Learn Hardcore Danish: Han savner sine venner i byen. - He misses his friends in the city.

Savner is the present tense of at savne, and it usually means to miss (emotionally) — to feel the absence of someone or something you care about.

In Han savner sine venner i byen, it is the normal, direct equivalent of English He misses his friends in town.

A useful contrast:

at savne = to miss emotionally
- Jeg savner dig. – I miss you.
at mangle = to lack / to be missing (in the sense of something not being there or not being enough)
- Der mangler en stol. – A chair is missing / There is one chair too few.

So here savner is about feeling, not just physical absence.

2. Why is it sine venner and not hans venner?

Danish distinguishes between reflexive and non‑reflexive possessives in the 3rd person.

sin / sit / sine = his/her/its/their own (refers back to the subject of the same clause)
hans / hendes / dens / deres = his/her/its/their (refers to someone/something else, not the subject)

In Han savner sine venner i byen:

Subject: Han (he)
Possessive: sine (his own)
Noun: venner (friends, plural)

Because the friends belong to him, the subject, Danish uses the reflexive form sine.
So the meaning is: He misses his own friends in town.

3. Could I say Han savner hans venner i byen? What would that mean?

Yes, you can say Han savner hans venner i byen, but it usually means something different:

Han savner sine venner i byen.
= He misses his own friends in town.
Han savner hans venner i byen.
= He misses his (another man’s) friends in town.

With hans, the default reading is another male person’s friends, not the subject’s.
So learners often get corrected to sine when they mean “his own.”

4. What exactly does i byen mean here? Is it “in the city,” “in town,” or “out on the town”?

Literally, i byen is in the town / in the city (depending on context).

In everyday speech, i byen can mean:

In town / in the city (as a place where someone lives or is located)
- Han savner sine venner i byen.
  → Most naturally: He misses his friends who are (living) in town / in the city.
Going out (to bars, cafés, clubs) – “out on the town”
- Vi skal i byen i aften. – We’re going out tonight.

In your sentence, without more context, the standard interpretation is He misses his friends who are in town / in the city, not “He misses his friends when he goes out partying.”

5. Why is it byen and not just by? Where is “the” in Danish?

Danish normally attaches the definite article as an ending to the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

by = town / city
byen = the town / the city

So:

Han savner sine venner i by. – ❌ incorrect
Han savner sine venner i byen. – ✅ correct: He misses his friends in the town / in the city.

This pattern is very common:

en ven – a friend → vennen – the friend
et hus – a house → huset – the house
en by – a town/city → byen – the town/city

6. Why is the word order Han savner sine venner i byen? Can I move i byen?

The basic word order in a simple Danish main clause is:

Subject – Verb – (Object) – Other information

So:

Han (subject)
savner (verb)
sine venner (object)
i byen (adverbial / place)

→ Han savner sine venner i byen.

You can move i byen to the front for emphasis or style:

I byen savner han sine venner.
This is grammatically correct but sounds more marked / poetic / contrastive.

But you wouldn’t normally split it like:

Han savner i byen sine venner. – ❌ unnatural word order here

So the neutral everyday sentence is exactly:

Han savner sine venner i byen.

7. How would I say He missed his friends in town (past tense)?

Use the simple past (preterite) of at savne, which is savnede:

Han savnede sine venner i byen.
= He missed his friends in town.

For completeness, the present perfect is:

Han har savnet sine venner i byen.
= He has missed / has been missing his friends in town.

8. How would the sentence change if it was friend (singular) instead of friends?

You would need to change both the noun and the possessive:

venner (friends, plural) → ven (friend, singular)
sine (his own, for plural nouns) → sin (his own, for singular common‑gender nouns)

So:

Han savner sine venner i byen.
= He misses his friends in town.

→ Han savner sin ven i byen.
= He misses his friend in town.

The pattern:

sin – with singular common gender nouns (en‑words)
- sin ven, sin bog
sit – with singular neuter nouns (et‑words)
- sit hus, sit barn
sine – with all plural nouns
- sine venner, sine bøger, sine huse

9. Why is it i byen and not på byen? When do you use i vs på with places?

With by (town/city), Danish uses i:

i byen – in town / in the city
i København – in Copenhagen
i Danmark – in Denmark

You do not say på byen in standard Danish.

However, some other place nouns take på:

på landet – in the countryside
på arbejde – at work
på skole / på universitetet – at school / at the university
på hospitalet – at the hospital

So the correct fixed combination here is i byen.

10. How do you pronounce Han savner sine venner i byen?

Approximate pronunciation (standard Danish), with stresses in bold:

Han – [han] (the n is often quite soft)
savner – SAV‑ner
- IPA: [ˈsɑwˀnɐ] or [ˈsɑwnɐ]
- The v can sound like a [w]; the r is weak.
sine – SEE‑neh
- IPA: [ˈsiːnə]
venner – VEN‑ner
- IPA: [ˈvɛnɐ]
i – [i] (like English ee in see)
byen – BY‑en
- IPA: [ˈpyːən]
- y is a fronted u sound, roughly like saying ee with rounded lips.

Said at normal speed, many sounds weaken and run together:

[han ˈsɑwˀnɐ ˈsiːnə ˈvɛnɐ i ˈpyːən].