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Min lærer er præcis, når hun forklarer grammatikken.

Min lærer er præcis, når hun forklarer grammatikken.
My teacher is precise when she explains the grammar.
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Questions & Answers about Min lærer er præcis, når hun forklarer grammatikken.

Why is it min lærer and not min lærere?

Lærer is singular here and means (my) teacher.
Lærere is the plural form and means teachers. So:

  • min lærer = my (one) teacher
  • mine lærere = my teachers
Why do we use min and not mit or mine?

Danish possessives agree with the gender/number of the noun they modify:

  • min
    • common-gender singular noun (en-words): min lærer
  • mit
    • neuter singular noun (et-words): e.g. mit hus
  • mine
    • plural noun: e.g. mine bøger

Lærer is an en-word (common gender), so it takes min.

Is lærer masculine, feminine, or something else in Danish?

Modern Danish has two grammatical genders for most nouns:

  • common gender (often called en-words)
  • neuter (often called et-words)

Lærer is common gender (en lærer). This is grammatical gender, not the teacher’s real-life gender.

Why does the sentence use hun? Could it be han or de?

Yes—hun is chosen because the teacher is referred to as she. You can swap it depending on who you mean:

  • … når hun forklarer … = when she explains …
  • … når han forklarer … = when he explains …
  • … når de forklarer … = when they explain … (plural “they”)
What does præcis mean here—precise or punctual?

Præcis can mean both depending on context:

  • precise / exact / clear and accurate (very common with explanations)
  • punctual / on time (often with time/schedules)

Because it’s paired with forklarer grammatikken (explains grammar), the natural reading is precise/accurate/clear.

Why is the adjective præcis not changed—shouldn’t adjectives agree in Danish?

Adjectives agree in Danish, but here the subject is a singular common-gender noun (min lærer), so the basic form is used:

  • common singular: er præcis
  • neuter singular: would typically add -t (many adjectives): er præcist (if the subject were an et- noun)
  • plural/definite: typically -e: er præcise

So præcis is correct with min lærer.

Why is there a comma before når?

Because når hun forklarer grammatikken is a subordinate clause introduced by når (when). Danish commonly uses a comma to separate a main clause from a following subordinate clause:

  • Min lærer er præcis, når hun forklarer grammatikken.

(Some writing styles vary, but this comma is standard and widely accepted.)

Does når mean “when” in the sense of a specific time, or “whenever”?

It can mean either, but it often suggests a general/recurring situation:

  • når + present frequently means whenever / when(ever) in general statements.

Here it naturally reads as: My teacher is precise whenever she explains the grammar.
If you meant a single past event, you’d usually use a different structure (often with past tense and sometimes da instead).

Why is the word order når hun forklarer and not når forklarer hun?

In Danish subordinate clauses, the word order is typically subject before verb (no V2 inversion):

  • subordinate clause: når hun forklarer … (subject hun
    • verb forklarer)

In main clauses you often get V2 word order (verb in 2nd position), but that doesn’t apply after når in a subordinate clause.

What tense is forklarer, and how is it formed?

Forklarer is present tense of forklare (to explain).
For many verbs, Danish forms the present by adding -r to the infinitive:

  • infinitive: forklare
  • present: forklarer
Why is it grammatikken and not just grammatik?

Grammatikken is the definite form: the grammar.
Danish often marks definiteness by adding an ending to the noun:

  • grammatik = grammar (indefinite / general)
  • grammatikken = the grammar (definite)

Because the sentence refers to the grammar as a specific topic being explained, grammatikken is natural.

How do I know that grammatikken is definite—what does -en do?

For many common-gender nouns, the definite singular ending is -en (or -n after certain endings). In this word:

  • base noun: grammatik
  • definite ending: -ken (spelled as part of the final form grammatikken)

So -en (realized here as -en in the final spelling) signals the.

Could I also say Min lærer er præcis, når hun forklarer grammatik (without -ken)?

You can, but it changes the feel:

  • … forklarer grammatikken = explains the grammar (more specific, like “the grammar we’re studying”)
  • … forklarer grammatik = explains grammar (more general, like the subject in general)

Both can be correct depending on what you mean, but grammatikken is very natural in a classroom context.