Learn Hardcore Danish: Hvis jeg glemmer nøglen, kommer jeg for sent til mødet. - If I forget the key, I will be late for the meeting.

In Danish, hvis means if (a condition that might or might not happen), while når means when (something that is expected or seen as certain or habitual).

Hvis jeg glemmer nøglen ... = If I (happen to) forget the key ... (it’s uncertain whether I will).
Når jeg glemmer nøglen ... = When(ever) I forget the key ... (it suggests this happens regularly or is expected).

Here the speaker is talking about a possible future situation, not a regular or guaranteed one, so hvis is the natural choice.

Why are glemmer and kommer in the present tense if English uses “forget / will be late” about the future?

Danish very often uses the present tense to talk about the future, especially when there is a clear future context in the sentence.

Hvis jeg glemmer nøglen, kommer jeg for sent til mødet.
Literally: If I forget the key, I come too late to the meeting.
Idiomatic English: If I forget the key, I’ll be late for the meeting.

You can use vil (will) in Danish — for example:
Hvis jeg glemmer nøglen, vil jeg komme for sent til mødet.
This is grammatically correct but sounds more formal or heavy. The simple present (glemmer, kommer) is the most natural here.

Why is the word order kommer jeg and not jeg kommer in the second part?

Danish has a verb-second rule in main clauses: the finite verb usually comes in the second position in the clause.

When you start the sentence with something other than the subject (here, the whole hvis-clause), that thing occupies the first position, so the verb must come next, and the subject goes after the verb:

Neutral main clause: Jeg kommer for sent til mødet.
(Subject–Verb–…)
With a fronted element: Hvis jeg glemmer nøglen, kommer jeg for sent til mødet.
(Fronted clause – Verb – Subject – …)

So kommer jeg is required by Danish word order when the conditional clause comes first.

In Hvis jeg glemmer nøglen, why is the order jeg glemmer and not glemmer jeg?

Inside a subordinate clause introduced by a conjunction like hvis, Danish word order is different from a main clause.

Basic pattern for many subordinate clauses is:

Conjunction + Subject + Verb + (other elements)

So we get:

Hvis (conjunction) jeg (subject) glemmer (verb) nøglen (object).

Putting glemmer jeg here would be wrong, because the verb-second rule applies to main clauses, not to the part after hvis. Subordinate clauses typically keep subject–verb order after the conjunction.

What does for sent literally mean, and why is it written as two words?

For sent literally means too late.

for here is an adverb meaning too / excessively (not the preposition for like in for the meeting).
sent means late.

So for sent = too late, and it is always written as two separate words.

Compare:

Jeg kommer sent. = I’m coming late. (just late)
Jeg kommer for sent. = I’m coming too late. (later than acceptable; I’m late in a problematic way)

Why is the preposition til used in til mødet, and not something like på or i?

With events like meetings, parties, concerts, and so on, Danish commonly uses til to express being at or for that event, especially with komme (for) sent:

komme for sent til mødet = be late for the meeting
komme til mødet = come to the meeting

So til mødet corresponds to English to the meeting / for the meeting.
På or i are not used in this fixed expression; for sent til is the standard pattern.

What do the endings -en and -et in nøglen and mødet mean?

Danish usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of in front of it.

en nøgle = a key (common gender)
nøglen = the key
et møde = a meeting (neuter gender)
mødet = the meeting

So:

-en is the definite ending for common gender nouns (en-words).
-et is the definite ending for neuter nouns (et-words).

In your sentence:

nøglen = the key
mødet = the meeting

Can I drop the second jeg and say Hvis jeg glemmer nøglen, kommer for sent til mødet?

No. In Danish you cannot normally drop subject pronouns like that. Each clause needs its own subject.

So you need:

Hvis jeg glemmer nøglen, kommer jeg for sent til mødet.

Leaving out jeg in the second clause (… kommer for sent …) would be ungrammatical, even though the subject is clear from context. Danish is not like Spanish or Italian, where subject pronouns can often be omitted.

Can I put the clauses in the opposite order, like Jeg kommer for sent til mødet, hvis jeg glemmer nøglen?

Yes, that is completely correct, and very natural:

Jeg kommer for sent til mødet, hvis jeg glemmer nøglen.

Notice the word order:

When the main clause comes first: Jeg kommer for sent til mødet, hvis jeg glemmer nøglen.
(Subject–Verb in the main clause)
When the hvis-clause comes first: Hvis jeg glemmer nøglen, kommer jeg for sent til mødet.
(Verb–Subject in the main clause, because of the verb-second rule)

Both sentences mean exactly the same thing.

How is this sentence pronounced, especially hvis, nøglen, and mødet?

Very roughly (not strict IPA), it sounds like:

Hvis ≈ vis (the h is silent)
jeg ≈ yai
glemmer ≈ GLEH-mer (short e as in get)
nøglen ≈ NOY-len (the ø is like the vowel in British bird, and g is quite soft)
kommer ≈ KOM-mer (with a short o)
for ≈ somewhere between for and foh, often reduced in fast speech
sent ≈ sayn(t) (long vowel, usually with a little glottal catch at the end)
til ≈ tel
mødet ≈ MØH-ðe (the ø again like in bird; the d is very soft, almost disappearing, and the final -et is just a weak schwa sound)

Regional and individual pronunciation varies, but the key points for learners are:

h in hvis is silent.
ø is a front, rounded vowel (like in bird for many English accents).
The d in mødet is very soft or nearly silent.