Kusinen ser filmen i stuen.

The cousin watches the movie in the living room.

Breakdown of Kusinen ser filmen i stuen.

• i: in
• stuen: the living room
• se: to watch
• filmen: the movie
• kusinen: the cousin

Questions & Answers about Kusinen ser filmen i stuen.

Why does kusinen end in -en? Where is the word the in Danish?

Danish usually puts the definite article (the) at the end of the noun instead of in front of it.

• en kusine = a cousin
• kusinen = the cousin

The -en at the end is the definite ending for common gender nouns (the kind that use en in the indefinite form).

The same thing happens with the other nouns in the sentence:

• en film → filmen = a film → the film
• en stue → stuen = a living room → the living room

So there is no separate word for the here; it is glued onto each noun as -en.

Could the sentence also be En kusine ser en film i en stue? What would that mean?

Yes, that sentence is grammatically correct, but the meaning is different.

• Kusinen ser filmen i stuen.
  = The cousin is watching the film in the living room.
  (You and your listener know which cousin, which film, and which living room.)

• En kusine ser en film i en stue.
  = A cousin is watching a film in a living room.
  (Everything is new/unspecific. You’re not talking about any particular cousin, film, or living room.)

So the original sentence is more specific; it assumes shared context.

How do I know that kusine means a female cousin? What’s the word for a male cousin?

Danish has different words for male and female cousins:

• en kusine = a female cousin
• en fætter = a male cousin

In English you use cousin for both, but Danish always specifies the gender in the word itself. So kusinen here must be a female cousin.

What exactly does ser mean here? Is it sees or is watching?

The Danish present tense ser (from at se) can cover both English meanings:

• Kusinen ser filmen.
  can be understood as
  
  • The cousin sees the film.
  • The cousin is watching the film.

Danish normally uses the simple present for both English simple present and present continuous.

If you really want to emphasize that she is in the middle of watching it right now, you can say:

• Kusinen er ved at se filmen.
  = The cousin is (in the process of) watching the film.

Why is it just ser for every subject? Why not something like ser vs serer (like see vs sees)?

Danish verbs do not change for person or number in the present tense. The same form is used with I, you, he, we, etc.

For at se (to see):

• jeg ser – I see / am seeing
• du ser – you see / are seeing
• han/hun ser – he/she sees / is seeing
• vi ser – we see / are seeing
• de ser – they see / are seeing

So ser is always ser in the present tense, no endings like English -s.

Why is it filmen and not en film in this sentence?

Using filmen instead of en film makes the film specific, not just any random film.

• Kusinen ser filmen.
  = The cousin is watching the film.
  (You both know which film: maybe one you mentioned earlier, or one that is already in the situation.)

• Kusinen ser en film.
  = The cousin is watching a film.
  (You don’t care which film, or you haven’t specified it yet.)

So filmen signals that it’s a particular film that is already known in the context.

Why is the word order Kusinen ser filmen i stuen? Could I move i stuen to another place?

In a normal statement, Danish main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb (here: ser) must be the second element in the sentence.

Your sentence has:

1. Kusinen – subject (1st element)
2. ser – finite verb (2nd element)
3. filmen – direct object
4. i stuen – adverbial (place)

You can move i stuen to the front to emphasize the location, but the verb must still stay second:

• I stuen ser kusinen filmen.
  (In the living room, the cousin is watching the film.)

What you cannot do is something like:

• ✗ I stuen kusinen ser filmen. (wrong – verb is not in 2nd position)

Why is it i stuen and not på stuen? How do I know which preposition to use with rooms?

With stue (living room), Danish idiomatically uses i:

• i stuen = in the living room

i usually means in, inside something.
på usually means on (on top of) or at in certain fixed expressions.

For rooms in a house:

• i stuen – in the living room
• på værelset – in the room/bedroom (literally “on the room”; this is just how Danish says it)
• på kontoret or på kontor – at the office

You just have to learn the usual combination for each noun. For stue, it’s i stuen.

How would I say in a living room instead of in the living room?

Use the indefinite form of stue:

• i en stue = in a living room
• i stuen = in the living room

Pattern:

• en stue – a living room
• stuen – the living room
• i en stue – in a living room
• i stuen – in the living room

Are all the nouns in this sentence the same grammatical gender? How does that affect the forms?

Yes, all the nouns here are common gender (the type that uses en as the indefinite article):

• en kusine → kusinen
• en film → filmen
• en stue → stuen

Because they’re common gender, they all take the definite ending -en.

If a noun were neuter, it would use et and the definite ending -et, for example:

• et hus → huset (a house → the house)

How do you roughly pronounce Kusinen ser filmen i stuen?

Very roughly in “English letters,” you might think of:

• Kusinen ≈ “koo-SEE-nen” (last -en is weak, almost just n)
• ser ≈ somewhere between “sair” and “sehr” with a soft Danish r
• filmen ≈ “FIL-men” (again with a weak final syllable)
• i ≈ “ee”
• stuen ≈ roughly “STOO-en” (long u like in “zoo”, and a weak -en)

Real Danish pronunciation is more reduced and uses sounds that don’t exist in English, but this gives you a starting point.