Learn Hardcore Danish: Min ven er ikke så modig, men hun er altid venlig mod publikum. - My friend is not that brave, but she is always friendly towards the audience.

In Danish, ven is a common-gender noun and just means friend; it doesn’t tell you the person’s sex. You show the person’s gender with the pronoun, not by changing ven.

Min ven = my friend (could be male or female)
hun = she
han = he

So in your sentence, hun tells us that this friend is a woman:

Min ven er ikke så modig, men hun er altid venlig mod publikum.
My friend is not so brave, but she is always kind to the audience.

If you specifically want to say female friend, you can use veninde:

Min veninde er ikke så modig, men hun er altid venlig mod publikum.

Both are correct; veninde just makes the female gender explicit in the noun as well.

Why does ikke come after er in er ikke så modig? Could I say Min ven ikke er så modig?

In a normal Danish main clause (a simple statement), the finite verb must be in second position (the “V2” rule). So:

Min ven (1st position: subject)
er (2nd position: verb)
then comes ikke and the rest.

So the correct order is:

Min ven er ikke så modig.

Putting ikke before the verb in a main clause, as in Min ven ikke er så modig, breaks the V2 rule and is ungrammatical.

Placed correctly:

er = 2nd element
ikke = right after the verb (in a neutral sentence like this)

What exactly does så do in ikke så modig? Why not just say ikke modig?

så here is a degree adverb and means roughly that / so / particularly in English:

ikke modig = not brave (at all, flat statement)
ikke så modig = not that brave / not very brave / not so brave

So ikke så modig is a bit softer and more relative: the friend might have some courage, but not a high degree of it.

You can drop så:

Min ven er ikke modig.
This sounds stronger and more absolute: my friend just isn’t brave.

Why don’t the adjectives modig and venlig change form here? I thought Danish adjectives take endings.

Danish adjectives have different forms, but they don’t change when they are used as a predicative complement (after er, bliver, etc.) and refer to a singular noun:

Min ven er modig. (friend = singular; predicative)
Hun er venlig.

Here the base form is used: modig, venlig.

They change in other contexts, for example:

Common gender, indefinite, attributive:
en modig ven, en venlig kvinde
Neuter, indefinite, attributive:
et modigt barn, et venligt publikum
Plural or definite:
de modige venner, den venlige kvinde, det venlige publikum

In your sentence, since modig and venlig come after er and describe a singular subject, they stay in the base form.

What does venlig mod mean exactly? Why is the preposition mod used?

venlig mod literally means kind towards:

venlig = kind, friendly
mod = towards (also “against”, depending on context)

So venlig mod publikum = kind towards the audience.

The preposition mod is natural here because it expresses a direction or attitude toward someone. A very common alternative is:

venlig over for publikum = kind towards the audience

Both venlig mod and venlig over for are idiomatic; venlig mod is a bit shorter and very common.

Could I say til publikum instead of mod publikum?

You can see til publikum in some contexts, but it doesn’t mean quite the same thing here.

venlig mod publikum / venlig over for publikum
= kind towards the audience (describes attitude/behaviour toward them)
til publikum literally = to the audience, and is more about direction or recipient:
- Hun taler til publikum. = She speaks to the audience.
- En meddelelse til publikum. = A message to the audience.

So for describing kindness as an attitude, mod (or over for) is the natural choice:

✅ Hun er venlig mod publikum.
✅ Hun er venlig over for publikum.
❌ Hun er venlig til publikum. (sounds wrong)

Why is there no article before publikum? Why not mod det publikum?

publikum is a collective noun, like English “the audience”. In Danish, when you talk about “the audience” in general (not a specific, already known audience), you often omit the article:

Hun er altid venlig mod publikum.
= She is always kind to (her) audience / to the audience (in general).

You’d use a definite form if you meant a particular, known audience:

Hun er altid venlig mod sit publikum.
= She is always kind to her (own) audience.

Technically, publikum is a neuter noun: et publikum, publikummet. But in this generic sense, it’s used without any article.

Is publikum grammatically singular or plural in Danish?

Grammatically, publikum is singular neuter:

et publikum = an audience
publikummet = the audience

However, in meaning, it refers to a group of people (plural concept), just like English audience. Verbs and adjectives still agree with it as singular, though:

Publikum var begejstret.
= The audience was excited.
(Danish often uses var and a singular adjective here.)

In your sentence, the issue doesn’t show up because we don’t have a verb directly with publikum; it’s just the object of the preposition mod.

Why is the adverb altid placed between er and venlig in hun er altid venlig?

In a neutral main clause with er:

Subject: hun
Verb: er
Then come sentence adverbs like ikke, altid, ofte, etc.
Then comes the rest (here, the adjective venlig).

So:

Hun er altid venlig.
(She is always kind.)

If you put altid at the very end — Hun er venlig altid — it can sound marked or poetic; the normal everyday placement is after the verb:

Verb second (er)
Then adverb (altid)

What does men do here, and why is there a comma before it?

men is the coordinating conjunction but. It connects two independent clauses that contrast with each other:

Min ven er ikke så modig
hun er altid venlig mod publikum

Danish punctuation rules require a comma before coordinating conjunctions (og, men, eller, for) when they join two full main clauses:

Min ven er ikke så modig, men hun er altid venlig mod publikum.

Each side could stand alone as a full sentence, so the comma is obligatory in standard written Danish.

Could I move ikke to another place, like Min ven er så ikke modig?

No, not in a normal, neutral statement.

The standard placement for ikke in a simple main clause is:

after the finite verb:
Min ven er ikke så modig.

Something like Min ven er så ikke modig is not idiomatic Danish for this meaning. The only time you might move ikke around is in very marked, emphatic, or spoken constructions, but even then you wouldn’t normally split så and modig in that way.

For learners: always place ikke after the finite verb in a main clause unless you have a specific advanced reason not to.

What is the difference between så modig and meget modig?

Both relate to degree, but they’re used differently:

så modig
- often implies comparison or context: “that brave / so brave (as X)”
- in ikke så modig, it’s often heard as “not that brave / not very brave”.
meget modig
- more straightforward: “very brave / much brave”
- ikke meget modig = not very brave (less idiomatic than ikke så modig, but possible).

In your exact sentence:

Min ven er ikke så modig sounds very natural and idiomatic.
Min ven er ikke meget modig is understandable but used less; it can sound a bit heavier or more literal to many ears.

How would this sentence look in the past tense?

You only need to change the verb er (is) to its past tense var (was). Everything else stays the same:

Present:
Min ven er ikke så modig, men hun er altid venlig mod publikum.
Past:
Min ven var ikke så modig, men hun var altid venlig mod publikum.
= My friend was not so brave, but she was always kind to the audience.