Barnet blev jaloux igen, men hendes mor forklarede roligt, at begge børn fik lige meget.

Barn means child in its basic, indefinite form.

• et barn = a child
• barnet = the child

The ending -et is the definite singular ending for a neuter noun. So barnet means the child.

Blev jaloux means became jealous, while var jaloux means was jealous.

So:

• Barnet blev jaloux igen = the child became jealous again
• Barnet var jaloux igen = the child was jealous again

Danish often uses blive + adjective to show a change of state.

Here jaloux is a predicate adjective, meaning it comes after blev and describes the subject.

In that position, many adjectives appear in their basic form, and jaloux is especially common as an unchanged form.

So:

• Barnet blev jaloux
• Hun blev jaloux

This is different from an adjective placed directly before a noun, where Danish often adds endings.

Igen means again, and its position is normal in Danish.

In a main clause, the usual order is:

• subject
• finite verb
• other sentence elements
• adverbs like igen

So:

• Barnet blev jaloux igen

is a natural word order.

You may notice that English and Danish do not always place adverbs in exactly the same spot, so this is something learners often need to get used to.

This is a very common Danish learner question.

Danish uses sin/sit/sine only when the possessor refers back to the subject of the same clause.

In hendes mor forklarede roligt, the subject of that clause is mor.

So if you said sin mor, it would incorrectly suggest that the mother is someone’s own mother in relation to herself, which does not work here.

Because the sentence is referring to the child’s mother, not the subject’s own possession, Danish uses hendes.

So:

• hendes mor = her mother
• sin mor would be wrong here

Because roligt is being used as an adverb, not as an adjective describing a noun.

• rolig = calm
• roligt = calmly

In Danish, many adverbs are formed by adding -t to the adjective:

• rolig → roligt
• hurtig → hurtigt
• langsom → langsomt

So:

• en rolig mor = a calm mother
• mor forklarede roligt = mother explained calmly

At means that here and introduces a subordinate clause.

So this part:

• at begge børn fik lige meget

means:

• that both children got the same amount

The comma is standard Danish punctuation before a subordinate clause introduced by at.

So the structure is:

• main clause: hendes mor forklarede roligt
• subordinate clause: at begge børn fik lige meget

Because subordinate clauses in Danish have a different word order from main clauses.

In a main clause, Danish usually follows the verb-second rule. But after at, the clause is subordinate, and the subject normally comes before the finite verb.

So:

• main clause pattern: something + verb + subject ...
• subordinate clause pattern: at + subject + verb ...

That is why you get:

• at begge børn fik lige meget

and not:

• at fik begge børn lige meget

Begge børn is the normal way to say both children.

After begge, Danish often uses the noun directly without the definite ending:

• begge børn
• begge forældre
• begge sider

Begge børnene can exist in some contexts, but it usually sounds more like both of the children, with extra emphasis on a specific known group.

Here, begge børn is the most natural phrasing.

Fik is the past tense of få, meaning got or received.

Lige meget here means the same amount or equally much.

So:

• begge børn fik lige meget = both children got the same amount

Be careful: lige meget can also mean it doesn’t matter in other contexts.

For example:

• Det er lige meget = it doesn’t matter

But in this sentence, it clearly means an equal amount.

Not all of them.

• blev is the past tense of blive and is irregular
• forklarede is the past tense of forklare and is regular
• fik is the past tense of få and is irregular

So this sentence gives you a mix of regular and irregular past forms, which is very typical in Danish.

A useful mini-list is:

• blive → blev
• forklare → forklarede
• få → fik