Learn Hardcore Danish: Jeg læser til eksamen i yndlingsfaget i aften. - I am studying for the exam in my favorite subject tonight.

Jeg læser en bog. – I’m reading a book.
Jeg læser til eksamen. – I’m studying for an exam.
Jeg læser medicin. – I study medicine / I’m studying medicine (at university).

Danish uses læse more broadly than English uses “read”; context tells you if it’s “read” or “study.”

Why is it til eksamen and not for eksamen or something else?

In Danish, the usual preposition with eksamen in this meaning is til, not for.

læse til eksamen – study for an exam
gå til eksamen – sit / go to an exam
komme til eksamen – come to the exam

For eksamen is not idiomatic here. Think of til + eksamen as a fixed pattern when you talk about preparing for or taking an exam.

So:

Jeg læser til eksamen – I’m studying for (the) exam.
Jeg skal til eksamen i morgen. – I have an exam tomorrow.

Why is there no article before eksamen? Why not en eksamen or eksamenen?

Grammatically, eksamen is:

en eksamen – an exam
eksamenen – the exam

But in certain fixed expressions, Danish drops the article and just uses the bare noun, especially with school/work words and prepositions like til, i, på:

til eksamen – (for/to) the exam
i skole – at school
på arbejde – at work
til frokost – (for) lunch

So til eksamen doesn’t literally mean “to exam” — it behaves like an idiomatic unit meaning roughly “for the exam / for my exam.” Using en eksamen or eksamenen here would sound odd unless you change the structure a bit (e.g. til den her eksamen – for this exam).

What exactly does i yndlingsfaget mean, and why is yndlingsfaget in the definite form?

i yndlingsfaget literally means “in the favorite subject.” In context it’s understood as “in my favorite subject.”

Breakdown:

et fag – a subject (school subject)
faget – the subject
yndlings- – a prefix meaning favorite (as in favorite X)
yndlingsfag – favorite subject
yndlingsfaget – the favorite subject

Danish often puts “favorite X” in the definite form when it refers to your known, specific favorite:

Hvad er din yndlingsfarve? – What is your favorite color?
Min yndlingsfarve er blå. – My favorite color is blue.
Vi har dansk i yndlingsfaget i dag. – We have Danish in (my) favorite subject today.

So i yndlingsfaget is like saying “in the (already known) favorite subject,” and the possessor (“my”) is implicit from context.

Could I say i mit yndlingsfag instead of i yndlingsfaget? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say both:

i yndlingsfaget
i mit yndlingsfag

They’re both correct and both usually mean “in my favorite subject.”

Nuance:

i yndlingsfaget
- Sounds a bit more compact and idiomatic.
- Feels like you’re talking about your “usual, established” favorite subject.
i mit yndlingsfag
- More explicit: you mark possession clearly with mit.
- Stylistically completely normal; some might feel it’s a touch more “spelled out.”

In everyday speech, both are fine. In this sentence there is no real change in meaning if you switch them.

Why is the word order til eksamen i yndlingsfaget i aften? Could I move i aften earlier?

The original order is:

Jeg læser (I’m studying)
til eksamen (for an exam – purpose)
i yndlingsfaget (in my favorite subject – field)
i aften (this evening – time)

A common rule of thumb in Danish is that time often comes last if you have several adverbials, so i aften at the end is very natural.

You can move them around:

Jeg læser i aften til eksamen i yndlingsfaget.
Jeg læser i aften i yndlingsfaget til eksamen.

These are still grammatical but change the focus a bit:

Putting i aften earlier (Jeg læser i aften …) puts more emphasis on “this evening” as the important new information.
The original … i aften at the end is neutral, flowing Danish and probably the most natural version in isolation.

So yes, there is flexibility, but time-last is a good default when you’re not sure.

The verb is in the present tense (læser), but the action is in the future (i aften). Is that normal in Danish?

Yes. Danish very often uses present tense to talk about the near future, especially when there’s a clear time expression:

Jeg læser til eksamen i aften. – I’m studying for an exam this evening.
Jeg tager til London i morgen. – I’m going to London tomorrow.
Vi spiser hos mormor på søndag. – We’re having dinner at Grandma’s on Sunday.

If you want, you can also use skal:

Jeg skal læse til eksamen i aften. – I’m going to study for an exam this evening.

Both are fine. Present tense + a time adverbial (i aften, i morgen) is completely standard for planned future events.

What does i aften mean exactly? Is it “tonight” or “this evening”? How is it different from i nat or i aftes?

i aften means “this evening / tonight” (the coming evening on this day).

Compare:

i aften – this evening / tonight (later today, in the evening)
i nat – tonight / during the night (the coming night)
i aftes – last night / yesterday evening
i går – yesterday (whole day)
i morgen – tomorrow

So your sentence means you’ll study later today in the evening, not at 2 a.m. in the middle of the night; that would lean more towards i nat.

Why is the preposition i used both for i yndlingsfaget and i aften? Are these the same i?

Yes, it’s the same preposition i, but it’s used in two slightly different ways:

Location / field
- i yndlingsfaget – literally “in the favorite subject,” i.e. within that school subject / field.
- Compare: i matematik, i dansk, i biologi.
Time expression
- i aften – “this evening”
- Other examples: i dag (today), i går (yesterday), i morgen (tomorrow).

English often doesn’t use “in” here (you say “this evening,” not “in this evening”), but Danish keeps i in these fixed time phrases. It’s the same preposition, just extended to a time meaning.

Can læser til also mean “studying to become (a doctor, etc.)”? How is that different from this exam meaning?

Yes, læse til has two common patterns:

Study for an exam
- Jeg læser til eksamen. – I’m studying for an exam.
- Here, til
  - eksamen = preparation for a specific test.
Study to become [profession]
- Jeg læser til læge. – I’m studying to become a doctor.
- Hun læser til ingeniør. – She’s studying to become an engineer.

In your sentence:

til eksamen clearly triggers meaning (1): exam preparation.
When til is followed by a profession (læge, ingeniør, lærer), it’s typically meaning (2): training for that profession.

How could I make this sentence sound a bit more natural or typical in spoken Danish?

Your sentence is already correct and natural, but in everyday speech Danes often add skal or use the “sidder og” construction for ongoing actions. For example:

Jeg skal læse til eksamen i yndlingsfaget i aften.
– I’m going to study for an exam in my favorite subject this evening. (plan)

If you were actually in the middle of doing it right now, you might hear:

Jeg sidder og læser til eksamen i yndlingsfaget.
– I’m (sitting and) studying for an exam in my favorite subject.

Your original sentence is perfectly fine; these are just very common variants you’ll hear in conversation.