Hun behøver kun at læse det sidste afsnit, før hun kan sende dokumentet.

Behøver is the present tense of behøve, and here it means needs to.

So:

• Hun behøver kun at læse ... = She only needs to read ...

This is different from skal:

• skal often means must, is supposed to, or has to
• behøver focuses on what is necessary

Compare:

• Hun skal læse det sidste afsnit. = She has to / is supposed to read the last section.
• Hun behøver at læse det sidste afsnit. = She needs to read the last section.

So behøver is about necessity, while skal can sound more like an obligation, instruction, or plan.

In a normal Danish main clause, short adverbs such as kun often come after the finite verb.

So:

• Hun behøver kun at læse det sidste afsnit ...

follows a very common pattern:

• Subject + finite verb + adverb + rest

Here:

• Hun = subject
• behøver = finite verb
• kun = adverb (only)

Putting kun here means that what is limited is the action that follows: she only needs to do this one thing.

If you move kun, the emphasis can change. For example:

• Kun hun behøver at læse det sidste afsnit. = Only she needs to read the last section.

So the placement of kun matters.

Because behøve normally takes an infinitive with at.

So:

• at læse = to read

This is similar to English to read.

After behøve, Danish usually uses:

• behøve + at + infinitive

Examples:

• Jeg behøver at gå nu. = I need to go now.
• Hun behøver at læse det. = She needs to read it.

So behøver kun at læse is the expected structure.

Because kan is a modal verb, and modal verbs in Danish are followed by a bare infinitive—that is, an infinitive without at.

So:

• kan sende = can send
• skal læse = must read
• vil købe = wants to / will buy
• må gå = may / must go

That is why the sentence has:

• behøver kun at læse but
• kan sende

So a useful rule is:

• after behøve → usually at + infinitive
• after modal verbs like kan → no at

Because Danish normally uses a definite article before an adjective when you mean the specific thing.

Here, the phrase means:

• det sidste afsnit = the last section/paragraph

The pattern is:

• det/den/de + adjective + noun

Here:

• afsnit is a neuter noun: et afsnit
• so the definite article is det
• sidst becomes sidste before the noun

So:

• et afsnit = a section / paragraph
• det sidste afsnit = the last section / paragraph

If you just say sidste afsnit, it can sometimes appear in note-like, headline-like, or less complete phrasing, but in a full ordinary sentence det sidste afsnit is the standard form.

Because when Danish uses det/den/de + adjective + noun, the noun usually stays in its basic singular/plural form rather than taking the definite ending.

So Danish says:

• det sidste afsnit not
• det sidste afsnittet

This is a very important pattern.

Compare:

• afsnittet = the section / paragraph
• det sidste afsnit = the last section / paragraph

Likewise:

• huset = the house
• det store hus = the big house

So:

• definite noun alone → often suffix: dokumentet
• definite noun with adjective → det/den/de + adjective + noun

Because dokumentet is the definite form of et dokument.

So:

• et dokument = a document
• dokumentet = the document

Danish often marks definiteness by adding an ending directly to the noun:

• -en for many common-gender nouns
• -et for many neuter nouns

Since dokument is a neuter noun (et dokument), the definite form is:

• dokumentet

There is no adjective before it here, so Danish uses the normal suffixed definite form.

Afsnit can mean several related things, depending on context:

• paragraph
• section
• sometimes even passage

In a document, both paragraph and section may be possible.

A good way to think about it:

• if the text is divided into small blocks of writing, paragraph may fit
• if the document has larger labeled parts, section may fit better

So the Danish word is a bit broader than a single English equivalent. You often choose the best English translation from context.

Because før introduces a subordinate clause.

In Danish subordinate clauses, the order is normally:

• conjunction + subject + finite verb + rest

So here:

• før = before
• hun = subject
• kan = finite verb
• sende dokumentet = rest of the verb phrase/object

That gives:

• før hun kan sende dokumentet

This is different from main-clause word order, where Danish usually follows the verb-second rule.

So the sentence is built like this:

• Hun behøver kun at læse det sidste afsnit = main clause
• før hun kan sende dokumentet = subordinate clause

Because før hun kan sende dokumentet is a subordinate clause.

In Danish, many writers put a comma before a subordinate clause like this:

• Hun behøver kun at læse det sidste afsnit, før hun kan sende dokumentet.

However, this is one of those areas where Danish punctuation allows some variation depending on the comma system being followed. In modern usage, the comma before subordinate clauses can be optional if a writer is using the system without start comma.

So both of these may be accepted, depending on the punctuation style:

• Hun behøver kun at læse det sidste afsnit, før hun kan sende dokumentet.
• Hun behøver kun at læse det sidste afsnit før hun kan sende dokumentet.

The version with the comma is very common and easy for learners to recognize.