Learn Hardcore Danish: Vi vil fejre min fødselsdag i haven. - We will celebrate my birthday in the garden.

Vi vil fejre min fødselsdag i haven.
Emphasises intention or decision: We want to / are going to celebrate my birthday in the garden.
Vi fejrer min fødselsdag i haven.
In the right context (especially with a time expression), this can express the future:
Vi fejrer min fødselsdag i haven på lørdag. – We’re celebrating my birthday in the garden on Saturday.

Without any time expression, Vi fejrer min fødselsdag i haven. can more easily be understood as something habitual or generally true (for example, a tradition), whereas Vi vil fejre… sounds more like a specific plan or intention.

What is the difference between vil and skal in sentences like Vi vil/skal fejre min fødselsdag i haven?

Both can talk about the future, but they feel different:

Vi vil fejre min fødselsdag i haven.
Focus on will/intent/want:
We want to / intend to celebrate my birthday in the garden.
Vi skal fejre min fødselsdag i haven.
Focus on plan/obligation/something arranged:
We’re going to / supposed to / are scheduled to celebrate my birthday in the garden.

So vil is more about desire or intention, skal more about an arrangement or necessity. In many everyday contexts both are possible, with only a subtle difference in feeling.

Where in the sentence can I put i haven? Is I haven vil vi fejre min fødselsdag also correct?

Yes, I haven vil vi fejre min fødselsdag is correct, but it has a different emphasis.

Neutral word order:

Vi vil fejre min fødselsdag i haven.
(Subject) Vi – (verb) vil – (verb) fejre – (object) min fødselsdag – (place) i haven.
This is the default and most natural version.

Fronted place for emphasis:

I haven vil vi fejre min fødselsdag.
Here i haven is in first position, and Danish keeps the finite verb (vil) in second position. This emphasises the location: In the garden is where we’ll celebrate…

Important:

I haven vi vil fejre min fødselsdag – not correct (the verb must be in second position).
Vi vil i haven fejre min fødselsdag – grammatically possible but sounds marked and less natural; learners are usually better off putting i haven at the end or in first position with inversion.

Why is it min fødselsdag and not mit fødselsdag or mine fødselsdag?

The form of my depends on the gender and number of the noun:

min – with common gender singular nouns (en-words)
mit – with neuter singular nouns (et-words)
mine – with all plurals

Since fødselsdag is en fødselsdag (common gender), you must use min:

en fødselsdag → min fødselsdag

Compare:

en bil → min bil (a car → my car)
et hus → mit hus (a house → my house)
bøger → mine bøger (books → my books)

Could it be min fødselsdagen, or is min fødselsdag the only correct form here?

Here, only min fødselsdag is correct.

In standard Danish, when you use a possessive pronoun (min, din, hans, hendes, vores etc.), the noun normally does not take the definite ending -en / -et / -ene:

min fødselsdag – my birthday (not min fødselsdagen)
din bil – your car (not din bilen)
vores hund – our dog (not vores hunden)

Even though my birthday is clearly a specific thing, the “definiteness” is expressed by the possessive (min), so you do not add the definite ending.

Can I say fødselsdag min instead of min fødselsdag?

Not in standard Danish.

In standard Danish, the possessive pronoun comes before the noun:

min fødselsdag
din ven (your friend)
vores hus (our house)

Orders like fødselsdag min are typical in Norwegian and Swedish (e.g. bilen min in Norwegian), but they are not normal in standard Danish. You might see something like den her fødselsdag min in very colloquial or dialectal speech, but for normal usage you should always say min fødselsdag.

Why do we say haven and not have or en have after i?

Here’s the distinction:

have – basic form, “garden” in the dictionary
en have – a garden (indefinite)
haven – the garden (definite)

In many place expressions, Danish prefers the definite form when a specific, known place is meant:

i haven – in the garden (the one both speaker and listener know about, e.g. the garden at home)
i en have – in a garden (some garden, not specified; still correct, but different meaning)

Using just i have (without article or definite ending) is generally not correct here.

Similar patterns:

i stuen – in the living room
i køkkenet – in the kitchen
i parken – in the park

Why is the preposition i used in i haven and not på?

Very roughly:

i = in / inside an area or space
på = on / at a surface, island, or institution (with many idiomatic uses)

For a garden, Danish sees you as being inside that area, so you say:

i haven – in the garden

You would not say på haven.

Some comparison examples:

i haven, i stuen, i byen – in the garden, in the living room, in the town
på bordet, på øen, på skolen, på arbejde – on the table, on the island, at school, at work

The choice between i and på is often idiomatic, but for a garden, i haven is the normal and correct expression.

Can I also say Vi vil holde min fødselsdag i haven? What is the difference between fejre and holde?

Yes, you can say:

Vi vil holde min fødselsdag i haven.

Both verbs are common, but they have slightly different flavours:

fejre – to celebrate
Focuses on the act of celebration:
Vi vil fejre min fødselsdag i haven. – We want to celebrate my birthday in the garden.
holde (fødselsdag) – literally to hold (a birthday/party)
Very idiomatic for having/throwing a birthday party:
Jeg holder fødselsdag på lørdag. – I’m having a birthday (party) on Saturday.

In everyday speech, holde fødselsdag is extremely common when talking about organising a birthday party. fejre is a bit more general and is also used with things like fejre jul (celebrate Christmas), fejre nytår (celebrate New Year), fejre sejren (celebrate the victory).

Does vil here always mean want to, or can it also act like a simple future marker like English will?

vil primarily means want to / intend to, but in practice it often behaves very much like English will or be going to.

In Vi vil fejre min fødselsdag i haven, it can be understood in two close ways:

We want to celebrate my birthday in the garden. (emphasis on desire)
We’re going to celebrate my birthday in the garden. (emphasis on a plan/decision)

Usually, you don’t need to distinguish sharply; context and intonation decide which nuance is stronger.

Remember that Danish often uses the present tense + time expression instead of vil for future:

Vi fejrer min fødselsdag i haven på lørdag. – We’re celebrating my birthday in the garden on Saturday.

So vil is not the only or even the most common way to talk about the future, but it’s perfectly normal and also carries the idea of will/intent.

How is the whole sentence Vi vil fejre min fødselsdag i haven pronounced naturally?

Here is an approximate, learner‑friendly breakdown (not strict IPA):

Vi – like English “vee”.
vil – short, a bit like “vil” in “villain”, but with a soft Danish v (between English v and w).
fejre – roughly “FIE-ruh”:
- fej – like English “fye” (rhymes with eye).
- re – a weak, quick sound, like a very short “ruh”.
min – like English “mean”, but with a slightly shorter vowel.
fødselsdag – roughly “FØ-sels-dæj”:
- fø – like the vowel in French “peu” or German “schön”.
- ds – the d is very soft; you don’t clearly say d-s.
- dag – sounds more like “dæj” than English “dag”.
i – like English “ee” in “see”.
haven – roughly “HA-ven”, with:
- a somewhat open vowel in the first syllable (between “heh” and “hah”),
- a soft v, and a short, weak -en at the end.

A rough English-style approximation of the whole sentence:

“Vee vil FIE-ruh meen FØ-sels-dæj ee HA-ven.”

Native Danish also has a characteristic little glottal catch (called stød) in words like fødselsdag and haven, but you don’t need to get that perfect at the beginner stage to be understood.