Breakdown of Når jeg er færdig med lektierne, drikker jeg kaffe i stuen.
Questions & Answers about Når jeg er færdig med lektierne, drikker jeg kaffe i stuen.
Because Når ... introduces a subordinate (dependent) clause. In Danish, it’s standard to put a comma between a subordinate clause and the main clause when the subordinate clause comes first:
- Når jeg er færdig med lektierne, (subordinate clause)
- drikker jeg kaffe i stuen. (main clause)
Danish follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb (here drikker) must be the second element in the clause.
When the sentence begins with something other than the subject (here, the whole Når... clause counts as the first element), the verb comes before the subject:
- First element: Når jeg er færdig med lektierne
- Second element (verb): drikker
- Then subject: jeg
So: ..., drikker jeg ... is correct.
Inside the subordinate clause, Danish uses more “English-like” order: subject + verb:
- Når jeg er færdig ...
In subordinate clauses, you don’t apply V2 in the same way as in main clauses. (A related point: sentence adverbs like ikke typically come before the verb in subordinate clauses: Når jeg ikke er færdig ...)
It can mean either, depending on context:
- When (a specific time): When I’m finished with the homework...
- Whenever (repeated habit): Whenever I finish the homework...
With a present-tense habitual statement like this, many learners interpret it as a routine: Whenever/When I’m done... I drink coffee... Context decides.
Yes. at være færdig literally means to be finished / to be done. It’s very common Danish phrasing.
You’ll often see it with med:
- at være færdig med noget = to be done with something
So jeg er færdig med lektierne = I’m done with the homework.
Danish uses med in this construction:
- færdig med + noun = done with + noun
It’s a fixed, natural collocation. Other prepositions usually sound wrong here.
lektier = homework / lessons (plural form).
lektierne = the homework / the lessons (definite plural), where -ne is the definite ending.
Danish often treats “homework” as plural-like (lektier), even though English homework is uncountable.
Yes, depending on what you want to emphasize:
- lektierne = the homework (understood from context: usually yours)
- mine lektier = my homework (more explicit/contrastive)
Both can be natural:
- Når jeg er færdig med mine lektier, ... (especially if contrasting with someone else’s)
Both are possible but mean slightly different things:
- drikker jeg kaffe = I drink coffee (coffee in general; uncountable substance)
- drikker jeg en kaffe = I have/drink a coffee (one serving/cup; more specific)
Your sentence sounds like a general habit: coffee as a beverage, not necessarily “one cup.”
- stue = living room
- stuen = the living room (definite singular: -en ending)
- i = in
So i stuen = in the living room.
You use i for being located inside a room (not moving into it). If you meant “into the living room,” you’d typically use ind i stuen or a verb of motion.
Danish often uses the present tense to describe routines and general time relationships:
- Når jeg er færdig ..., drikker jeg ... = a habitual pattern
English can also use present tense for this kind of time clause: When I’m done, I drink/have coffee... Context makes it sound routine.
A few helpful pronunciation notes:
- Når: the å is like an “aw” sound; the r is often weak in many Danish accents.
- færdig: the æ is a front vowel (not like English “air,” but somewhat close). The final -ig often sounds like a soft -i or -y-like sound depending on accent.
- lektierne / stuen: the definite endings -ne and -en are usually unstressed and reduced.
If you want, I can provide a slow, syllable-by-syllable approximation and stress pattern.