Hun siger velbekomme, når jeg takker hende for kaffen.

In this sentence, velbekomme is the polite response to tak. It is similar to you’re welcome in English.

More literally, it has the sense of may it do you good or enjoy, and it is especially common around food and drink. So if someone thanks you for coffee, a meal, or something served, velbekomme is very natural.

Not only then. It can be used:

• as a response to tak = you’re welcome
• when serving food = something like enjoy or help yourself

So in this sentence, it is being used as a response to thanks, but learners should know it is also common in food-related situations more generally.

Når is used here because the sentence describes something that happens whenever or when a repeated situation occurs.

So:

• når jeg takker hende for kaffen = when/whenever I thank her for the coffee

Compare:

• når = when, whenever, in repeated or general situations
• da = when, but usually for a specific event in the past
• hvis = if

So this sentence means that this is her usual response, not just something that happened once.

Because når jeg takker hende for kaffen is a subordinate clause.

In Danish, subordinate clauses usually do not follow the main-clause word order rule that puts the verb in second position. Instead, the subject usually comes before the verb:

• når jeg takker hende
  = when I thank her

If it were a main clause question, you could get a different order, but here it is a normal subordinate clause, so jeg takker is correct.

Because hende is the object form of the pronoun.

Compare:

• hun = she
• hende = her

In the sentence, jeg is the subject of takker, and hende is the person I am thanking:

• jeg takker hende = I thank her

So hun would be wrong here.

The structure is:

• takke nogen for noget
  = to thank someone for something

So:

• jeg takker hende for kaffen
  = I thank her for the coffee

This is a very common pattern in Danish, and it works with many nouns:

• Jeg takkede ham for hjælpen = I thanked him for the help
• Hun takkede os for gaven = She thanked us for the gift

Because for kaffen means for the coffee, referring to a specific coffee already understood in the situation.

Danish often uses the definite form where English also uses the:

• kaffe = coffee
• kaffen = the coffee

So here the speaker is thanking her for the specific coffee she served or gave.

Yes, you could express the idea in other ways, but jeg takker hende for kaffen is perfectly correct and fairly formal or neutral.

In everyday speech, people may often say:

• jeg siger tak for kaffen
• jeg takker for kaffen

These can sound a bit more idiomatic in some contexts. But grammatically, takke nogen for noget is the basic and very useful structure to learn.

Because the sentence describes a general or habitual situation.

It means something like:

• She says you’re welcome when I thank her for the coffee
• or more naturally, She says you’re welcome whenever I thank her for the coffee

Danish, like English, often uses the present tense for repeated actions or general truths.

Yes, in standard Danish spelling, a comma is normally used before a subordinate clause like the one introduced by når.

So:

• Hun siger velbekomme, når jeg takker hende for kaffen.

That comma helps show that the sentence has:

1. a main clause: Hun siger velbekomme
2. a subordinate clause: når jeg takker hende for kaffen

It is pronounced roughly like vel-be-KOM-me, with the stress on kom.

A rough English-style approximation might be:

• vel-beh-KOM-uh

But Danish pronunciation is softer and more reduced than that spelling suggests. The ending is not pronounced as clearly as in English. If you are learning pronunciation, it is best to listen to native recordings, because this word is very common in spoken Danish.

Yes, it is natural and correct.

That said, in real conversation, Danes might also use:

• Hun siger bare velbekomme
• Hun svarer velbekomme
• Hun siger det altid, når jeg takker for kaffen

But your sentence is a good, clear, grammatical example. It is especially useful for showing:

• the expression velbekomme
• the structure takke nogen for noget
• the use of når in a repeated situation

No, in modern Danish it is normally written as one word: velbekomme.

So the correct form here is:

• Hun siger velbekomme

not a split version.