:
- common gender: anden – en anden bog
- neuter: andet – et andet museum
- plural: andre – andre museer

Because museum is neuter, you must use the neuter form andet, and the determiner also has to be neuter: det andet museum.
Det anden museum mixes neuter (det) with common-gender anden, so it’s ungrammatical.

Why is museum treated as neuter, but udstillingen has the ending -en?

This is about gender and definiteness:

museum is a neuter noun:
- indefinite: et museum
- definite: museet
udstilling is a common-gender noun:
- indefinite: en udstilling
- definite: udstillingen

In the sentence:

det andet museum – the noun is in indefinite form (museum) because the definiteness is carried by det (“the/that”) before it plus the adjective.
udstillingen – here the noun is made definite with the usual -en ending for common-gender nouns.

So museum is neuter (hence et museum / museet), while udstilling is common gender (hence en udstilling / udstillingen).

Why does the adjective become dyrt and not just dyr in museum er dyrt?

In Danish, adjectives in predicate position (after er/bliver, etc.) agree with the gender and number of the subject:

common gender singular: Bilen er dyr. – “The car is expensive.”
neuter singular: Museet er dyrt. – “The museum is expensive.”
plural (both genders): Bilerne / museerne er dyre. – “The cars/the museums are expensive.”

Since museum is neuter (et museum), in Det andet museum er dyrt the adjective must take the neuter -t: dyrt.

Note that dyr is also a noun meaning “animal” (et dyr), but here dyrt is the adjective “expensive” in its neuter form.

Why doesn’t spændende change form (like spændendt or spændende-t)?

Adjectives ending in -ende in Danish are essentially invariable; they don’t add -t for neuter or -e for definite/plural. You use spændende in all these cases:

en spændende udstilling – a (common-gender) exciting exhibition
et spændende museum – a (neuter) exciting museum
udstillingen er spændende – the exhibition is exciting
museerne er spændende – the museums are exciting

So you never say spændendt or similar; spændende stays the same.

What exactly does ikke så spændende mean compared with meget spændende or særlig spændende?

The word så here means “so / that / very” in a comparative sense:

så spændende – so/that/very exciting
ikke så spændende – “not that exciting”, “not so exciting”, often understood as “not very exciting”

Compared with other common phrases:

meget spændende – “very exciting” (clear, strong praise)
ikke særlig spændende – “not particularly exciting”
ikke så spændende – somewhere similar in tone to “not that exciting” / “not very exciting”; it’s a mild, slightly negative comment, not extremely strong criticism.

Why is the word order udstillingen er ikke så spændende and not udstillingen ikke er så spændende?

In a main clause, Danish usually follows this order:

Subject – finite verb – (midfield elements such as ikke) – rest of the sentence

So:

Udstillingen (subject)
er (finite verb)
ikke (negation)
så spændende (rest)

→ Udstillingen er ikke så spændende.

The order udstillingen ikke er … typically appears in subordinate clauses, e.g.:

… fordi udstillingen ikke er så spændende.
“… because the exhibition is not so exciting.”

So in a stand‑alone main clause you need er ikke, not ikke er.

Why is it det andet museum and not det andet museet or museet andet?

Danish marks definiteness in two different ways, and you normally don’t combine them:

Definite suffix on the noun
- museet – the museum
Definite/demonstrative determiner + adjective + bare noun
- det andet museum – literally “that other museum / the other museum”

With a determiner (det/den/de, min/din, etc.) and an adjective before the noun, the noun stays in its indefinite form:

det store museum – not det store museet
min nye bog – not min nye bogen

So det andet museet is ungrammatical in Danish, and museet andet is the wrong word order (adjectives normally don’t follow the noun in this way).

Can I say Et andet museum er dyrt instead of Det andet museum er dyrt? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can, but the meaning changes:

Et andet museum er dyrt
= “Another museum is expensive.”
This is indefinite. It suggests one of several other possible museums; you’re not pointing to one specific, known alternative.
Det andet museum er dyrt
= “The other museum is expensive.”
This is definite. It usually implies there are exactly two museums in the context, and you’re talking about the other one (or at least a clearly identified other one someone has in mind).

So use et andet museum for “another museum (some other one)” and det andet museum for “the other museum (that specific one we both know about).”

Why is there a comma before og in …, og udstillingen er ikke så spændende?

In Danish, a comma is often placed between two main clauses (independent clauses) that are joined by og:

Det andet museum er dyrt, og udstillingen er ikke så spændende.
Clause 1: Det andet museum er dyrt.
Clause 2: Udstillingen er ikke så spændende.

Modern rules allow you to omit this comma if you follow the so‑called new comma system, so you may also see:

Det andet museum er dyrt og udstillingen er ikke så spændende.

Both versions are accepted, but many writers and textbooks still teach and use the comma there.

Are there any pronunciation traps in this sentence?

Yes, several:

det – often pronounced like “de”; the final t is usually very weak or silent in normal speech.
andet – the d is very soft and may sound like a very soft “th” or disappear: roughly “AN-neh”.
museum – stress is on the second syllable: mu-SE-um (Danish vowels are a bit different from English).
dyrt – y is a front rounded vowel (between English “ee” and “ü”); the final t may be weak, but the r colours the vowel.
og – usually pronounced just like a short “å” or “aw” sound; the g is silent.
udstillingen – the d in ud- is soft; the g in -ingen tends to sound like -ng-.

Listening to native audio and repeating this exact sentence a few times is very helpful, because Danish spelling and pronunciation differ quite a bit.