Learn Hardcore Danish: Om vinteren holder jeg mig varm med en kop te. - In winter I keep myself warm with a cup of tea.

If you start with the subject: Jeg holder mig varm om vinteren.
- Position 1: Jeg
- Position 2: holder
If you start with a time expression: Om vinteren holder jeg mig varm med en kop te.
- Position 1: Om vinteren
- Position 2: holder
- Position 3: jeg

Both are correct; starting with Om vinteren just emphasizes the time more strongly.

Why is it om vinteren and not i vinteren or just om vinter?

For seasons, Danish almost always uses the definite form and certain fixed prepositions:

om vinteren = in (the) winter (as a general season)
om sommeren = in (the) summer
i efteråret, i foråret are also common, but om vinteren / om sommeren is especially idiomatic.

You would not normally say om vinter in standard Danish when you mean the season in general.
i vinter means this last winter (a specific past winter), so it has a different, more specific meaning.

Why do we need mig in holder jeg mig varm? In English we just say “I keep warm”, without “myself”.

In Danish, the verb holde in this sense is usually used reflexively:

at holde sig varm = to keep oneself warm

So you normally say:

Jeg holder mig varm.
Vi holder os varme.

Leaving out mig (Jeg holder varm) sounds wrong; the sentence feels incomplete.
It is similar to other reflexive verbs like at vaske sig (to wash oneself), at klæde sig på (to get dressed).

Is holde sig varm a fixed expression, or can I change varm?

Holde sig + adjective is a productive pattern, not just a single fixed expression. You can say for example:

holde sig tør – keep oneself dry
holde sig vågen – stay awake
holde sig rask – stay healthy

So holde sig varm fits the same pattern: holde sig + [state].
The adjective (varm, tør, vågen, etc.) changes the state you are keeping yourself in.

Why is the word order holder jeg mig varm and not holder jeg varm mig?

In Danish, the normal order is:

verb – (subject) – object – adjective complement

So you get:

holder (verb)
jeg (subject)
mig (object, reflexive pronoun)
varm (adjective describing mig)

Putting varm before mig (holder jeg varm mig) breaks the usual order and sounds ungrammatical.
The adjective varm describes the state of mig, so it naturally follows mig.

Why is it om vinteren with -en at the end? Isn’t that “the winter”? Why “the” if we mean winter in general?

Yes, vinteren is the definite form (“the winter”), but Danish often uses the definite form for general seasons and times of day:

om vinteren – in winter
om sommeren – in summer
om morgenen – in the morning (generally)
om aftenen – in the evening (generally)

So when you talk about a habitual or general situation in a season, you normally use the definite form.
Saying om vinter would not sound natural in this generic sense.

Why is it med en kop te and not med kop te?

In Danish, when you talk about one specific cup, you normally use the indefinite article:

en kop te – a cup of tea
et glas vand – a glass of water
en flaske vin – a bottle of wine

med kop te is missing the article and sounds incomplete in standard Danish in this context.
You need en to show that it is one cup as a countable object.

Why is it en kop te and not something like en kop af te, like in English “a cup of tea”?

Danish usually does not use af for these quantity expressions. Instead, you place the drink directly after the container:

en kop te – a cup of tea
et glas vand – a glass of water
en skål suppe – a bowl of soup

Using af (en kop af te) is unidiomatic and sounds wrong here.
Think of it as a standard pattern: [article + container] + [bare drink/food noun].

Could I also say med te instead of med en kop te?

Yes, you can say Om vinteren holder jeg mig varm med te.

The difference is:

med en kop te – highlights the container and portion (one cup).
med te – more general: you keep warm with tea (not focusing on how much or how it’s served).

Both are grammatically correct; med en kop te sounds a bit more concrete and image-like.

Why do we use med here? Could we use another preposition instead of med?

Med often expresses the means or instrument you use to do something:

skrive med en blyant – write with a pencil
rejse med tog – travel by train
holde sig varm med en kop te – keep warm with a cup of tea

Other prepositions like af or ved would not work here in normal Danish.
So for “with the help of / using X”, med is usually the right choice.

Why is vinteren not capitalized, unlike “Winter” in German?

In Danish, seasons, days, and months are not capitalized unless they start a sentence:

vinteren, sommeren, foråret, efteråret
mandag, tirsdag
januar, februar

So Om vinteren is capitalized only because it’s at the beginning of the sentence; vinteren itself is normally written with a lowercase v.

Why is the verb in the present tense holder when we are talking about something that happens every winter, not right now?

Danish uses the present tense for:

things happening now
habits and general truths

In this sentence, it describes a habitual action: what you regularly do in winter.
So Om vinteren holder jeg mig varm med en kop te is naturally in the present tense, just like English “In winter I keep warm with a cup of tea.”

What is the difference between holde sig varm and varme sig?

Both can be reflexive, but they focus on slightly different things:

holde sig varm – to keep oneself warm, staying warm over time.
varme sig – to warm oneself up, to get warmer (often by going to a heat source).

Examples:

Om vinteren holder jeg mig varm med en kop te. – I keep warm (stay warm).
Han varmer sig ved pejsen. – He warms himself at the fireplace (he gets warm there).

So in your sentence, holde sig varm is better because it is about staying warm, not just getting warm once.