Hvis depositummet er for højt, bliver hun i sin gamle lejlighed.

Hvis means if in the sense of a condition:

• Hvis depositummet er for højt ... = If the deposit is too high ...

Danish also has om, which can mean if/whether, but that is usually for indirect questions or uncertainty, not conditions:

• Jeg ved ikke, om hun flytter. = I don’t know whether she is moving.

So in this sentence, hvis is the correct word because it introduces a condition.

Depositum is the noun in its basic form, meaning a deposit.

Depositummet is the definite form, meaning the deposit.

• et depositum = a deposit
• depositummet = the deposit

In this sentence, it is talking about a specific deposit, so the definite form is used.

Because depositum is a neuter noun in Danish:

• et depositum

When an adjective is used with a neuter singular noun, it usually gets -t:

• høj = high
• højt = high, matching a neuter singular noun

So:

• depositummet er for højt = the deposit is too high

If the noun were a common-gender word (en word), you would usually see høj instead.

Here, for means too.

So:

• for højt = too high

This is a very common pattern in Danish:

• for dyrt = too expensive
• for stort = too big
• for sent = too late

So for here does not mean the English preposition for.

There are two related things going on here:

1. Hvis depositummet er for højt is a subordinate clause.
2. In Danish, when a subordinate clause comes first, the main clause follows normal verb-second word order.

That is why you get:

• Hvis depositummet er for højt, bliver hun ...

and not:

• Hvis depositummet er for højt, hun bliver ...

The finite verb of the main clause, bliver, must come before the subject hun because the sentence begins with another clause.

The comma marks the boundary between the subordinate clause and the main clause.

Here, bliver means stays/remains.

In Danish, blive can have several meanings depending on context. In this sentence:

• bliver hun i sin gamle lejlighed = she stays in her old apartment

It does not mean future will here, and it does not mean becomes.

A helpful idea is that blive i can mean remain in or stay in a place or situation.

Because Danish uses a reflexive possessive when the possessor is the subject of the clause.

In the main clause, the subject is hun. The apartment belongs to her, the subject herself, so Danish uses sin:

• hun bliver i sin gamle lejlighed = she stays in her own old apartment

If you said hendes, it would usually suggest someone else’s apartment:

• hun bliver i hendes gamle lejlighed = she stays in her old apartment, where her is probably another woman

So sin is the natural choice here.

After a possessive word like sin, Danish adjectives usually take the -e form:

• sin gamle lejlighed
• min gamle bil
• hendes nye job

So even though lejlighed is a common-gender singular noun, the adjective becomes gamle because it follows a possessive determiner.

This is a very common pattern in Danish.

Because i means in, and with places like apartments, houses, cities, and rooms, Danish often uses i to express being or staying inside that place.

So:

• i en lejlighed = in an apartment
• i huset = in the house
• i København = in Copenhagen

Here, bliver hun i sin gamle lejlighed means she remains in that apartment instead of moving.

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• Hvis depositummet er for højt = If the deposit is too high

  • This describes a state or condition.

• Hvis depositummet bliver for højt = If the deposit becomes too high

  • This suggests a change, for example if the amount increases.

So the original sentence focuses on the deposit being too high as it stands. Using bliver in the if-clause would emphasize that it changes and ends up too high.

Yes. A very natural alternative would be:

• Hvis depositummet er for højt, bliver hun boende i sin gamle lejlighed.

Bliver boende makes the idea of staying where she already lives even clearer.

Both versions are understandable, but bliver boende is often especially natural when you mean someone decides not to move away.