Learn Hardcore Danish: Mit liv er anderledes end før.

min – for common gender (en-words): min bil (my car), min ven (my friend)
mit – for neuter gender (et-words): mit hus (my house), mit liv (my life)
mine – for all plurals: mine børn (my children), mine bøger (my books)

The noun liv is neuter: et liv (a life).
Because it’s an et-word, you must use mit, so mit liv = my life.

Why is there no article, like mit livet or det mit liv?

In Danish, you normally don’t combine a possessive (mit, min, hans, hendes etc.) with a definite article at the same time.

You say:

mit liv = my life
not
✗ mit livet
✗ det mit liv (as a normal noun phrase)

So with possessives, the pattern is simply:

[possessive] + [indefinite form of the noun]
mit liv, min bil, mine børn

There is also a reversed, more emotional/poetic structure:

livet mit – literally the life of mine / my life (with emphasis)

But that’s stylistic and less common in everyday speech. The neutral, normal version is mit liv.

What is anderledes grammatically, and why does it come after er?

In this sentence, anderledes functions like an adjective meaning different.

The structure is the same as in English:

Mit liv – subject (my life)
er – verb (is)
anderledes – subject complement (different)

Just like English says “My life *is different”, Danish says *“Mit liv er anderledes”.
In Danish, adjectives or adjective‑like words that describe the subject generally come after the verb er (is/are), var (was/were), bliver (becomes), etc.

So the word order “Mit liv er anderledes …” is fixed in the same way “My life is different …” is fixed in English.

Could I say Mit liv er forskelligt instead of Mit liv er anderledes?

You can say Mit liv er forskelligt, but it’s not the most natural choice here, and it often sounds a bit odd on its own.

Typical usage:

anderledes – different, changed, not as before
- Mit liv er anderledes nu. – My life is different now.
forskellig (fra) – different from, usually about one thing compared to another, or several different items
- Mit liv er forskelligt fra dit. – My life is different from yours.
- Vi har forskellige meninger. – We have different opinions.

In your sentence, you’re talking about how your life has changed overall, so anderledes is the natural choice:

Mit liv er anderledes (end før). – My life is different (than before).

Why is it anderledes end and not something like forskellig fra?

Danish has a few different comparison patterns:

anderledes end … – different than …
- Mit liv er anderledes end før.
forskellig fra … – different from …
- Mit liv er forskelligt fra dit.

anderledes end is the standard pattern when you’re saying that something is simply different compared to something else (often implicitly “before” or “what it used to be”).

You could say:

Mit liv er forskelligt fra før.

This is grammatically okay but sounds more formal and less idiomatic than Mit liv er anderledes end før. For everyday speech, anderledes (end …) is the go‑to choice.

What does end mean here? Is it like English “and”?

No. end in Danish is not “and”; it corresponds to “than” (or “from” in some comparison patterns).

In comparisons you use:

større end – bigger than
bedre end – better than
anderledes end – different than

So:

Mit liv er anderledes end før.
literally: My life is different than before.

The Danish word for “and” is og, not end.

What exactly does før mean here? Is it a specific time?

før is a time word meaning “before” / “earlier”.

In Mit liv er anderledes end før, før refers to an earlier time that is understood from context, for example:

before I moved
before I got this job
before the accident
before the pandemic

So the sentence means roughly:

My life is different than it was before (then / earlier).

On its own, without context, før just means “before (that/then)” in a general sense; the listener infers the specific “before what?” from the situation.

Can I leave out end før and just say Mit liv er anderledes?

Yes, absolutely.

Mit liv er anderledes. – My life is different.

This is a complete and natural sentence. It simply doesn’t state explicitly what you’re comparing with; it leaves it to context.

Adding end før makes the comparison explicit:

Mit liv er anderledes end før. – My life is different than before.

Both are fine; choose the longer version if you want to stress the contrast with an earlier time.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say something like Mit liv er end før anderledes?

You cannot say Mit liv er end før anderledes – that word order is wrong in Danish.

The basic pattern here is:

Subject – Verb – Complement – (Extra information)
Mit liv – er – anderledes – end før

You can add other time words or adverbs and move those around a bit, for example:

Mit liv er anderledes nu end før.
Mit liv er nu anderledes end før.

But anderledes itself needs to stay as the complement right after er, and end før stays together as the comparison phrase after anderledes.

How is Mit liv er anderledes end før pronounced?

Approximate pronunciation, using English‑friendly hints:

Mit – like “meet” but shorter; final t is pronounced
liv – roughly “leeu” (like “lee” with a slight w glide)
er – often a very short unstressed sound, like “uh” or a very weak “air”
anderledes – AN-der-leh-dəs
- an like in “under” but with a clear a
- der is weak, almost like duh
- ledes like LEH-dəs (the s is pronounced)
end – like English “en” in “end” but without a strong final *d (often very soft)
før – like “fur”, but with rounded lips and a shorter, tighter vowel

Very rough whole‑sentence guide:

“MIT leeu ehr AN-der-leh-dəs en FUR.”

(Danish has some sounds that don’t exist in English, but this gives you a workable approximation.)

Are there other common ways to say the same idea in Danish?

Yes, a few very natural alternatives are:

Mit liv har ændret sig.
My life has changed.
Mit liv er ikke som før.
My life is not like before.
Mit liv er helt anderledes nu.
My life is completely different now.

Your original sentence Mit liv er anderledes end før focuses on the current state (my life is different now) while clearly contrasting it with how it used to be.