Efter frokost åbner han sin madpakke og opdager, at der også ligger et lille glas syltetøj i tasken.

Because Danish normally follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb must come in second position.

Here, Efter frokost is placed first as a time expression, so the verb åbner has to come next:

• Efter frokost åbner han sin madpakke.

If there were no fronted time phrase, the normal order would be:

• Han åbner sin madpakke efter frokost.

So English speakers often need to remember: if something like Efter frokost comes first, the verb usually comes before the subject.

It means after lunch.

A few useful points:

• efter = after
• frokost = lunch

In Danish, meals often appear without an article, so efter frokost is perfectly natural, just like after lunch in English.

Madpakke means a packed lunch, lunchbox meal, or food brought from home.

It is a compound noun:

• mad = food
• pakke = package / pack

So literally it is something like food package, but the natural English meaning is packed lunch.

Because sin is the reflexive possessive form. It is used when the owner is the subject of the clause.

In this sentence:

• han = he
• sin madpakke = his own packed lunch

So han åbner sin madpakke means he opens his own packed lunch.

If you said han åbner hans madpakke, it would normally mean he opens someone else’s packed lunch — that is, the lunch belonging to another male person.

This is one of the most important differences for English speakers learning Danish.

Both are present tense:

• åbner = opens
• opdager = discovers

Danish often uses the present tense in narration where English might also use the present, especially in example sentences and storytelling.

The infinitives are:

• at åbne = to open
• at opdage = to discover

Because at der også ligger et lille glas syltetøj i tasken is a subordinate clause.

Main clause:

• Efter frokost åbner han sin madpakke og opdager

Subordinate clause:

• at der også ligger et lille glas syltetøj i tasken

In standard Danish writing, subordinate clauses are typically separated by a comma.

Also, here at means that.

So:

• han opdager, at ... = he discovers that ...

Here at means that.

It introduces a content clause after opdager:

• han opdager, at ...
• he discovers that ...

Be careful: Danish at can also mean the infinitive marker to, as in:

• at spise = to eat

So the word at has two common uses:

1. that as a conjunction
2. to as an infinitive marker

In this sentence, it is clearly the first one: that.

Here der is an expletive or dummy subject, similar to English there in:

• there is
• there are

So:

• at der også ligger et lille glas syltetøj i tasken means roughly
• that there is also a small jar of jam in the bag

Even though Danish uses ligger instead of er here, the role of der is similar to English there.

Danish often uses position verbs where English would simply say is or there is.

ligger literally means lies / is lying, but it is very commonly used for things that are located somewhere, especially objects resting horizontally or simply placed somewhere.

So:

• der ligger et lille glas syltetøj i tasken

literally suggests:

• there lies a small jar of jam in the bag

but in natural English this is usually just:

• there is also a small jar of jam in the bag

This use of ligge is very common in Danish.

Other common position verbs are:

• stå = stand
• sidde = sit
• ligge = lie

Danish often chooses among these depending on how the object is positioned.

Because Danish adverbs like også often come in the sentence adverb position, which is usually after the finite verb or after the subject/expletive structure, depending on the clause type.

In this subordinate clause:

• at der også ligger et lille glas syltetøj i tasken

the order is natural Danish word order.

Very roughly:

• at = that
• der = there
• også = also
• ligger = lies / is

So the meaning is:

• that there is also ...

English and Danish do not always place also/også in exactly the same spot, so it is best to learn the Danish pattern as a whole.

Because glas is a neuter noun in Danish, so it takes et.

• et glas = a glass / a jar

That is why the phrase is:

• et lille glas

not

• en lille glas

Also notice that the adjective lille does not change here. It stays lille.

Because et lille glas syltetøj is a common container + contents structure.

It means:

• a small jar of jam

Here:

• et lille glas = a small jar / glass container
• syltetøj = jam

Danish often leaves the contents noun without an article in this kind of phrase, just as English says:

• a jar of jam

not

• a jar of a jam

So syltetøj is functioning a bit like a material or mass noun here.

Literally, glas can mean glass as an object, and depending on context it can mean:

• a drinking glass
• a glass container
• a jar

In this sentence, because it contains syltetøj and is in a bag, the natural meaning is:

• a small jar of jam

So even though the word is glas, the best English translation here is probably jar.

Because tasken means the bag, and the sentence is referring to a specific, known bag.

• i tasken = in the bag
• i en taske = in a bag

The definite form tasken is made by adding the definite ending to taske:

• en taske = a bag
• tasken = the bag

This suggests that the bag is already known from context — probably his bag.

It is singular definite.

Forms:

• en taske = a bag
• tasken = the bag
• tasker = bags
• taskerne = the bags

So i tasken means in the bag, singular.

Because the two verbs share the same subject:

• åbner
• opdager

So:

• Efter frokost åbner han sin madpakke og opdager ...

means:

• After lunch he opens his packed lunch and discovers ...

Danish, like English, does not need to repeat the subject if the same person is doing both actions.

You could repeat it, but it would usually sound unnecessary here.

It is a subordinate content clause introduced by at.

It tells us what he discovers.

Main clause:

• Efter frokost åbner han sin madpakke og opdager

Subordinate clause:

• at der også ligger et lille glas syltetøj i tasken

This is similar to English:

• He discovers that there is also a small jar of jam in the bag.

No, they are different things.

• madpakke = packed lunch / lunch package
• tasken = the bag

The sentence says he opens his packed lunch and discovers that there is also a small jar of jam in the bag. So the jam is in the bag, not necessarily inside the lunch package itself.

It is understandable and natural enough, though in everyday speech Danish speakers might also say things like:

• et lille glas med syltetøj = a small jar with jam
• en lille krukke syltetøj = a small jar of jam

But et lille glas syltetøj is perfectly clear and follows a common Danish pattern.

There are two especially useful patterns:

1. Main clause with fronted element + V2

   • Efter frokost åbner han ...
   • time phrase first, then verb, then subject

2. Subordinate clause word order

   • at der også ligger ...
   • the conjunction at introduces the clause, and the word order is different from a main clause

So this one sentence is a good example of both main-clause V2 word order and subordinate-clause word order.