Jeg lægger det rene håndklæde på sengen.

Lægge is the infinitive, meaning to put / to lay.
Lægger is the present tense: puts / am putting / put in English, depending on context.

So:

• at lægge = to put
• jeg lægger = I put / I am putting

Danish present tense often ends in -r.

This is a very common Danish question because lægge and ligge are a pair:

• lægge = to put something somewhere, or to lay something down
  
  • it usually takes an object
• ligge = to be lying / to be located

In this sentence, the speaker is doing the action of placing the towel on the bed, so Danish uses lægger.

Compare:

• Jeg lægger håndklædet på sengen. = I put the towel on the bed.
• Håndklædet ligger på sengen. = The towel is lying on the bed.

So the first is an action; the second is a state/location.

Because håndklæde is a neuter noun in Danish.

Danish nouns are mainly either:

• common gender (en words)
• neuter (et words)

Håndklæde is an et-word:

• et håndklæde = a towel

When a definite neuter noun has an adjective before it, Danish uses det:

• det rene håndklæde = the clean towel

If the noun were a common-gender noun, you would use den instead:

• den røde bil = the red car

Because adjectives change form in Danish depending on grammar.

The base form is ren = clean.
But in definite phrases like the clean towel, the adjective usually takes -e:

• et rent håndklæde = a clean towel
• det rene håndklæde = the clean towel

So here, rene appears because the noun phrase is definite: det ... håndklæde.

A useful pattern is:

• en ren ...
• et rent ...
• den/det/de rene ...

In Danish, when a noun is definite and has an adjective before it, you normally get double definiteness.

Compare:

• håndklædet = the towel
  
  • definite by ending
• det rene håndklæde = the clean towel
  
  • definite by det before the adjective, while the noun itself appears in its base form

So Danish usually does not say rene håndklædet here.
Instead it says:

• det rene håndklæde

This is normal Danish structure: det/den/de + adjective + noun

Because once an adjective comes before the noun in a definite phrase, Danish usually uses the structure:

• det rene håndklæde

not:

• det rene håndklædet

So in this pattern, the noun itself is typically in the indefinite base form, while definiteness is shown by det/den/de before the adjective.

Compare:

• Håndklædet er rent. = The towel is clean.
• Det rene håndklæde ligger på sengen. = The clean towel is lying on the bed.

Because på means on, while i means in.

• på sengen = on the bed
• i sengen = in bed / in the bed

If the towel is placed on top of the bed, på is correct.

This distinction matters in Danish just as it does in English:

• Jeg lægger bogen på bordet. = I put the book on the table.
• Jeg lægger barnet i sengen. = I put the child in the bed.

Sengen is the definite form: the bed.

• en seng = a bed
• sengen = the bed

In this sentence, the speaker is referring to a specific bed, not just any bed, so Danish uses the definite form sengen.

This is very common in Danish when the speaker and listener can identify the thing being talked about.

The sentence follows the normal Danish main-clause pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object + Place

• Jeg = subject
• lægger = verb
• det rene håndklæde = object
• på sengen = place

So it is very close to normal English word order here.

However, Danish is a V2 language, which means the finite verb usually comes in the second position in main clauses. If you move another element to the front, the verb still stays second:

• På sengen lægger jeg det rene håndklæde.

That is less neutral here, but grammatically possible.

Yes. That would mean I put the towel on the bed.

The difference is that:

• håndklædet = the towel
• det rene håndklæde = the clean towel

So the original sentence is more specific because it includes the adjective rene.

Both are correct, but they do not emphasize the same thing.

Unfortunately, there is no completely reliable rule that lets you predict the gender of every Danish noun. In many cases, you simply have to learn it with the noun:

• et håndklæde
• en seng

That said, the best habit is to memorize nouns together with their article from the start. Learn:

• et håndklæde
• en seng

not just håndklæde and seng by themselves.

Yes, it is a tricky word for many learners.

A rough guide:

• hånd sounds somewhat like hon with a rounded vowel
• klæde has the æ sound, a bit like the vowel in cat, but not exactly
• the whole word is often pronounced more smoothly and reduced than learners expect

Important points:

• å is not pronounced like English a in hand
• æ is a front vowel, similar to the vowel in bad for many English speakers
• spoken Danish often reduces unstressed syllables, so the ending may sound less clear than it looks

If you are learning pronunciation, it is especially worth listening to native audio for this word, because spelling and sound do not match very transparently.

Usually ren means clean, but in context det rene håndklæde often strongly suggests the clean/fresh towel, especially in everyday situations like laundry, bathrooms, or making a bed.

So the word itself means clean, but the natural implication can be freshly washed depending on context.

Yes. Danish present tense often covers both:

• I put
• I am putting

So Jeg lægger det rene håndklæde på sengen can fit a simple present or present-progressive kind of meaning depending on context.

Danish does not need a special continuous form the way English often does. Context usually makes it clear.