Learn Hardcore Danish: Kusinens hund løber i haven. - The cousin’s dog runs in the garden.

In English you show possession mainly with an apostrophe (cousin’s).
In Danish you just add -s directly to the noun, without an apostrophe: kusinens.

Does kusine always mean a female cousin? What about a male cousin?

Yes, kusine is specifically a female cousin.

kusine = female cousin
fætter = male cousin

So:

Kusinens hund løber i haven. = The female cousin’s dog runs / is running in the garden.
Fætterens hund løber i haven. = The male cousin’s dog runs / is running in the garden.

Why is there no separate word for the in kusinens hund, even though English has the cousin’s dog?

In Danish, when you use a possessive (like kusinens, min, din), you normally do not add a separate definite article like den or det before the noun.

English: the cousin’s dog
Danish: kusinens hund (not den kusinens hund)

The possessive (kusinens) already makes the phrase definite, so you do not need a separate word for the.

Why is it hund and not hunden in kusinens hund?

Normally, hunden means the dog (hund = dog, hunden = the dog).
But with a possessive like kusinens, you use the indefinite form of the noun:

hunden = the dog (no possessive)
kusinens hund = the cousin’s dog
- You cannot say kusinens hunden in standard Danish.

So:

Determiner alone: hunden = the dog
Possessive + noun: kusinens hund = the cousin’s dog (already definite because of kusinens, so no -en on hund)

Why is it i haven and not something like på haven?

Danish uses i and på differently, and they do not always match English in / on directly.

For have (garden, yard), you normally say:

i haven = in the garden

i is used for being inside or within an area or space, which fits a garden.
på haven would be wrong in this context.

Some rough patterns:

i: i huset (in the house), i bilen (in the car), i skoven (in the forest)
på: på bordet (on the table), på skolen (at / in school), på arbejde (at work)

So i haven is the natural choice for in the garden.

What is the difference between have and haven?

Have is the base form (a garden), and haven is the definite form (the garden).

en have = a garden
haven = the garden

Danish typically adds definiteness with a suffix:

en hund → hunden (a dog → the dog)
en have → haven (a garden → the garden)

So i haven literally means in the garden.

Why is the verb løber used here? Does it mean runs or is running?

The Danish present tense løber covers both English runs and is running.

So Kusinens hund løber i haven can mean:

The cousin’s dog runs in the garden.
The cousin’s dog is running in the garden.

Danish normally does not use a special continuous form like English is running.
Context decides whether it is a general habit or something happening right now.

Is there a more clearly “right now” progressive way to say is running in Danish?

Danish sometimes uses extra expressions to emphasize that something is happening right now, but they are not used as systematically as English -ing forms.

Some options:

Kusinens hund er i gang med at løbe i haven.
= The cousin’s dog is in the process of running in the garden.
Kusinens hund løber lige nu i haven.
= The cousin’s dog is running in the garden right now.

However, in everyday Danish, Kusinens hund løber i haven is usually enough, and context makes it clear.

Could I change the word order, for example I haven løber kusinens hund? Is that correct?

Yes, I haven løber kusinens hund is grammatically correct, but the emphasis changes.

Kusinens hund løber i haven.
Neutral, default order: subject (Kusinens hund) first, then verb (løber), then where (i haven).
I haven løber kusinens hund.
Here i haven is moved to the front for emphasis (for example, contrasting with på vejen – in the street). Danish keeps the verb in second position in main clauses, so after moving i haven to the front, the verb løber must still come second, and kusinens hund comes after it.

Both are correct; the second just sounds a bit more marked/emphatic, like In the garden, the cousin’s dog is running in English.

How do you pronounce kusinens hund løber i haven? Any tricky sounds for English speakers?

A rough, simplified guide (not perfect phonetics, just to help):

kusinens ≈ koo-SEE-nens
- u like oo in food but shorter
- stress on -si-: ku-SI-nens
hund ≈ hoond
- u again like a short oo in book, but with rounded lips
- final d is very soft, almost not heard
løber ≈ LØH-ber
- ø is like the vowel in British bird or French peu
- -er at the end is like a weak -uh
i ≈ ee in see
haven ≈ HA-ven
- a like a in cat, but a bit more open
- final -en is weak, almost -un

Said smoothly, it might sound something like:

koo-SI-nens hoond LØH-ber ee HA-vun.