Learn Hardcore Danish: Jeg føler mig lykkelig, når jeg sidder i haven.

If you say “jeg føler lykkelig”, it sounds wrong, because “lykkelig” needs either “er” (to be) or “føler mig” (feel myself) before it:

jeg er lykkelig
jeg føler mig lykkelig

What is the difference between “jeg føler mig lykkelig” and “jeg er lykkelig”?

Both can be translated as “I am happy”, but there is a nuance:

jeg er lykkelig
- describes a state, who you are right now or in life in general
- a bit more factual: “I am (in a state of being) happy.”
jeg føler mig lykkelig
- focuses more on the subjective feeling at that moment
- a bit more emotional or introspective: “I feel happy.”

In everyday speech, they overlap a lot and both are completely natural here.

What’s the difference between “lykkelig” and “glad” in Danish?

Both relate to happiness, but they’re not identical:

glad
- common, everyday word: happy, pleased, cheerful
- jeg er glad = I’m happy / in a good mood
- can be quite light: “I’m glad you came.”
lykkelig
- stronger, more deep or blissful happiness
- often used for bigger or more lasting happiness:
  - jeg er lykkelig sammen med dig = I am happy with you (in life)
  - hun var lykkelig den dag, hun fik barnet = she was overjoyed the day she had the baby

In this sentence, “lykkelig” suggests a warm, deep kind of happiness when the person sits in the garden.

Why is it “når jeg sidder i haven” and not “da jeg sidder i haven”?

Danish has two common words for “when”:

når
- used for present, future, and repeated/habitual situations, and also repeated past actions:
- jeg føler mig lykkelig, når jeg sidder i haven
  = Whenever I sit in the garden, I feel happy.
- når jeg bliver gammel, vil jeg bo på landet = when I get old…
da
- used for one specific event in the past:
- jeg var lykkelig, da jeg sad i haven i går
  = I was happy when I sat in the garden yesterday.

Here we are talking about a general, repeated situation, so “når” is correct.

Why is there a comma before “når”: “Jeg føler mig lykkelig, når jeg sidder i haven.”?

Because “når jeg sidder i haven” is a subordinate clause (a dependent clause introduced by “når”).

In traditional Danish punctuation, you must put a comma before most subordinate clauses.
In newer, more relaxed rules, the comma is sometimes optional, but many people and textbooks still use it.

So both are seen:

Jeg føler mig lykkelig, når jeg sidder i haven.
Jeg føler mig lykkelig når jeg sidder i haven.

The version with a comma is very standard and safe to copy.

Can I start with “Når jeg sidder i haven” instead? How does the word order change?

Yes, that’s very natural, but the word order in the main clause changes because of the verb-second (V2) rule:

Original:
Jeg (subject) føler (verb) mig lykkelig, når jeg sidder i haven.
With the subordinate clause first:
Når jeg sidder i haven, føler jeg mig lykkelig.
- “Når jeg sidder i haven” = comes first (counts as position 1)
- Then the finite verb of the main clause, “føler”, must come next (position 2)
- Then the subject “jeg”

So:
Når jeg sidder i haven, føler jeg mig lykkelig. ✔️
Når jeg sidder i haven, jeg føler mig lykkelig. ✖️ (wrong in standard Danish)

Why is it “i haven” and not “i have” or “på haven”?

Three different points:

Definite form
- en have = a garden
- haven = the garden
  Danish usually adds the definite ending -en (or -et) to the noun itself, instead of using a separate “the”.
  So “i haven” = in the garden (that specific one).
Preposition “i”
- i is used for being in/inside many places:
  - i haven (in the garden)
  - i huset (in the house)
  - i stuen (in the living room)
- på is used for on surfaces and for certain fixed expressions:
  - på bordet (on the table), på arbejde (at work), på stranden (at the beach)
A garden is treated like a space you’re in, so: i haven, not på haven.
Indefinite version
If you wanted to say “in a garden” (not a specific one), you would say “i en have”, not “i have”.

Why is it “jeg sidder” and not “jeg sidde” or “jeg sidder ned”?

“sidder” is the present tense of the verb “at sidde” (to sit).
- infinitive: at sidde
- present: jeg sidder, du sidder, han sidder …

You cannot say “jeg sidde” in a finite clause; you must conjugate:

jeg sidder i haven = I sit / I am sitting in the garden

About “sidder” vs “sidder ned”:

sidder already means “am sitting (down)” in most contexts.
sidder ned is possible but is more about the action of sitting down rather than the state.

Here the focus is on simply being seated in the garden, so “sidder i haven” is natural and enough.

Is “sidder” here more like English “sit” or “am sitting”?

Danish uses the simple present where English often uses present continuous:

jeg sidder i haven
can mean:
- I am sitting in the garden (right now)
- I sit in the garden (habitually, in general)

In this sentence with “når”, the meaning is habitual:
Whenever I sit in the garden, I feel happy.

Danish usually doesn’t need an extra “-ing” form to express this.

Why is “jeg” lowercase, while English “I” is capitalized?

In Danish, the pronoun “jeg” is written:

lowercase in the middle of a sentence:
- jeg føler mig lykkelig
uppercase only at the start of a sentence, just like other words:
- Jeg føler mig lykkelig…

Danish does not have a special capitalization rule for the first-person pronoun like English does with “I”.

How do you pronounce some of these words, especially “jeg”, “mig”, “lykkelig”, and “haven”?

Approximate pronunciations (very rough, using English sounds):

jeg ≈ “yai” (like “yigh”), not like English “jeg” or German “jeg”
mig ≈ “mai” (like “my”)
lykkelig
- ly ≈ kind of like “lu” in “lure” but with the tongue further forward (Danish “y” sound)
- kke ≈ soft “k” sound, almost like a short “g”/“k” mix
- lig often sounds like “lee”
- overall something like “LY-kkeh-lee”, with stress on the first syllable
haven
- ha ≈ “ha” in “hard” (but shorter)
- ven ≈ “ven” with a soft “v”
- roughly “HA-ven”, with a light, soft final “n”

These are only approximations; hearing native audio will help a lot.