Jeg har lidt ondt i øret, så jeg lytter ikke til høj musik i dag.

In Danish, pain is very often expressed with have ondt — literally, to have pain.

So:

• Jeg har ondt = I am in pain / It hurts
• Jeg har ondt i øret = My ear hurts / I have ear pain

This is more natural in Danish than trying to translate English hurt directly in this kind of sentence.

A few similar examples:

• Jeg har ondt i hovedet = I have a headache / My head hurts
• Hun har ondt i ryggen = Her back hurts
• Har du ondt i halsen? = Do you have a sore throat?

Lidt means a little or slightly.

So:

• Jeg har lidt ondt i øret = My ear hurts a little / I have a bit of pain in my ear

Here, lidt softens the statement. It means the pain is not very severe.

Compare:

• Jeg har ondt i øret = My ear hurts
• Jeg har lidt ondt i øret = My ear hurts a little
• Jeg har meget ondt i øret = My ear hurts a lot

Ondt is the neuter form of the adjective ond.

In the expression have ondt, Danish uses ondt idiomatically. You should learn have ondt as a fixed expression meaning to be in pain.

Examples:

• Det gør ondt = That hurts
• Jeg har ondt i armen = My arm hurts
• Hun har ondt i maven = Her stomach hurts

So even though ond can mean evil in other contexts, ondt in expressions like this means painful / in pain.

Danish often uses the definite form of body parts where English uses my, your, his, and so on.

So:

• i øret = literally in the ear
• but in English we usually say in my ear or my ear hurts

This is very common with body parts in Danish.

Examples:

• Jeg har ondt i hovedet = My head hurts
• Hun blev ramt i benet = She was hit in the leg
• Han vasker hænderne = He washes his hands

So i øret is completely natural Danish.

Because øre is a neuter noun (et øre = an ear), and the definite singular is formed with -et:

• et øre = an ear
• øret = the ear

In this sentence, i øret is part of the expression for where the pain is located.

A quick pattern:

• et øje → øjet
• et knæ → knæet
• et øre → øret

Because lytte means to listen, while høre means to hear.

That is the same basic distinction as in English:

• høre = hear
• lytte = listen

So:

• Jeg hører musik = I hear music / I am hearing music
• Jeg lytter til musik = I listen to music

In your sentence, the person is choosing not to listen to loud music, so lytter is the correct verb.

Because in Danish, the verb lytte normally goes with the preposition til when you say what someone is listening to.

So:

• lytte til musik = listen to music
• lytte til radioen = listen to the radio
• lytte til læreren = listen to the teacher

This is something you should memorize as a combination:

• at lytte til noget = to listen to something
• at lytte til nogen = to listen to someone

In a normal main clause, Danish ikke usually comes after the finite verb and before many other sentence elements.

Here the finite verb is lytter, so:

• jeg lytter ikke til høj musik i dag

Structure:

• jeg = subject
• lytter = finite verb
• ikke = negation
• til høj musik = prepositional phrase
• i dag = time expression

This word order is very typical in Danish.

Compare:

• Jeg spiser ikke kød = I do not eat meat
• Han kommer ikke i morgen = He is not coming tomorrow
• Vi ser ikke fjernsyn om aftenen = We do not watch TV in the evening

Because høj describes the noun musik.

Here, høj musik means loud music.

Even though English often uses loud for sound, Danish commonly uses høj in this sense:

• høj musik = loud music
• høj lyd = loud sound
• høj stemme = loud voice

You may also see højt in other structures, but that is often when the word functions adverbially:

• Musikken er for høj = The music is too loud
• Han taler for højt = He speaks too loudly

So in your sentence, because it modifies the noun musik, høj is correct.

Because musik is usually treated as an uncountable noun here, just like music in English.

So Danish says:

• Jeg lytter til musik = I listen to music
• Jeg lytter ikke til høj musik = I do not listen to loud music

You would only use an article if you were talking about a specific piece or type in a different way.

For example:

• Jeg kan godt lide den musik = I like that music
• Det er en høj lyd = That is a loud sound

But in your sentence, musik is general, so no article is needed.

Here så means so or therefore.

It connects the first idea to the second:

• Jeg har lidt ondt i øret, så jeg lytter ikke til høj musik i dag.
• My ear hurts a little, so I’m not listening to loud music today.

It shows cause and result.

Examples:

• Jeg er træt, så jeg går tidligt i seng. = I’m tired, so I’m going to bed early.
• Det regner, så vi bliver hjemme. = It’s raining, so we’re staying home.

Because in this sentence, så is being used as a coordinating conjunction meaning so, joining two main clauses.

So the second clause keeps normal main-clause word order:

• så jeg lytter ikke ...

That is different from sentence adverbs or fronted elements, which trigger inversion in Danish.

Compare:

• Jeg er træt, så jeg går hjem. = no inversion after så
• I dag lytter jeg ikke til musik. = inversion because I dag is moved to the front

So så jeg lytter is normal and correct.

Yes, i dag is fairly flexible, though some positions sound more natural than others.

Your sentence has:

• Jeg lytter ikke til høj musik i dag.

That is very natural.

You could also say:

• I dag lytter jeg ikke til høj musik.

This puts more emphasis on today. Notice the inversion:

• I dag lytter jeg ...

because when a time expression comes first in a main clause, the verb usually comes before the subject.

So both are correct, but they have slightly different emphasis.

It can correspond to either of those in English, depending on context.

Very literally, it is:

• I have a little pain in the ear

Natural English translations include:

• My ear hurts a little
• I have a bit of pain in my ear
• I have a slight earache

So this is a good example of how Danish and English may express the same idea differently, even when the meaning is the same.

The written sentence is already natural, but in casual speech a Dane might say something very similar, often with relaxed pronunciation.

For example:

• Jeg har lidt ondt i øret, så jeg hører ikke høj musik i dag is possible in some contexts, but it shifts toward hearing rather than actively listening, so lytter til is still the best choice if you want to be precise.
• Jeg har lidt ondt i øret, så jeg lytter ikke til høj musik i dag is perfectly normal everyday Danish.

So the sentence you have is already a very good, natural model to learn.