Lad være med at lægge den her ledning på gulvet, for nogen kan falde over den.

Lad være med at + infinitive is a very common Danish way to say don’t do something.

So:

Lad være med at lægge ... = Don’t put ...

It is an idiomatic expression, so it is best learned as a whole chunk rather than translated word by word. In everyday Danish, it is often used when telling someone not to do an action.

Yes. Danish can also use a simple negative imperative:

Læg ikke den her ledning på gulvet.

That also means Don’t put this cable on the floor.

The version with Lad være med at is often very natural in spoken Danish and can sound a little less abrupt than a bare command, though both are common.

Because Danish distinguishes between:

• lægge = to lay / put something somewhere
• ligge = to lie / be lying somewhere

Here, someone is actively placing the cable on the floor, so Danish uses lægge.

Compare:

• Læg ledningen på gulvet. = Put the cable on the floor.
• Ledningen ligger på gulvet. = The cable is lying on the floor.

This is similar to the old English distinction between lay and lie, though modern English speakers often just think of it as put vs be lying.

After den her, the noun normally stays in the indefinite form:

• den her ledning = this cable

You do not say den her ledningen.

This is a common Danish pattern:

• den her bog = this book
• det her hus = this house

If you want the noun in the definite form, a different pattern is used:

• ledningen her = this cable here

So both of these are possible, but they are built differently:

• den her ledning
• ledningen her

All three can mean this cable, but they differ in style:

• den her ledning = very common in everyday spoken Danish
• denne ledning = more formal, often more written or careful
• ledningen her = also common, often a little more pointed, like this cable here

For a learner, den her ledning is a very useful everyday pattern.

Ledning is a general word that can mean wire, cable, cord, or lead, depending on context.

In this sentence, it most likely means a cable or cord lying around on the floor. Danish often uses one broader word where English might choose among several more specific ones.

So the best English translation depends on the situation, even if the Danish word stays the same.

Gulvet means the floor.

Danish often uses the definite form when the thing is understood from the situation. If you are in a room, there is an obvious floor being talked about, so på gulvet = on the floor is natural.

Using an indefinite form such as på et gulv would sound more like on a floor, which is much less natural here.

In Danish, for can also mean because / since / for, introducing an explanation:

..., for nogen kan falde over den.
= ..., because someone might trip over it.

This use is completely normal. It links two main clauses and gives the reason for the warning.

English can also use for in this sense, but it sounds literary or old-fashioned in modern everyday English. In Danish, though, it is much more ordinary.

Yes, you could say:

Lad være med at lægge den her ledning på gulvet, fordi nogen kan falde over den.

That is also understandable and natural.

The difference is mainly grammatical and stylistic:

• for introduces a coordinating clause
• fordi introduces a subordinate clause

In this particular sentence, the word order happens to look the same, so the difference is not very obvious on the surface. But learners should know that for and fordi are not completely interchangeable in all contexts.

Because nogen here means someone / anyone, singular and indefinite.

• nogen = someone, anyone
• nogle = some, a few, some people/things

So:

nogen kan falde over den = someone may trip over it

If you said nogle, it would mean some people:

nogle kan falde over den = some people may trip over it

That is possible in some contexts, but it is not the wording used here.

Because Danish modal verbs take the bare infinitive, just like English.

So you say:

• kan falde = can fall / can trip
• vil gå = will go
• skal arbejde = must work / will work

Not:

• kan at falde

This is the same basic idea as English can fall, not can to fall.

Literally, falde over means fall over something, but in a sentence like this the natural English meaning is usually trip over.

So:

nogen kan falde over den
means something like
someone could trip over it

Danish also has snuble over, which more directly means trip over, but falde over is perfectly natural here because the result of tripping is that you fall.

Den refers back to ledning.

Since ledning is a common-gender noun:

• en ledning
• therefore the pronoun is den

If the noun were neuter, Danish would use det instead.

So:

• ledningen → den
• huset → det

At the end of the sentence, den means it:

... falde over den = ... trip over it