Jeg kan godt lide lidt peber i suppen, men børnene synes, det er for stærkt.

Because kan lide is the normal Danish way to say to like. Very often, speakers insert godt, giving kan godt lide, which sounds especially natural in everyday Danish.

You should learn kan godt lide as a set expression rather than translating each word separately.

Examples:

• Jeg kan lide kaffe = I like coffee
• Jeg kan godt lide kaffe = I like coffee

Both are possible, but kan godt lide is extremely common.

Not really, at least not in a direct word-for-word way. In this sentence, godt is part of the fixed expression kan godt lide.

So even though godt often means well, here you should think of the whole phrase as meaning to like.

Lidt means a little, a bit, or some.

So lidt peber means a little pepper or some pepper.

It is used because peber is treated as an uncountable substance here, just like pepper in English:

• lidt vand = a little water
• lidt sukker = a little sugar
• lidt peber = a little pepper

This is a very common beginner question.

• lidt = a little / some
• lille = small

So:

• lidt peber = a little pepper
• en lille skål = a small bowl

They are not interchangeable.

Because peber is being used as a mass noun, not as a single countable object.

That is similar to English:

• I like a little pepper not
• I like a little a pepper

In Danish, when talking about substances or amounts in general, you often use the noun without an article:

• lidt mælk = a little milk
• lidt salt = a little salt
• lidt peber = a little pepper

Because suppen means the soup.

In Danish, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun:

• suppe = soup
• suppen = the soup

So i suppen means in the soup.

Here it sounds natural because the speaker is talking about a specific soup, the one being eaten right now.

Because børnene is the definite plural form, meaning the children.

The forms are:

• et barn = a child
• børn = children
• børnene = the children

So -ne is a very common definite plural ending in Danish.

Also note that barn has an irregular plural:

• singular: barn
• plural: børn

Synes means something like think, feel, or find, when giving a personal opinion or impression.

In this sentence, børnene synes means the children think / feel / find that...

It is often used for subjective judgments:

• Jeg synes, det er godt = I think it is good
• Hun synes, filmen er kedelig = She thinks the film is boring

So synes is very common when expressing opinions.

Yes, you can understand the sentence as:

børnene synes, at det er for stærkt

The at is often omitted in modern Danish, especially after verbs like synes, tror, and siger, when the meaning is still clear.

So both are possible:

• Børnene synes, at det er for stærkt
• Børnene synes, det er for stærkt

Because det can be used in Danish to refer more loosely to the situation, the taste, or the food as a whole, rather than directly to the noun suppen.

So det er for stærkt is a very natural way to say it is too strong / too spicy.

If you referred directly to suppen, you could also say:

• Suppen er for stærk
• Den er for stærk

But the sentence with det is idiomatic and very common.

Because the adjective agrees with det, which is grammatically neuter.

The adjective forms are:

• stærk = common gender singular
• stærkt = neuter singular
• stærke = plural or definite

So:

• en stærk suppe = a strong/spicy soup
• et stærkt krydderi = a strong spice
• det er for stærkt = it is too strong/spicy

No. In front of an adjective or adverb, for often means too.

So:

• for stærkt = too strong / too spicy
• for varmt = too hot
• for dyrt = too expensive

This is a very common use of for in Danish.

Because men is a coordinating conjunction, like but in English. It joins two main clauses.

That means the second clause keeps normal main-clause word order:

• børnene = subject
• synes = verb

So:

• ..., men børnene synes ...

There is no inversion just because of men.

Inversion happens when something else is placed first in the clause, for example:

• I dag synes børnene, det er for stærkt = Today the children think it is too strong

Here I dag comes first, so the verb synes comes before the subject børnene.

The comma marks the start of the clause det er for stærkt, which functions like that it is too strong.

So the structure is:

• børnene synes
• det er for stærkt

You can think of it as:

• The children think, it is too strong more naturally in English:
• The children think that it is too strong

Danish comma rules are not always identical to English ones, so commas may appear where an English learner does not expect them.