Læreren skriver datoen på tavlen.

In Danish, -en is often the singular definite ending, meaning the.

So:

• lærer = teacher

• læreren = the teacher

• dato = date

• datoen = the date

• tavle = board
• tavlen = the board

Unlike English, Danish usually adds the to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word before it.

Because Danish normally expresses the by attaching it to the noun.

So instead of saying something like the teacher, Danish says:

• læreren

instead of the date:

• datoen

instead of the board:

• tavlen

This is one of the biggest differences from English noun structure.

A separate word similar to the can appear in some other constructions, especially with adjectives, for example:

• den store tavle = the big board

But in your sentence, there are no adjectives, so the ending alone is enough.

skriver is the present tense of skrive, which means to write.

So:

• skrive = to write
• skriver = writes / is writing

In Danish, the present tense is the same for all persons:

• jeg skriver = I write / I am writing
• du skriver = you write
• han/hun skriver = he/she writes
• vi skriver = we write

That is much simpler than English, because Danish does not change the verb the way English does with write/writes.

This is the normal word order for a simple Danish main clause:

• Subject + verb + object

So:

• Læreren = subject
• skriver = verb
• datoen = object

This works a lot like basic English word order:

• The teacher writes the date

However, Danish is a V2 language, which means the finite verb usually comes in the second position in main clauses. So if another element comes first, the verb still stays second:

• På tavlen skriver læreren datoen.
• I dag skriver læreren datoen på tavlen.

That is a very important feature of Danish sentence structure.

Because på means on, and that is the natural preposition for writing on a board.

• på tavlen = on the board

Using i would mean in, which would sound wrong here, because the teacher is writing on the surface of the board, not inside it.

This is similar to English:

• on the board
• not in the board

So skrive på tavlen is the normal expression.

Tavle usually means board, especially a board used for writing in a classroom.

Depending on context, it can refer to:

• a blackboard
• a whiteboard
• a classroom board in general

So in modern usage, på tavlen is often best understood as on the board, not necessarily specifically on the blackboard.

No. Læreren just means the teacher and does not specify gender.

Danish often uses the same noun for both men and women:

• en lærer = a teacher
• læreren = the teacher

If the context does not make it clear, the gender simply remains unspecified.

That is different from some languages where job titles change form depending on gender.

Danish nouns have two grammatical genders:

• common gender
• neuter

In this sentence, all three nouns are common gender, which is why their indefinite form takes en:

• en lærer
• en dato
• en tavle

And their definite singular form gets -en:

• læreren
• datoen
• tavlen

If a noun were neuter, it would usually take et in the indefinite and -et in the definite:

• et hus = a house
• huset = the house

So the endings help you recognize noun gender.

The æ in lærer is a vowel sound somewhat like the a in some pronunciations of cat, but longer and tenser in Danish.

A rough guide:

• lærer sounds approximately like LEH-rer or LAIR-er, depending on how you approximate it in English

Then læreren adds another syllable:

• læreren ≈ LEH-rer-en

A few pronunciation points:

• æ is a real Danish vowel, not just a + e
• the r sounds are Danish r, not exactly English r
• in natural speech, the final syllables may sound lighter or less distinct than an English learner expects

If you are learning pronunciation, it is best to hear the word spoken by a native speaker, because Danish pronunciation is often less phonetic than the spelling suggests.

Yes. In many contexts, Danish present tense covers both ideas.

So:

• Læreren skriver datoen på tavlen

can mean:

• The teacher writes the date on the board
• The teacher is writing the date on the board

The exact meaning depends on context.

Danish often does not force the same distinction that English makes between simple present and present continuous.

In Danish, yes/no questions are usually made by putting the verb before the subject.

So:

• Læreren skriver datoen på tavlen. = The teacher writes/is writing the date on the board.

becomes:

• Skriver læreren datoen på tavlen? = Is the teacher writing the date on the board? / Does the teacher write the date on the board?

This verb-first pattern is very common in Danish questions.

You would use the indefinite articles en instead of the definite endings:

• En lærer skriver en dato på en tavle.

Compare the two:

• Læreren skriver datoen på tavlen. = The teacher writes the date on the board.
• En lærer skriver en dato på en tavle. = A teacher writes a date on a board.

This contrast is very useful because it shows how Danish switches between:

• en + noun for a/an
• noun + -en/-et for the