Learn Hardcore Danish: Hun glæder sig til ferien, fordi hun endelig kan tænke på andre drømme end arbejdet. - She is looking forward to the vacation, because she can finally think about other dreams than work.

at glæde sig (til noget) = to look forward to (something)
- Hun glæder sig til ferien. = She is looking forward to the holiday.
at glæde nogen = to make someone happy / to please someone
- Det glæder hende. = That makes her happy / That pleases her.

In your sentence we need the meaning look forward to, so the verb must be glæder sig (reflexive), not just glæder.

The reflexive pronoun sig changes with the person:

jeg glæder mig
du glæder dig
han/hun/den/det glæder sig
vi glæder os
I glæder jer
de glæder sig

Why do you use til after glæder sig? Could you say for instead?

With glæde sig, the preposition is part of a fixed pattern:

at glæde sig til noget = to look forward to something (usually future)
at glæde sig over noget = to be happy about something (present/past)

So:

Hun glæder sig til ferien.
She is looking forward to the holiday (it hasn’t happened yet).

You do not say glæde sig for noget in this meaning. That would sound wrong to a Dane.

Compare:

Han glæder sig over resultatet.
He is happy about the result (the result already exists).
Han glæder sig til resultatet.
He is looking forward to the result (e.g. waiting for test results).

Why is it ferien (the holiday) and not just ferie (holiday)?

Danish usually adds a definite ending when we mean a specific, known thing:

ferie = holiday/vacation in general, some (unspecified) time off
ferien = the (specific) holiday we both know about

In this sentence, she is thinking about a particular upcoming holiday, so ferien makes sense.

If you said:

Hun glæder sig til ferie.

it would be more like:

She is looking forward to having (some) time off / to having holidays (in general),

not necessarily a specific booked vacation. Both forms are possible, but til ferien points more clearly to one concrete holiday period.

Why are the verbs in the present tense (glæder, kan tænke) if it’s about the future?

Danish very often uses the present tense to talk about the future, especially when there is a time expression that makes the time clear:

Hun glæder sig til ferien = She is looking forward to the holiday (in the future).
I morgen tager jeg til København. = Tomorrow I’m going to Copenhagen.

There is a future-like modal skal, but it’s not required the way will is in English. Here:

Hun glæder sig describes her current emotional state.
hun endelig kan tænke på andre drømme… expresses what she will be able to do during the holiday, but Danish still uses present kan.

You could say … fordi hun endelig skal kunne tænke på …, but that sounds heavier and usually isn’t necessary.

Why is the word order fordi hun endelig kan tænke and not fordi hun kan endelig tænke?

The word order in subordinate clauses (introduced by fordi, at, som, etc.) is different from main clauses.

Basic patterns:

Main clause:
Subject–Verb–(Adverb)
Hun kan endelig tænke.
Subordinate clause:
Conjunction–Subject–Adverb–Verb
… fordi hun endelig kan tænke.

So in a fordi-clause, an adverb like endelig normally comes before the finite verb:

✅ fordi hun endelig kan tænke
❌ fordi hun kan endelig tænke (ungrammatical for standard Danish)

This S–Adverb–Verb order is a key feature of Danish subordinate clauses.

Why do we say kan tænke and not just tænker?

Using kan adds the idea of possibility / ability:

… fordi hun endelig kan tænke på andre drømme…
= because she will finally be able to think about other dreams…

If you said:

… fordi hun endelig tænker på andre drømme end arbejdet.

that would sound more like a straightforward description of what she (habitually) does at that time, without emphasising that the holiday frees her to do it.

So:

kan tænke → stresses the freedom/possibility that the holiday gives her.
tænker → more neutral “she then thinks about…”, weaker focus on that new freedom.

Why is it tænke på and not something like tænke om?

In Danish:

tænke på noget/nogen = to think about something/someone (have it in your mind)
- Jeg tænker på dig. = I’m thinking about you.
- Hun tænker på andre drømme. = She is thinking about other dreams.

Other patterns are different in meaning:

tænke over noget = to ponder something, reflect on it
- Jeg må tænke over det. = I have to think it over.
mene om noget/nogen = to have an opinion about
- Hvad mener du om filmen? = What do you think of the film?

So with “think about dreams”, the natural choice is tænke på.

What does the structure andre drømme end arbejdet mean exactly, and how does end work here?

The pattern is:

andre X end Y = other X than Y / other X besides Y

So:

andre drømme end arbejdet
= other dreams than (her) work
= dreams that are not about work

end here means than, just like in comparisons:

større end dig = bigger than you
bedre end før = better than before

You don’t add extra prepositions like for or til here. It’s simply:

andre drømme end arbejdet
andre interesser end sport
noget andet end kaffe

Why is it arbejdet and not arbejde or sit arbejde?

All three are possible in Danish, but they have slightly different nuances.

arbejdet (definite form)
- Often used to mean “work” as her usual job or the general activity of working.
- andre drømme end arbejdet ≈ other dreams than (her) work/the work.
- Neutral, very natural here.
arbejde (indefinite)
- More like “work” in a more general, non-specific sense.
- andre drømme end arbejde could feel a bit more abstract: other dreams than (doing) work in general.
sit arbejde (possessive, her specific job)
- Emphasises that it’s specifically her own job as one concrete thing.
- andre drømme end sit arbejde = other dreams than her job (as a specific position).

In everyday speech, arbejdet is probably the most idiomatic choice here, pointing to her normal work life without having to say “her job” directly.

Why is hun repeated after fordi? Can you leave it out?

You have:

Hun glæder sig til ferien, fordi hun endelig kan tænke…

In Danish, you must have an explicit subject in every clause. Danish is not a “pro-drop” language like Spanish or Italian.

So you cannot say:

❌ … fordi endelig kan tænke på andre drømme…

That would be ungrammatical, because there is no subject in the fordi-clause.

Each clause needs its own subject:

[Hun] glæder sig til ferien, fordi [hun] endelig kan tænke…

Why is there a comma before fordi? Is it always required?

The comma before fordi marks the beginning of a subordinate clause:

Hun glæder sig til ferien, fordi hun endelig kan tænke på andre drømme end arbejdet.

In Danish there are two accepted comma systems:

With “grammatical comma” (traditional)
- You normally put a comma before all subordinate clauses.
- Then this comma is required.
Without grammatical comma (newer option)
- You can omit some of these commas in more modern/official style.
- Then you could also write:
  Hun glæder sig til ferien fordi hun endelig kan tænke…

Both versions are correct according to current rules; it’s mainly a style choice. The meaning does not change.

Could you use da or for instead of fordi here? What’s the difference?

They’re all causal, but not interchangeable in all contexts.

fordi = because (neutral, most common)
- Hun glæder sig til ferien, fordi hun endelig kan tænke…
  Neutral explanation.
da = since/as (often the reason is known/obvious or backgrounded)
- Hun glæder sig til ferien, da hun endelig kan tænke…
  Sounds more written/formal and suggests the reason is somewhat given in the situation.
for = for/because, but it is a coordinating conjunction, not a subordinating one.
- You would say:
  Hun glæder sig til ferien, for hun kan endelig tænke på andre drømme end arbejdet.
- After for, the clause has main-clause word order (hun kan endelig tænke), not subordinate order.

In your original sentence, fordi is the most natural, neutral choice.