Min søn tørrer sin næse, før han går ind i skolen.

Because søn is a common-gender noun in Danish, and common-gender nouns take en in the indefinite form and min for my.

• en søn = a son
• min søn = my son

You would use mit with a neuter noun, for example:

• et barn = a child
• mit barn = my child

Tørrer is the present tense of the verb at tørre = to dry / to wipe.

So:

• at tørre = infinitive, to wipe
• tørrer = present tense, wipes / is wiping

In this sentence, the subject is min søn, so the verb needs to be a finite verb in the present tense:

• Min søn tørrer sin næse = My son wipes his nose

Danish present tense is often formed by adding -r to the infinitive.

This is one of the most important grammar points in Danish.

Sin/sit/sine is a reflexive possessive, used when the owner is the subject of the same clause.

Here, in the clause Min søn tørrer sin næse, the subject is min søn, and the nose belongs to him, the subject. So Danish uses sin:

• Min søn tørrer sin næse = My son wipes his own nose

If you said hans næse, it would usually mean someone else’s nose.

Compare:

• Min søn tørrer sin næse = my son wipes his own nose
• Min søn tørrer hans næse = my son wipes his nose, meaning another male person’s nose

Because the form of the reflexive possessive agrees with the noun being possessed, not with the person who owns it.

Here the noun is næse (nose), which is a common-gender singular noun, so the correct form is sin.

The three forms are:

• sin for common-gender singular nouns
• sit for neuter singular nouns
• sine for plural nouns

Examples:

• sin næse = his/her own nose
• sit ansigt = his/her own face
• sine hænder = his/her own hands

Because Danish usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun as a suffix.

So:

• en skole = a school
• skolen = the school

That -en ending is the definite form. So i skolen literally contains the meaning in the school.

This is very common in Danish:

• en dreng → drengen
• en næse → næsen
• et barn → barnet

Because ind i shows movement into something.

• i skolen = in the school or at school depending on context
• ind i skolen = into the school

So går ind i skolen means he is moving from outside to inside.

Compare:

• Han er i skolen = He is in the school / at school
• Han går ind i skolen = He goes into the school

English sometimes uses just goes into the school, and Danish often uses gå ind i for that idea of entering.

Because før introduces a subordinate clause, and in Danish subordinate clauses usually have subject + verb order.

So:

• før han går ind i skolen = before he goes into the school

In a main clause, Danish often has verb-second word order, but subordinate clauses do not follow that same pattern.

Compare:

• Main clause: Han går ind i skolen
• Subordinate clause: før han går ind i skolen

This is similar to English, where we also say before he goes, not before goes he.

Går is the present tense of at gå, which often means to go or to walk.

In this sentence, han går ind i skolen means he goes into the school or he walks into the school.

Kommer would mean comes, which gives a different perspective. Danish uses gå very often for ordinary movement on foot, and also in many everyday expressions where English simply says go.

So går ind i skolen is a natural way to say he enters/goes into the school.

Før means before.

It links the two actions:

1. Min søn tørrer sin næse
2. han går ind i skolen

So the meaning is that the first action happens earlier than the second one.

You can think of the structure as:

[main action], før [later action]

In English: My son wipes his nose before he goes into the school.

Yes. In Danish, the subordinate clause still needs its own subject.

So after før, you need:

• han går ind i skolen

You cannot normally leave out han just because it refers back to min søn. Danish requires the subject to be expressed here, just as English does in before he goes into the school.

Søn contains the Danish vowel ø, which is unfamiliar to many English speakers. It is pronounced somewhat like the vowel in French deux or German schön, though not exactly.

A rough guide:

• søn sounds something like surn without a clear English equivalent
• the ø is a rounded front vowel
• the final n is pronounced, but the whole word is quite short

Also, the letter ø is a real Danish letter, not just an accented version of o.

Learners often compare:

• søn = son
• sønnen = the son

Even though son and søn are related in meaning, the pronunciation is not the same as English son.

It can mean both, depending on context.

In this sentence, tørrer sin næse is best understood as wipes his nose.

Why? Because with nose, the natural action is wiping rather than drying in a general sense.

Compare:

• Jeg tørrer bordet = I dry/wipe the table
• Hun tørrer håret = She dries her hair
• Han tørrer sin næse = He wipes his nose

So the exact English translation depends on what is being dried or wiped.

The sentence has two parts:

1. Min søn tørrer sin næse
2. før han går ind i skolen

So the structure is:

main clause + subordinate clause

Breaking it down:

• Min søn = subject
• tørrer = verb
• sin næse = object
• før = subordinating conjunction
• han = subject of the subordinate clause
• går = verb
• ind i skolen = direction/place expression

This is a very common Danish sentence pattern and a useful model for building your own sentences.