Learn Hardcore Danish: Hvis lønnen i firmaet, hvor hun er i praktik, er lav, tjener hun stadig lidt penge og får vigtig erfaring til karrieren. - If the salary in the company where she is an intern is low, she still earns a little money and gains important experience for her career.

hvis = if (a condition; it may or may not happen).
- Hvis lønnen er lav = If the salary is low (we don’t know yet / it’s a condition).
når = when/whenever (something that is expected or known to happen).
- Når lønnen er lav = When(ever) the salary is low (it does happen; more factual / habitual).

In this sentence, Hvis lønnen … er lav presents a condition: On the condition that the salary is low, she still earns a bit of money…
If the speaker wanted to say that the salary is in fact low (a known fact), they would more likely use selvom (even though), or restructure the sentence.

Why does Danish say lønnen and not something like den løn for the salary?

Danish normally expresses definiteness with a suffix on the noun:

en løn = a salary
lønnen = the salary

So:

Hvis lønnen … er lav = If the salary is low

You only use a separate definite article (den, det, de) together with the noun in special cases, for example when there is an adjective:

den høje løn = the high salary
et stort firma = a big company
det store firma = the big company

But with a bare noun like løn, the natural definite form is lønnen, not den løn in this sentence.

What is the word order rule that gives tjener hun stadig instead of hun tjener stadig?

This is the verb‑second (V2) rule in main clauses.

A main clause in Danish likes the finite verb in second position, no matter what comes first:

Neutral order: Hun tjener stadig lidt penge.
(Subject hun is first, verb tjener is second.)

If you move something else to the front (for emphasis or because of a preceding clause), the verb stays second and the subject moves after the verb:

Hvis lønnen … er lav, tjener hun stadig lidt penge.
1st element: Hvis lønnen … er lav (the entire if‑clause)
2nd element: tjener (finite verb)
3rd element: hun (subject)

So you get tjener hun, not hun tjener, after the conditional clause.

Why is the word order in the hvis‑clause Hvis lønnen … er lav and not something like Hvis er lønnen lav?

Subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like hvis, fordi, at, når do not use the same V2 pattern as main clauses.

Typical pattern in such subordinate clauses:

conjunction + subject + (other stuff) + finite verb + (rest)

So:

Hvis (conjunction)
lønnen i firmaet, hvor hun er i praktik, (subject phrase)
er (finite verb)
lav (adjective / predicate)

Therefore Hvis lønnen … er lav is correct.
Hvis er lønnen lav would sound ungrammatical in modern standard Danish.

What exactly does i praktik mean, and why not something like i en praktik?

praktik is a noun meaning something like internship / practical training / work placement.

The fixed expression at være i praktik means to be an intern / to be on an internship:

hun er i praktik = she is doing an internship / she is an intern

Here praktik is used almost like an uncountable activity, similar to at være på arbejde (to be at work).
Because of that, you don’t normally add an article:

hun er i praktik (correct, idiomatic)
hun er i en praktik (unusual / sounds wrong in this sense)

Related words:

en praktikant = an intern (the person)
en praktikplads = an internship position / internship place

Why is it firmaet, hvor hun er i praktik, and not firmaet, som hun er i praktik i?

Both structures are possible, but they feel a bit different:

firmaet, hvor hun er i praktik,
Literally: the company where she is in internship
hvor here is a relative adverb meaning roughly where, referring to the place/institution.
firmaet, som hun er i praktik i
Uses som (relative pronoun) and then a separate i at the end. This is grammatically acceptable but stylistically heavier and a bit clumsy.

Danish often uses hvor to refer back to places, organizations, companies, etc.:

byen, hvor jeg bor = the city where I live
skolen, hvor han arbejder = the school where he works
firmaet, hvor hun er i praktik = the company where she is an intern

So hvor is the smooth, natural choice here.

Why are there commas around hvor hun er i praktik, and are they optional?

The phrase hvor hun er i praktik is a relative clause describing firmaet.

Danish punctuation (with the traditional comma rules) places commas around such inserted clauses:

firmaet, hvor hun er i praktik,
= the company, where she is an intern,

This clause is non‑restrictive (extra information, not needed to identify which company), so it is set off by commas.

With the more modern “new comma” system, you must still separate the relative clause, so the commas here are not optional if you keep the same structure. You might see slight variations in more complex sentences, but for a learner, it’s safest to follow the model you see: commas before and after the inserted relative clause.

Why is it er lav (is low) and not something like har lav løn (has low salary)?

Both ways exist, but they focus differently:

lønnen … er lav = the salary is low
Here lønnen is the subject, lav is an adjective describing it. This is very direct and neutral.
hun har lav løn = she has a low salary
Focus is on her as the one who has that salary.

In your sentence the focus is the salary level in the company, not specifically her personal pay structure, so lønnen … er lav fits well.

Also, the pattern [noun] er [adjective] (like is low/high/good/bad) is extremely common and natural in Danish.

What is the difference between tjener, arbejder, and får in a context with money?

In a money context:

at tjene (penge) = to earn (money)
Focus on receiving money as a result of work.
- Hun tjener lidt penge. = She earns a bit of money.
at arbejde = to work (do work)
Does not by itself say anything about money.
- Hun arbejder meget. = She works a lot.
at få (penge) = to get / receive (money)
More general; can be salary, gifts, welfare payments, etc.
- Hun får penge af sine forældre. = She gets money from her parents.

So in your sentence, tjener hun stadig lidt penge is natural because we are talking about earning salary from the internship.

Why is it lidt penge and not nogle penge or få penge? What is the nuance?

The three options carry different shades of meaning:

lidt penge = a bit of money / some money, but not much
Slightly positive: there is at least a bit.
- Hun tjener stadig lidt penge. = She still earns a bit of money.
nogle penge = some money (neutral quantity)
Does not imply much or little, just some amount.
få penge = little money / not much money
More clearly negative: stresses that the amount is small.
- Hun tjener kun få penge. = She earns only little money.

So lidt penge matches the idea that the pay is low, but she does at least earn something.

Why is it vigtig erfaring (singular) and not vigtige erfaringer (plural), when English often says important experience as an uncountable noun?

Danish can use erfaring in both ways:

erfaring as an uncountable / collective noun (like English experience):
- Hun får vigtig erfaring.
  = She gains important experience (in general).
erfaring(er) as countable experiences:
- Hun har mange erfaringer fra udlandet.
  = She has many experiences from abroad.

In your sentence, it is about building up general professional experience, not counting separate incidents, so vigtig erfaring (singular, uncountable sense) is natural and matches English well.

Why is it vigtig erfaring, not vigtige erfaring or vigtigt erfaring? How do the adjective endings work here?

Adjective endings in Danish depend on gender, number, and definiteness.

erfaring is a common gender noun (en erfaring).
Here it is indefinite singular (no en shown, but implied in meaning).

Pattern:
indefinite, singular, common gender → base form of the adjective (no -t, no -e):

en vigtig erfaring → vigtig erfaring (when the article is omitted in a more abstract expression)
en stor bil → a big car

Other forms for comparison:

et vigtigt projekt (neuter: et projekt)
vigtige erfaringer (plural: experiences)
den vigtige erfaring (definite: the important experience)

So vigtig erfaring has the correct ending for an indefinite, singular, common‑gender noun.

Why is it til karrieren and not for karrieren?

Both til and for can appear with karrieren, but they express slightly different ideas:

vigtig erfaring til karrieren
Literally: important experience to the career
→ Emphasises that the experience contributes to / can be used for building her career. Very idiomatic: experience for your career in the sense of towards it.
vigtig for karrieren
Literally: important for the career
→ Describes importance or relevance for the career in a more general sense.

Your sentence says she gains something that she can later use toward her career, so til karrieren fits this idea of contributing to a future goal.
You could also say vigtig erfaring for karrieren; it would still be correct, just with a slightly more general important for nuance.

What grammatical gender do løn, firma, and erfaring have, and how can I tell?

In Danish you mainly have to learn the gender with each noun, but here they are:

en løn → lønnen (common gender)
et firma → firmaet (neuter)
en erfaring → erfaringen (common gender)

In the sentence:

lønnen shows common gender via -en.
firmaet shows neuter via -et.
erfaring appears without article but is still common gender (en erfaring in full form).

There is no fully reliable rule to predict gender; you build intuition over time by learning words with en/et together.