Learn Hardcore Danish: Jeg går i banken for at spare penge op til ferie. - I go to the bank to save up money for vacation.

Jeg går i banken = I’m going (probably on foot) to the bank.
It can refer to right now / soon (“I’m going to the bank”) or a habit (“I go to the bank”).

Other options:

Jeg tager i banken – more like “I’m heading to the bank” (neutral about transport).
Jeg skal i banken – “I have to / I’m going to (need to) go to the bank,” more about obligation or plan.

So går is natural here because you are physically going somewhere, and Danish doesn’t need a separate continuous form like “am going” in English.

What does i banken mean exactly, and could you also say til banken?

I banken literally means in the bank, but with verbs of movement like gå, it is very commonly used where English says to the bank:

Jeg går i banken – I’m going to the bank (into the bank building).
Jeg er i banken – I’m in the bank.

You can also say:

Jeg går til banken – I’m going to the bank (focus on the direction, not so much on being inside).

Both are possible. I banken sounds more like you’re going into the bank as a place you will be in; til banken highlights the movement towards it. In everyday speech, i banken is very common.

Why do we say banken and not just bank? Where is the definite article?

In Danish, the definite article is usually a suffix attached to the noun, not a separate word:

en bank – a bank (indefinite, common gender)
banken – the bank (definite)

So i banken literally is in the bank. English puts the in front; Danish glues -en on the end.

What is the role of for at in this sentence? Why can’t we just say Jeg går i banken spare penge op til ferie?

For at introduces a purpose clause and is usually translated as to or in order to:

Jeg går i banken for at spare penge op til ferie
= I go to the bank to save up money for vacation.

The structure is:

for at + infinitive: for at spare (to save), for at købe (to buy), etc.

You cannot drop for at here.
Jeg går i banken spare penge op til ferie is ungrammatical. The infinitive spare needs at, and the for is what gives the meaning of purpose.

Why is the verb split as spare penge op? What does op add, and why is it at the end?

Spare op is a phrasal verb (verb + particle), like English save up:

spare = to save
spare op = to save up (usually over time, for something specific)

In Danish main clauses, the particle (here op) normally goes after the object:

Jeg sparer penge op. – I’m saving up money.
at spare penge op – to save up money.

So the pattern is:

spare + [object] + op

Op here doesn’t mean literal “upwards”; it adds the sense of accumulating/saving for a goal, just like up in English save up.

Could you also say for at spare op penge, or must it be for at spare penge op?

The natural word order is for at spare penge op (verb + object + particle).

✅ for at spare penge op til ferie
❌ for at spare op penge til ferie (sounds wrong to native speakers)

As a rule for these verb + particle combinations:

main verb
then the object
then the particle

You could, in more formal style, use the single-word verb opspar (verb at opspare), for example:

for at opspare penge til ferie – to accumulate/save money for vacation.

But in everyday language spare penge op is more common.

Why is penge used without any article? Is penge singular or plural?

Penge is a plural-only noun (pluralia tantum). It works like English money in meaning, but grammatically it’s plural:

There is no normal singular form (en penge doesn’t exist).
Indefinite: penge – money
Definite: pengene – the money

You normally do not add an article in the indefinite:

Jeg har penge. – I have money.
Jeg sparer penge op. – I’m saving up money.

So penge is grammatically plural, but translated as uncountable money in English.

Why is it til ferie and not til ferien or til en ferie?

Here, ferie is used in a general, unspecified sense – like “vacation time” rather than one specific, identified holiday.

til ferie – for (some) vacation / for going on vacation in general
til ferien – for the vacation (a specific vacation already known from context)
til en ferie – for a vacation (some particular holiday, but not further specified)

So:

If you mean “for going on holiday (in general)”, til ferie is natural.
If you are both talking about one specific, known upcoming holiday, you might say:
Jeg sparer penge op til ferien. – I’m saving up money for the vacation.

Why is it til ferie and not for ferie/for ferien? Don’t til and for both mean “for”?

Both til and for can translate as for, but they are used differently.

til often marks a goal, destination, or purpose:
- til ferie – for (the purpose of) vacation
- til middag – for dinner
- til jul – for Christmas
for often has meanings like because of / for the sake of / in favour of:
- for børnene – for the children / for the sake of the children
- Tak for hjælpen. – Thanks for the help.

For saving up towards something, til is the normal preposition:

spare penge op til ferie / til en bil / til huset.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “I go to the bank to save up money for my vacation”?

You would normally add a possessive before ferie:

Jeg går i banken for at spare penge op til min ferie.
= I go to the bank to save up money for my vacation.

Other possessives:

til vores ferie – for our vacation
til deres ferie – for their vacation

The rest of the sentence stays the same.

Can you also use other verbs instead of spare op, like sætte penge ind, and what is the difference?

Yes, you can use verbs like sætte penge ind, but the meaning is a bit different:

spare (penge) op – to save up money over time, usually with a goal (holiday, car, etc.).
sætte penge ind (i banken/på kontoen) – to deposit money in the bank/into an account at a particular moment.

So:

Jeg går i banken for at spare penge op til ferie.
– I go to the bank to save up money for vacation (ongoing saving process).
Jeg går i banken for at sætte penge ind på kontoen.
– I’m going to the bank to deposit money into the account (this specific action).

In your original sentence, spare penge op is more natural because it talks about building up savings.

Does Jeg går i banken mean “I’m going to the bank” (future/now) or “I go to the bank” (habit)? How does Danish express this?

Jeg går i banken can mean either, depending on context:

“I’m going to the bank (now/soon)” – current plan or action.
“I go to the bank (regularly)” – a habit.

Danish uses the same present tense for both simple present and present continuous, so context (often time adverbs) makes it clear:

Lige nu går jeg i banken. – Right now I’m going to the bank.
Hver mandag går jeg i banken. – Every Monday I go to the bank.

If you want to stress a future plan or obligation, you can also say:

Jeg skal i banken. – I have to / am going to go to the bank.

Is there anything tricky about pronouncing jeg, går, and banken?

A few key points:

jeg
- Often pronounced like “jai” [jaj] in everyday speech.
går
- å is like the vowel in English “law” (but shorter/tenser).
- Final r in many accents is weak or almost silent; går can sound close to “gaw”.
banken
- ban – a is short, like in English “bank”, but a bit more open.
- k is a normal [k] sound.
- Final -en is a reduced syllable, often like a weak “en”.

Together, the sentence is usually spoken quite smoothly:
[Jaj gåʔ i baŋkən fɔɐ at spæːɐʔ pəŋə ɔb til feɐi] (approximate).