Learn Hardcore Danish: Han bliver hurtigt træt og begynder at kede sig, hvis han sidder alene uden at tale med nogen. - He quickly gets tired and starts to be bored if he sits alone without talking to anyone.

Han bliver hurtigt træt = He quickly *gets tired (focus on the *change from not tired → tired).
Han er træt = He *is tired (a *state, no change implied).

In this sentence, we want to say that he tends to become tired in that situation, so bliver is more natural than er.

Where can hurtigt go in the sentence? Is Han bliver hurtigt træt the only option?

In neutral word order, hurtigt comes after the conjugated verb in a main clause:

Han bliver hurtigt træt. ✅ (He quickly gets tired.)

Other placements are possible but sound marked or wrong:

Han hurtigt bliver træt. ❌ (incorrect in standard Danish)
Hurtigt bliver han træt. ✅ but this sounds more emphatic, like “Quickly, he gets tired.”

So the normal, unstressed version is: [subject] [verb] [adverb] [rest] → Han bliver hurtigt træt.

What does begynder at kede sig literally mean, and why do we need sig?

Literally:

begynder = begins / starts
at kede sig = to bore himself → idiomatically to be/get bored

Kede sig is a reflexive verb in Danish. It always takes a reflexive pronoun:

jeg keder mig – I am bored
du keder dig – you are bored
han/hun keder sig – he/she is bored
vi keder os – we are bored
I keder jer – you (pl.) are bored
de keder sig – they are bored

So you can’t say han keder on its own; it has to be han keder sig.

Begynder at kede sig = starts to get bored.

Why is there a comma before hvis?

Hvis han sidder alene uden at tale med nogen is a subordinate clause (“if he sits alone without talking to anyone”).

In Danish, you normally put a comma before subordinate clauses introduced by words like:

hvis (if)
når (when)
fordi (because)
at (that)
som (who/which/that), etc.

So:

Han bliver hurtigt træt og begynder at kede sig, hvis han sidder alene …

Some very modern styles allow dropping some commas, but the most widely taught and safest rule is: put a comma before a hvis-clause like this.

What’s the difference between hvis and når here? Could we say når han sidder alene?

Both hvis and når can connect clauses, but they’re not the same:

hvis = if (a condition, something that may or may not happen)
når = when (something that is expected to happen, in general or repeatedly)

In this sentence:

hvis han sidder alene … = if he sits alone … (whenever that situation occurs)
når han sidder alene … = when(ever) he sits alone … (suggests it does happen, and this is the result)

Both can work, but:

hvis stresses the condition.
når feels more like a general rule/description of what happens in those situations.

The given sentence uses hvis, highlighting the condition: if he happens to sit alone….

Why is it han sidder alene and not just han er alene?

You could say han er alene, but han sidder alene adds information about his physical position.

In Danish, verbs like:

sidde (sit)
stå (stand)
ligge (lie)

are often used instead of just være (be) when you describe where/ how someone is positioned:

Han sidder alene – He is (sitting) alone.
Han står alene – He is standing alone.
Han ligger alene – He is lying alone.

So han sidder alene paints a clearer picture: he is sitting alone, not just being alone in some abstract sense.

How does the structure uden at + infinitive work in uden at tale med nogen?

Uden at + infinitive = without doing X.

uden at tale = without speaking/talking
uden at spise = without eating
uden at sige noget = without saying anything

So:

uden at tale med nogen = without talking to anyone

This is directly parallel to English without + -ing, but in Danish you use uden at + infinitive.

Why is it tale med nogen and not tale til nogen?

Both exist, but they’re used slightly differently:

tale med nogen = talk *with someone*
→ more mutual, a conversation between two people.
tale til nogen = speak *to someone*
→ can sound more one‑way, like addressing someone, giving a speech, scolding, etc.

Here we mean normal social interaction / conversation, so tale med nogen is the natural choice: without talking *with anyone*.

Why is it nogen after uden, and not ingen?

In English you say:

without talking to anyone (not: without talking to no one)

Danish works similarly here. Uden has a negative meaning, so you use nogen (“anyone/someone”) rather than ingen (“no one”):

uden at tale med nogen = without talking to anyone ✅
uden at tale med ingen ❌ (ungrammatical – a kind of double negative)

So after uden, you normally use nogen, not ingen.

Why is it bliver and begynder, not blive and begynde?

Bliver and begynder are the present tense (3rd person singular) forms:

Infinitive: at blive → Present: han bliver
Infinitive: at begynde → Present: han begynder

The pattern:

infinitive usually ends in -e: blive, begynde, kede
present tense typically ends in -r: bliver, begynder, keder

In this sentence we’re describing what he does (in general), so we need present tense:

Han bliver hurtigt træt og begynder at kede sig … = He gets tired and starts to get bored …

Why do we use sig and not ham in kede sig?

Sig is the 3rd person reflexive pronoun. It refers back to the subject of the same clause:

han keder sig = he is bored (literally: he bores himself)
de keder sig = they are bored (they bore themselves)

Ham is the non‑reflexive object pronoun:

Han keder ham. = He bores him (two different people).

So:

han keder sig → he is bored ✅ (subject and object are the same: “he”)
han keder ham → he bores him ❌ in this context, wrong meaning

That’s why the fixed expression is kede sig, never kede ham when you mean “be bored”.