Learn Hardcore Danish: Min ven er sjov, når han synger.

ven (friend) is a common-gender noun: en ven
For en-words (common gender, singular), you use min
For et-words (neuter, singular), you use mit (e.g. mit hus – my house)

So it must be min ven, not mit ven.

Why is the adjective sjov not changed to sjove or sjovt here?

There are two main uses of adjectives in Danish:

Attributive (before a noun):
- en sjov ven (a funny friend)
- et sjovt hus (a funny/odd house)
- sjove venner (funny friends)
Predicative (after er, bliver, ser ud, etc., describing the subject):
- Min ven er sjov. (My friend is funny.)

In predicative position like in er sjov, the base form sjov is used and does not change for gender or number. So:

Min ven er sjov.
Mine venner er sjove. (here sjove matches plural venner)

In your sentence, sjov describes min ven via the verb er, so the form sjov is correct.

What exactly does sjov mean here: “fun” or “funny”?

Sjov can mean both fun and funny, depending on context:

funny (makes you laugh):
- Min ven er sjov, når han synger.
  → He behaves or sings in a way that makes people laugh.
fun / entertaining:
- Det er sjovt at synge.
  → It is fun to sing.

In this specific sentence, it is most natural to understand sjov as funny, i.e. My friend is funny when he sings.

Why is there a comma before når? Is it required?

In traditional Danish comma rules (the grammatical comma), you put a comma before most subordinate clauses, including those starting with når:

Min ven er sjov, når han synger.

With the more modern “new comma” system, it can be correct to omit that comma:

Min ven er sjov når han synger.

However:

Most Danes still write the comma.
For learners, it’s usually safer to include the comma before når.

So in practice, the version with the comma is very common and fully correct.

What is the difference between når and da? Could I say … da han synger?

You cannot say … da han synger in standard Danish. The key difference:

når = when / whenever (used for:
- present or future
- repeated or general events
- also used for past in a “whenever/each time” sense)
da = when for one specific event in the past (not repeated):
- Da han sang i går, lo alle.
  (When he sang yesterday, everyone laughed.)

Your sentence talks about a general, repeated situation or a characteristic:

Min ven er sjov, når han synger.
= My friend is funny whenever/when he sings (in general).

So når is the right word here.

Why is the word order når han synger and not når synger han?

In Danish subordinate clauses (introduced by når, fordi, at, etc.), the word order is:

conjunction + subject + verb + …

So:

når han synger
- når (when) = conjunction
- han (he) = subject
- synger (sings) = verb

You do not use inversion (verb before subject) in subordinate clauses.
Inversion (synger han) happens mainly in questions and in main clauses when something is moved to the front:

Synger han? (Is he singing?) – question
Når han synger, er min ven sjov. – here the main clause shows inversion: er min ven sjov

So når han synger is the correct word order for a subordinate clause.

Could I put the når-clause at the beginning? How does the word order change?

Yes, you can start with the når-clause:

Når han synger, er min ven sjov.

Changes:

Subordinate clause first: Når han synger, …
Then, in the main clause, the verb comes right after the comma (inversion):
- er min ven sjov (verb er comes before the subject min ven)

So:

Min ven er sjov, når han synger.
Når han synger, er min ven sjov.

Both are correct and mean the same.

Why is synger in the present tense? Does it mean he is singing right now?

Danish present tense often covers:

Action right now
- Han synger nu. (He is singing now.)
Habitual or general truth
- Min ven er sjov, når han synger.
  → My friend is funny whenever he sings (as a habit/typical behaviour).

So the present tense synger here does not need to mean “right now”; it usually implies a general, repeated situation. English uses simple present similarly in this type of “whenever” clause:

He is funny when he sings.

Why is the pronoun han used? What if my friend is female or I don’t want to specify gender?

Han means he. It’s used because the speaker sees min ven as male.

Other options:

Female friend:
- Min veninde er sjov, når hun synger.
  (veninde = female friend, hun = she)
If you want to keep the noun ven but specify female, many people still switch to hun in speech for a female person:
- Min ven er sjov, når hun synger.
Gender-neutral (informal/modern): some Danes may use de as a singular they, but this is still evolving and less fixed than in English.

In any case, the pronoun must agree with the person, not with the grammatical gender of the noun.

Could I drop han and just say … når synger?

No. In Danish you must have an explicit subject pronoun in almost all finite clauses. You cannot leave it out like you might in some other languages.

So:

✔ når han synger
✖ når synger

The subject han is required.

What is the difference between Min ven er sjov and Min sjove ven?

They both involve ven and sjov, but the structure and meaning are slightly different:

Min ven er sjov.
- Predicate adjective.
- You are stating a fact/characteristic: my friend is funny.
Min sjove ven …
- Attributive adjective (sjove before the noun, agreeing with ven).
- Used as part of a noun phrase, often introducing information:
  - Min sjove ven fortalte en historie.
    (My funny friend told a story.)

In your sentence:

Min ven er sjov, når han synger.
→ You are describing how he is in that situation (when he sings), so the predicative form er sjov is the natural choice.

Why isn’t it er sjovt instead of er sjov?

Sjovt is the neuter singular or adverbial form, used for:

Neuter nouns:
- et sjovt spil (a fun game)
As an adverb / describing situations or actions:
- Det er sjovt at synge. (It is fun to sing.)

Here, sjov is describing min ven (a person, en ven – common gender), not an action or a neuter noun.
So the correct form is:

Min ven er sjov. (My friend is funny.)

If you were talking about the activity instead, you’d say:

Det er sjovt, når han synger.
= It is fun when he sings.

How is sjov pronounced?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA): [ɕɒw] or [ɕɔw] depending on dialect.

Key points:

sj-:
- Pronounced like a soft “sh”, but more “fronted” than in English.
- Similar to the “sh” in “she”, but produced more towards the front of the mouth.
-ov:
- The o is like the vowel in British “off” or “law”, but shorter, depending on the speaker.
- The v is often weak and can sound like a w to English ears.

So to an English speaker, sjov may sound roughly like “shyow”, but shorter and more compact.

Could this sentence also mean “My friend is fun when he sings”?

Yes, that is a possible and natural translation.

Danish sjov in this context covers both:
- funny (you laugh at/with him)
- fun (it’s enjoyable to be around him)

So both of these are good translations, depending on nuance:

My friend is funny when he sings.
My friend is fun when he sings.

The Danish sentence itself does not clearly distinguish between those two shades of meaning.