Pigen sidder på en bænk ved dammen.

Because pigen means the girl, while en pige means a girl.

In Danish, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun:

• pige = girl
• en pige = a girl
• pigen = the girl

So instead of putting a separate word like English the before the noun, Danish often uses a suffix.

This is the difference between an indefinite noun and a definite noun.

• en bænk = a bench → any bench, not identified as a specific one
• dammen = the pond → a specific pond, probably known from the context

So the sentence mixes indefinite and definite nouns just like English can:

• The girl is sitting on a bench by the pond

That is completely normal.

Danish nouns have grammatical gender, and singular indefinite nouns usually take either en or et.

In this sentence:

• en pige
• en bænk
• en dam

All three nouns are common gender nouns, so they take en.

Unfortunately, there is no fully reliable rule that lets you guess every noun’s gender, so learners usually have to memorize nouns together with their article:

• en pige
• en bænk
• en dam

That is much better than learning the noun alone.

Sidder is the present tense of sidde, which means to sit.

• at sidde = to sit
• sidder = sit / is sitting

In Danish, the present tense often covers both English meanings:

• The girl sits on a bench
• The girl is sitting on a bench

So Pigen sidder ... can sound like either of those in English, depending on context.

Because Danish often uses a posture verb to describe where someone or something is.

Here, sidder tells you not only that the girl is there, but also how she is positioned: she is sitting.

This is very common in Danish:

• Hun sidder i stolen = She is sitting in the chair
• Bogen ligger på bordet = The book is lying on the table
• Flasken står på bordet = The bottle is standing on the table

If you used er, the sentence would be more general and would not describe her posture as clearly.

Because på is the normal preposition for being on a bench.

• på en bænk = on a bench

Danish often uses på for surfaces or places where someone is seated on top of something:

• på en stol = on a chair
• på en sofa = on a sofa
• på en bænk = on a bench

English sometimes varies a bit in these cases, but in Danish på is the natural choice here.

Ved usually means by, near, or at.

So ved dammen means the girl is by the pond or near the pond, not inside it.

Compare:

• ved dammen = by the pond
• i dammen = in the pond
• på dammen = on the pond

So ved tells you the bench is located close to the pond.

Because this is a normal Danish main clause with the subject first and the finite verb in second position.

The structure is:

• Pigen = subject
• sidder = finite verb
• på en bænk ved dammen = the rest of the sentence

This fits a very important Danish rule: in main clauses, the finite verb is usually in position 2.

For example, if you move another element to the front, the verb still stays second:

• Ved dammen sidder pigen på en bænk.

That is why Danish word order can look different from English.

Because when some Danish nouns take the definite ending -en, the spelling doubles the final consonant.

So:

• dam = pond
• dammen = the pond

This helps preserve the short vowel sound in pronunciation. You see the same pattern in some other words too:

• hat → hatten
• kop → koppen

But not all nouns do this, so it is something learners mostly get used to by seeing many examples.

No. In this sentence, the is already built into dammen.

• dam = pond
• dammen = the pond

So Danish usually does not say something like the pond with a separate article before the noun in a simple phrase like this.

A separate definite word such as den is used in other structures, especially when there is an adjective:

• dammen = the pond
• den store dam = the big pond

So in ved dammen, the definite form of the noun is enough by itself.

Yes. In English, you can often move those place phrases around and keep basically the same meaning.

In Danish, på en bænk and ved dammen both describe location:

• på en bænk = on a bench
• ved dammen = by the pond

Together, they tell you where she is sitting. The most natural interpretation is that the bench is by the pond, and the girl is sitting on that bench.

So the Danish sentence is straightforward, and the order sounds natural.