Hun vil ikke have gæld, så hun betaler lidt ekstra hver måned.

In a Danish main clause, the usual order is:

subject + finite verb + sentence adverb + infinitive/main verb(s)

So:

Hun vil ikke have gæld = She will/does not want to have debt

Here:

• Hun = subject
• vil = finite verb
• ikke = negation
• have = infinitive

That is why ikke comes after vil.

Compare:

• main clause: Hun vil ikke have gæld
• subordinate clause: ... fordi hun ikke vil have gæld

In subordinate clauses, ikke usually comes before the finite verb.

Vil is the present tense of ville.

In this sentence, it most naturally means wants to rather than a pure future will.

So Hun vil ikke have gæld is best understood as:

• She doesn’t want to have debt
• or She does not want to be in debt

Danish ville/vil can express:

• desire: jeg vil hjem = I want to go home
• intention/future: jeg vil ringe i morgen = I’ll call tomorrow

Here the idea is desire or intention, not just future time.

Danish often uses have with abstract nouns in a way that matches English fairly well.

So have gæld means:

• to have debt
• to be in debt

It is a normal and natural expression.

A related expression is:

• være i gæld = to be in debt

Both are possible, but have gæld is very common in everyday Danish.

Gæld is usually treated as an abstract or mass noun here, so Danish does not need an article.

That is similar to English:

• to have debt
• to be in debt

You are talking about debt in general, not a particular debt.

So:

• have gæld = have debt / be in debt

If you were talking about one specific debt, the wording would usually be different.

Because så here is a conjunction meaning so or therefore, joining two main clauses:

• Hun vil ikke have gæld
• så hun betaler lidt ekstra hver måned

After this kind of så, the second clause keeps normal main-clause order: subject + verb

So:

• så hun betaler ...

Not:

• så betaler hun ... in this specific structure

However, Danish also has så as an adverb meaning then. In that case, it can come first and trigger inversion:

• Så betaler hun lidt ekstra hver måned = Then/so she pays a little extra every month

So the difference is:

• ..., så hun betaler ... = conjunction joining clauses
• Så betaler hun ... = adverb at the front of the clause

Danish uses the present tense for habitual or repeated actions, just like English often does.

So hun betaler lidt ekstra hver måned means:

• she pays a little extra every month

It describes a regular habit, not just something happening right now.

Because hver måned means every month, the present tense is the natural choice.

Lidt ekstra means a little extra.

In this sentence, the noun is understood from the context. It is basically short for something like:

• lidt ekstra penge = a little extra money

Danish often leaves out a noun when it is obvious.

So:

• hun betaler lidt ekstra means
• she pays a little extra or more specifically
• she pays a little extra money

Hver måned means every month or each month.

• hver = every/each
• måned = month

After hver, Danish uses the singular noun:

• hver dag = every day
• hver uge = every week
• hver måned = every month

So even though the meaning is repeated over many months, the noun stays singular.

Because the second part is a full clause and needs its own subject.

So Danish says:

Hun vil ikke have gæld, så hun betaler lidt ekstra hver måned.

Not:

• Hun vil ikke have gæld, så betaler lidt ekstra hver måned

The second clause must include hun because betaler needs an explicit subject.

This is very normal in Danish when two full clauses are joined by så.

Grammatically, a very literal English translation like that is possible, but it is not the most natural interpretation.

A learner should understand the Danish sentence as something like:

• She doesn’t want to be in debt, so she pays a little extra every month.

That captures the real idea:

• first clause = her attitude or goal
• second clause = the regular action she takes because of that goal

So even though vil can sometimes mean will, here doesn’t want to is the better reading.