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

She only needs to read the last paragraph before she can send the document.

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

• læse: to read
• at: to
• hun: she
• før: before

Questions & Answers about Hun behøver kun at læse det sidste afsnit, før hun kan sende dokumentet.

What does behøver mean here, and how is it different from skal?

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.

Why is kun placed after behøver?

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.