Hun vil selv betale regningen.

Because betale is the infinitive form, and after the modal verb vil, Danish uses the infinitive.

• vil betale = will pay / wants to pay
• not vil betaler

This is similar to English:

• she will pay
• not she will pays

So the structure is:

Hun + vil + betale + ...

After a modal verb like vil, Danish normally does not use at.

So you say:

• Hun vil betale regningen.

not:

• Hun vil at betale regningen.

This is like English, where you say:

• She will pay
• not She will to pay

Other common Danish modal verbs that also take an infinitive without at are:

• kan = can
• skal = shall / must / is going to
• må = may / must
• bør = ought to

Here selv means herself in the sense of she herself or personally.

It adds emphasis to hun:

• Hun vil betale regningen. = She will pay the bill.
• Hun vil selv betale regningen. = She herself will pay the bill.

So selv suggests something like:

• not someone else
• not through another person
• she wants to do it personally

In this sentence, selv is placed before the infinitive because it belongs to the verbal part of the sentence and emphasizes the subject’s personal involvement.

The order here is very natural:

• Hun = subject
• vil = modal verb
• selv = emphasis
• betale = infinitive
• regningen = object

So:

Hun vil selv betale regningen.

This sounds like: She wants to pay the bill herself.

Danish often places words like selv in this middle position after the finite verb and before the infinitive.

Yes, you can, but the emphasis changes a little.

• Hun vil selv betale regningen puts emphasis earlier on she herself
• Hun vil betale regningen selv can sound more like the emphasis comes later, almost as an afterthought

Both are understandable, but Hun vil selv betale regningen is a very natural way to stress that she is the one who wants to pay.

So the difference is mostly about focus and rhythm, not basic meaning.

Regningen is the definite singular form of regning.

• en regning = a bill
• regningen = the bill

In Danish, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun instead of standing as a separate word.

So instead of English the bill, Danish says bill-the:

• regning
  • -en = regningen

This tells us it is a specific bill, not just any bill.

It can depend on context.

Vil often means:

• will
• wants to
• intends to

In many real situations, Hun vil selv betale regningen is understood more like:

• She wants to pay the bill herself or
• She insists on paying the bill herself

So vil is not always just a neutral future marker. It often carries an idea of wish, intention, or determination.

Context tells you which English translation sounds best.

No, not exactly.

In this sentence, selv is an emphasizer:

• Hun vil selv betale regningen.
• She herself wants to pay the bill.

But sig selv is a reflexive expression meaning herself as an object:

• Hun ser sig selv i spejlet.
• She sees herself in the mirror.

So:

• selv = emphasis
• sig selv = reflexive object

That is an important difference.

The basic structure is:

Subject + finite verb + other elements + infinitive + object

So here:

• Hun = subject
• vil = finite verb
• selv = emphasizing element
• betale = infinitive
• regningen = object

Danish main clauses normally put the finite verb in the second position. That is why vil comes right after hun.

If something else came first, the verb would still stay in second position:

• I aften vil hun selv betale regningen.
• Tonight she will pay the bill herself.

So this sentence is a good example of normal Danish main-clause word order.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

Hun vil selv betale regningen ≈ hoon vil selw beh-TA-leh rye-ning-en

A few useful notes:

• hun sounds a bit like hoon
• vil has a short i
• selv ends with a sound somewhat like English v, though the whole word may sound softer than an English speaker expects
• betale has stress on the second syllable: be-TA-le
• regningen is often the trickiest word; the g is not pronounced like a hard English g

Pronunciation varies a bit by region, but that guide is close enough for a learner.