Jeg mener, at lejligheden føles mere som et hjem nu.

Here, jeg mener means I think / I believe / in my opinion.

A few useful contrasts:

• jeg mener = I hold this view; I mean this seriously
• jeg synes = I think / I feel, often more personal or subjective
• jeg tror = I think / I believe, often with more uncertainty or guesswork

So in this sentence, jeg mener sounds like a considered opinion: the speaker believes the apartment now feels more like a home.

Also, unlike English I mean as a filler in conversation, Danish jeg mener here is not a filler. It carries real meaning.

At introduces a subordinate clause and usually corresponds to English that.

So:

• Jeg mener, at ... = I think that ...

In English, that is often omitted:

• I think the apartment feels more like a home now

In Danish, keeping at is very common and very natural, especially in writing. As a learner, it is safest to include it.

Because at lejligheden føles mere som et hjem nu is a subordinate clause.

In Danish, many people write a comma before a subordinate clause:

• Jeg mener, at lejligheden ...

You may also see:

• Jeg mener at lejligheden ...

Both occur in modern Danish, depending on comma style. So if you see the comma, it is normal; if you see it omitted, that can also be normal.

After at, Danish uses subordinate-clause word order. That means the subject normally comes before the finite verb:

• at lejligheden føles ...
• subject = lejligheden
• verb = føles

This is one reason Danish learners hear about main-clause vs subordinate-clause word order.

In this particular sentence, the order looks very similar to English. The difference becomes clearer when adverbs are added. For example:

• Main clause: Nu føles lejligheden mere som et hjem.
• Subordinate clause: ... at lejligheden nu føles mere som et hjem.

So after at, Danish does not use the usual main-clause verb-second pattern.

Because lejligheden means the apartment.

Danish often puts definiteness at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the:

• en lejlighed = an apartment
• lejligheden = the apartment

So the speaker is talking about a specific apartment, not just any apartment.

Also note the gender:

• lejlighed is a common-gender noun, so its indefinite article is en
• the definite ending becomes -en, giving lejligheden

Because hjem is a neuter noun in Danish.

So:

• et hjem = a home
• hjemmet = the home

This is just noun gender: some nouns take en, others take et.

English speakers often want a rule for this, but in many cases it simply has to be learned with the noun:

• en lejlighed
• et hjem

Because the sentence is not talking about one specific home. It is describing a quality: the apartment feels more like a home, meaning it has become more homelike, comfortable, or lived-in.

So:

• mere som et hjem = more like a home, in a general sense
• mere som hjemmet = more like the home, which sounds much more specific and usually would not fit here

Using the indefinite form is the natural choice when you mean a category or quality rather than a particular known home.

In this sentence, føles means feels or seems to feel from the outside.

This -s form is very common in Danish. Sometimes it is a true passive, but sometimes it has a more general middle meaning. Here it is not really about someone actively doing something to the apartment. It is about how the apartment comes across.

Compare:

• Jeg føler mig træt = I feel tired
• Lejligheden føles hyggelig = The apartment feels cozy

So føles here is the natural way to say that something gives a certain impression.

Because Danish uses som for this kind of comparison:

• som = like / as

So:

• mere som et hjem = more like a home

That is the natural structure after a verb like føles when you compare one thing to another.

A nearby idea is hjemlig, meaning homelike / homey, but that is a different wording:

• Lejligheden føles mere hjemlig nu = The apartment feels more homelike now

Both are possible, but mere som et hjem is very direct and idiomatic.

Because hjem and hjemme do different jobs.

• hjem is a noun: a home
• hjemme is an adverb: at home

So:

• mere som et hjem = more like a home
• hjemme would not fit that structure

For example:

• Jeg er hjemme = I am at home
• Lejligheden føles mere som et hjem = The apartment feels more like a home

If you said something with hjemme, the meaning would shift toward someone feeling at home there, not the apartment itself seeming like a home.

Because that is a very natural place for nu in a neutral Danish sentence.

Here nu means now, and putting it at the end gives a smooth, unmarked word order:

• ... føles mere som et hjem nu

You can move nu earlier, but that changes the emphasis:

• Nu mener jeg, at lejligheden føles mere som et hjem.
  Now I think the apartment feels more like a home.

• Jeg mener, at lejligheden nu føles mere som et hjem.
  I think the apartment now feels more like a home.

The original version is the most neutral and natural if nu is just extra time information.

Two common pronunciation issues here are ø and the soft d.

1. føles

• ø has no exact English equivalent
• A rough guide is to shape your lips as if saying o, but place your tongue more like e
• føles is roughly like FEU-ləs or FUR-ləs, but neither is perfect

2. lejligheden

• The -d- in -heden is usually a very soft d, often sounding a bit like a soft th in the, or even weaker
• The whole word is often pronounced much more smoothly and reduced than an English speaker expects

A rough learner-friendly approximation is:

• lejligheden ≈ LYE-lee-he-thən

That is only approximate, but it helps you avoid saying every letter too sharply.