Learn Hardcore Danish: Mine søskende og jeg ser en film i stuen. - My siblings and I watch a movie in the living room.

min = my (with singular common-gender nouns, e.g. min bog – my book)
mit = my (with singular neuter nouns, e.g. mit hus – my house)
mine = my (with all plural nouns, regardless of gender, e.g. mine bøger, mine huse)

Søskende means siblings (plural), so it must take the plural form mine:
➡ mine søskende = my siblings

What exactly does søskende mean? Does it include both brothers and sisters?

Yes. Søskende means siblings and is:

Always plural (there is no singular form søskend).
Gender-neutral: it can mean:
- only brothers,
- only sisters, or
- a mix of brothers and sisters.

If you want to be specific, you use:

en bror / brødre = a brother / brothers
en søster / søstre = a sister / sisters

So mine søskende = my siblings, without saying how many or what gender.

Why is it søskende og jeg, not søskende og mig?

Because jeg is the subject form and mig is the object form.

jeg = I (subject)
mig = me (object)

In the sentence Mine søskende og jeg ser en film i stuen, the whole phrase mine søskende og jeg is the subject of the verb ser. So you must use the subject form jeg.

Using mig here (mine søskende og mig ser…) is considered grammatically wrong in standard Danish, even though you may hear similar things in very informal speech.

Could I also say Jeg og mine søskende instead of Mine søskende og jeg?

It’s grammatically correct to say Jeg og mine søskende, but:

The normal, polite order in Danish is to put yourself last:
- mine venner og jeg (my friends and I)
- min bror og jeg (my brother and I)
- mine søskende og jeg

Saying Jeg og mine søskende often sounds childish or self‑centered, just like “Me and my siblings” in English. You will still be understood, but Mine søskende og jeg is what you should aim for in normal speech and writing.

Why is the verb ser used here, and does it change with the plural subject?

The infinitive is at se = to see / to watch.

In the present tense, Danish verbs do not change with the subject:

jeg ser – I see / watch
du ser – you see / watch
han/hun/den/det ser – he/she/it sees / watches
vi ser – we see / watch
I ser – you (plural) see / watch
de ser – they see / watch

So with Mine søskende og jeg (we), the verb is still simply ser.

Other forms of se:

at se – to see
ser – see / sees (present)
så – saw (past)
set – seen (past participle)

Why is it ser en film and not something like kigger på en film?

In Danish, when you talk about watching a film, you almost always use se:

se en film – watch a film
se fjernsyn – watch TV
se en serie – watch a series

Kigge (på) is closer to look (at) or glance at:

kigge på noget – look at something
kigge på billeder – look at pictures

If you say vi kigger på en film, it can sound like you’re just looking at or checking out the film, not really watching it properly. The natural expression is ser en film.

Why is it en film and not et film or filmen?

Danish nouns have two grammatical genders:

common gender (n-words) → en in the singular
neuter gender (t-words) → et in the singular

Film is a common gender noun, so:

en film = a film
filmen = the film

You cannot say et film; that’s simply wrong in Danish.

In the sentence Mine søskende og jeg ser en film i stuen, the film is not specific or previously known, so the indefinite form en film is used. If both speakers know which film, you could say:

Mine søskende og jeg ser filmen i stuen.
→ My siblings and I are watching the film in the living room.

Why is it i stuen and not just i stue?

Stue means living room as a noun. When you talk about being in that room as a location, Danish normally uses the definite form:

i stuen – in the living room
i køkkenet – in the kitchen
på badeværelset – in the bathroom
i haven – in the garden

So i stuen here means in the living room (probably the one in our home).

If you want it indefinite, you need an article, for example:

i en stue – in a living room (some unspecified living room)

Bare i stue (without article or definite ending) is not idiomatic in standard Danish.

What does stue mean exactly? Is it always “living room”?

In a normal home context, stue = living room / lounge / sitting room.

But it has some other uses:

stueetage – ground floor (literally living-room floor)
In hospitals, stue can mean a ward/room:
- stue 3 – room/ward 3
In some institutions or schools, stue can mean a common room:
- fællesstue – common room

In this sentence, because of ser en film i stuen, it clearly means the living room of a house or apartment, not a hospital ward or something else.

Can i stuen appear in another position in the sentence, or must it come at the end?

Danish word order is fairly flexible, but there are rules.

Your sentence is:

Mine søskende og jeg ser en film i stuen.
(Subject – Verb – Object – Place)

Other correct variants:

I stuen ser mine søskende og jeg en film.
(Place first; then the verb must be in second position.)
With extra emphasis you might say:
Mine søskende og jeg ser i stuen en film.
This is grammatically possible but sounds a bit marked / less neutral; standard is to keep i stuen at the end.

What you cannot do in a main clause is move the verb away from second position when something else is first:

❌ I stuen mine søskende og jeg ser en film. (wrong: verb is not in 2nd place)

So general guideline:

If something other than the subject (like i stuen) comes first, the verb must be the second element:
I stuen ser mine søskende og jeg en film.

How would the sentence change if I add a time expression like i aften (“this evening”)?

Several orders are possible. Some natural ones:

Keep the original structure and add time at the end:
- Mine søskende og jeg ser en film i stuen i aften.
  → neutral, but the sentence is a bit “heavy” at the end.
Put the time first (very common in Danish):
- I aften ser mine søskende og jeg en film i stuen.
  (Time – Verb – Subject – Object – Place)
  Here again the main verb ser stays in second position.
Time in the middle (less common, a bit more formal or emphatic):
- Mine søskende og jeg ser i aften en film i stuen.

As a rough rule for elements after the verb, Danish often prefers the order:

Time – (Object/Manner) – Place

So I aften ser vi en film i stuen is a very natural pattern.

How do you pronounce søskende, jeg, ser, and stuen?

Approximate standard Danish pronunciations:

søskende – [ˈsøskənə]
- sø: like French eu in peur, rounded mid vowel
- -sk-: like English sk in sky
- -ende: here the d is silent; sounds like -ən-eh
- Rough English approximation: “SØS-ken-eh” (with a Danish ø sound)
jeg – [jɑj] (often like “yai”)
- Similar to English “y”
  - “eye” merged: “yai”
- Not like the English word “yeah”
ser – [seɐ̯]
- Starts like English “say”, but ends with a sort of very short, swallowed “uh” sound caused by the Danish r
- Roughly: “seh-uh”, very compressed
stuen – [ˈsd̥uːən]
- stu: like a long “stoo” in English “stool”, but with a slightly different t sound
- -en: a weak “ən” sound at the end
- Rough approximation: “STOO-en” (two syllables)

Stress is on the first syllable in søskende and stuen.