Learn Hardcore Danish: Hun danser så meget, at hele gruppen begynder at grine. - She dances so much that the whole group starts to laugh.

adjectives: Jeg er så træt, at jeg falder i søvn.
I am so tired that I fall asleep.
adverbs/verbs: Han løber så hurtigt, at hun ikke kan følge med.
He runs so fast that she can’t keep up.

So så meget intensifies danser, and the at-clause gives the result of that intensity (the group starts laughing).

What is the function of the comma before at in this sentence?

In Danish, a comma is typically written between a main clause and a subordinate clause.

Hun danser så meget, → main clause
at hele gruppen begynder at grine. → subordinate/result clause

The comma marks the boundary between:

what is happening (she dances so much)
and the result (that the whole group starts laughing).

Modern Danish comma rules allow a bit of variation, but here the comma before at is very standard and natural.

There are two at’s in the sentence. Are they the same word, and what do they each do?

They look the same, but they have different grammatical functions:

at (after the comma): subordinating conjunction
- …, at hele gruppen begynder at grine.
  This at introduces a subordinate/result clause.
  Functionally it is like English “that”:
- … so much *that the whole group starts to laugh.*
at (before grine): infinitive marker
- begynder at grine = begins *to laugh
  This is the *“to” that marks an infinitive in English (to laugh, to eat, to sing).

So:

first at = that (clause linker)
second at = to (infinitive marker)

Why is the verb danser in the present tense, and does it cover both “dances” and “is dancing”?

Danish has one present tense form that usually covers both English:

simple present (“she dances”)
and present continuous (“she is dancing”)

So hun danser can mean:

she dances (in general)
or she is dancing (right now)

Context decides which English translation is more natural. Here, because it leads to an immediate result (the group starts laughing), English speakers often choose “is dancing”:

She is dancing so much that the whole group starts laughing.

Could the word order be “at begynder hele gruppen at grine”? Why does hele gruppen come before begynder?

No, at begynder hele gruppen at grine is not correct word order in a normal statement.

In a subordinate clause introduced by at, the usual order is:

subject – finite verb – (other stuff) – infinitive

So we get:

at hele gruppen begynder at grine
that the whole group begins to laugh

If you put begynder before hele gruppen, it sounds like a question or an inverted structure, which you don’t use here.

Compare:

Hele gruppen begynder at grine. (normal statement)
Begynder hele gruppen at grine? (question, inversion)

Because this is not a question, we keep hele gruppen (subject) before begynder (verb).

Why is it hele gruppen and not something like hele gruppe or hele gruppet?

The noun gruppe in Danish is:

en gruppe (a group) – common gender
gruppen (the group) – definite singular

hel (whole) behaves like this:

en hel gruppe = a whole group (indefinite)
hele gruppen = the whole group (definite)

Points to notice:

The definite form of gruppe is gruppen, not gruppe or gruppet.
In the definite and plural, hel becomes hele:
- hele gruppen (the whole group)
- hele grupperne (all the groups / the whole of the groups)

So hele gruppe is wrong because:

the noun needs the -n ending for definiteness (gruppen),
and hel must be hele in this definite construction.

What’s the difference between meget and mange, and why is meget used with danser here?

meget and mange both translate to “a lot/much/many”, but they’re used with different types of words:

meget
- with uncountable nouns: meget vand (a lot of water)
- with adjectives/adverbs/verbs:
  - meget smuk (very beautiful)
  - meget hurtigt (very fast)
  - danser meget (dances a lot)
mange
- with countable plural nouns:
  - mange mennesker (many people)
  - mange bøger (many books)

In Hun danser så meget, the “amount” refers to how much she dances (the intensity/frequency of the action), not to a countable number of things. So meget is the correct choice, not mange.

What exactly does grine mean? Is it the same as le or latter?

All three are related to laughing, but they’re not identical:

grine = to laugh (out loud)
- Very common, everyday verb. Slightly informal but completely normal.
- Vi griner. = We’re laughing.
le = also to laugh, but:
- more literary/formal/old-fashioned in everyday speech,
- still used in fixed expressions and in writing.
- Han kunne ikke lade være med at le.
  He couldn’t help but laugh.
latter = laughter (noun)
- Hendes latter er smittende.
  Her laughter is contagious.

In this sentence, grine feels natural and conversational:

hele gruppen begynder at grine = the whole group starts laughing (out loud).

Why is it begynder at grine and not begynder at griner?

After certain verbs like begynde (begin), ville (want), kan (can), skal (must), etc., Danish uses the infinitive form of the next verb, introduced (often) by at:

begynder at grine = begins to laugh
begynder at synge = begins to sing
begynder at løbe = begins to run

The form griner is the present tense, not the infinitive.
So:

Correct: begynder at grine
Incorrect: begynder at griner

You can think of at + infinitive as working like English “to + verb” here.

Could you rephrase this sentence in a more neutral or slightly more formal way in Danish?

A slightly more neutral or formal version could replace grine with le, which sounds a bit less colloquial:

Hun danser så meget, at hele gruppen begynder at le.

The meaning is practically the same:

She dances so much that the whole group starts to laugh.

You could also change the verb for “starts” if you wanted a different nuance:

Hun danser så meget, at hele gruppen kommer til at le.
(…that the whole group ends up laughing.)