Hvis jeg er syg, drikker jeg vand og tager hostesaft, før jeg går i seng.

Because hvis means if, and it introduces a condition.

So Hvis jeg er syg is an if-clause: it sets up the situation before the main statement.

• hvis = if
• jeg = I
• er = am
• syg = sick/ill

A very literal structure is:

• Hvis jeg er syg, ... = If I am sick, ...

This is because Danish is a V2 language in main clauses. That means the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

In this sentence, the whole clause Hvis jeg er syg comes first. After that, the main clause begins, and the verb must come first inside that clause:

• Hvis jeg er syg, drikker jeg vand ...

Not:

• Hvis jeg er syg, jeg drikker vand ... ✘

You can think of it like this:

1. First position: Hvis jeg er syg
2. Second position: drikker
3. Then: jeg

This is one of the most important Danish word-order rules.

Danish often uses the present tense where English might use will, especially for:

• habits
• general truths
• repeated actions
• future actions understood from context

So:

• Hvis jeg er syg, drikker jeg vand ...

can mean something like:

• If I’m sick, I drink water...
• If I’m sick, I’ll drink water...

depending on context.

This sentence sounds like a habitual action: what the speaker usually does when sick.

In Danish, being ill is expressed with være (to be) + adjective:

• jeg er syg = I am sick

You do not say har syg.

This is similar to English, where we also say I am sick, not I have sick.

Because vand here is used as an uncountable noun, just like water in English.

So:

• drikker vand = drink water

not usually:

• drikker et vand ✘

You only use an article if you mean something more specific, in a special context.

This is just the normal Danish expression.

Danish often uses tage (take) with medicine:

• tage medicin = take medicine
• tage en pille = take a pill
• tage hostesaft = take cough syrup

Even though cough syrup is a liquid and you physically drink it, Danish commonly treats it as medicine you take.

So this is more about normal collocation than literal logic.

Hostesaft is a compound noun:

• hoste = cough
• saft = juice/liquid/syrup

Together:

• hostesaft = cough syrup / cough medicine

Danish makes compounds very freely, and they are usually written as one word.

That means hoste saft would be wrong here.

Because før jeg går i seng is a subordinate clause introduced by før (before).

So the sentence has:

1. a subordinate clause: Hvis jeg er syg
2. a main clause: drikker jeg vand og tager hostesaft
3. another subordinate clause: før jeg går i seng

Danish often uses commas to mark subordinate clauses clearly.

Because før jeg går i seng is a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses in Danish do not use the main-clause V2 pattern.

So in a subordinate clause, the normal order is:

• conjunction + subject + verb

That gives:

• før jeg går i seng

not:

• før går jeg i seng ✘

Compare:

• Main clause: Jeg går i seng.
• Subordinate clause: før jeg går i seng

Because gå i seng means go to bed, not sleep.

So:

• gå i seng = go to bed
• sove = sleep

The sentence is talking about what the speaker does before going to bed, not necessarily before sleeping.

This is very similar to English:

• before I go to bed not
• before I sleep

Because gå i seng is a fixed Danish expression meaning go to bed.

Even though English uses to bed, Danish uses i here:

• gå i seng = go to bed

This is something you mostly need to learn as a set phrase.

Here før means before.

In this sentence:

• før jeg går i seng = before I go to bed

Depending on context, før can also relate to earlier/before in time, but in sentences like this it commonly works as a conjunction introducing a time clause.

Most naturally, it sounds like a habit or a general routine.

So the meaning is something like:

• When/if I’m sick, I drink water and take cough syrup before going to bed.

Because the verbs are in the present tense, the sentence suggests what the speaker usually does.

If you wanted to make it more clearly about one future situation, Danish could still use the present, but context would normally make that clear.

Sometimes, but the meaning changes a bit.

• hvis = if
• når = when

So:

• Hvis jeg er syg... = If I am sick...
• Når jeg er syg... = When I am sick...

Hvis sounds more conditional: maybe this happens, maybe it does not. Når sounds more like it happens whenever that situation occurs.

In a sentence about a personal routine, both can be possible, but hvis keeps the conditional feeling.

Syg can be tricky for English speakers.

A rough guide:

• the y is like the rounded vowel in French tu or German über
• the final g is not pronounced like a hard English g

A very rough approximation is something like sooeg with rounded lips, but that is only approximate.

The best approach is to listen to native audio and copy it, because this word contains a vowel sound English does not really have.

Yes, several vowels here are difficult for English speakers:

• før has the Danish/Nordic ø sound
• går has å
• seng has a short e and a soft final nasal sound

A rough guide:

• før: somewhat like fur but with rounded lips
• går: somewhat like gor with a broad vowel
• seng: somewhat like seng with a softer Danish sound than English spelling suggests

These are only rough approximations. Danish pronunciation often differs a lot from spelling, so hearing native pronunciation is especially important.

Yes, absolutely.

That version is also correct:

• Jeg drikker vand og tager hostesaft, hvis jeg er syg.

When the main clause comes first, the word order stays normal:

• Jeg drikker ...

But when the if-clause comes first, Danish uses inversion in the main clause:

• Hvis jeg er syg, drikker jeg ...

Both are correct; the difference is mainly what comes first for emphasis or flow.