Min niece spiser gerne druer og melon om sommeren, men min nevø vælger ofte en pære i stedet.

Because min and en do different jobs.

• min = my
• en = a/an for a common-gender noun

So:

• min niece = my niece
• min nevø = my nephew
• en pære = a pear

These nouns are all common gender in Danish, so they take en in the indefinite and min in the possessive.

Compare:

• en pære → min pære
• et æble → mit æble

So the contrast is not about meaning, but about whether you are using a possessive or an article.

Gerne often means something like gladly, with pleasure, or more naturally in English, likes to when used with a verb.

So:

• spiser gerne druer = likes eating grapes / often happily eats grapes

It does not mean exactly the same as English like, but in many sentences that is the most natural translation.

A useful pattern is:

• jeg drikker gerne kaffe = I like drinking coffee
• hun læser gerne = she likes reading

So spiser gerne is a very natural Danish way to talk about food preferences.

In a normal Danish main clause, the finite verb usually comes early, and adverbs like gerne often come after it.

So:

• Min niece spiser gerne druer
• not usually Min niece gerne spiser druer

This is part of normal Danish word order. Danish often places the verb in the second position in main clauses.

Very roughly:

• Subject
  • finite verb
    • adverb
      • rest

For example:

• Min niece spiser gerne druer
• Min nevø vælger ofte en pære

For the same word-order reason as gerne.

In a main clause, Danish usually puts the finite verb before adverbs such as:

• ofte = often
• gerne = gladly / likes to
• aldrig = never
• ikke = not

So:

• min nevø vælger ofte en pære

is the normal order.

If you move another element to the front, the verb still stays in second position:

• Om sommeren vælger min nevø ofte en pære

That is a very important Danish pattern.

Because Danish often uses food words in a general way without an article, especially after verbs like spise.

• druer is plural because grapes are naturally thought of as many small pieces
• melon can be used as a general food/type word, so it does not have to be en melon

So here:

• druer = grapes in general
• melon = melon in general

If you meant one whole melon, then en melon would make more sense.

This is similar to how English can say:

• I eat grapes and melon
• not necessarily a melon

even though English and Danish do not match perfectly in every case.

Om sommeren is the normal way to say in summer or during the summer, especially when speaking generally or habitually.

So:

• om sommeren = in summer / during the summer

By contrast:

• i sommer usually means this summer
• i sommeren is much less common and usually sounds more specific or less idiomatic here

This makes om sommeren the natural choice in a sentence about what someone generally likes to eat in that season.

You will see the same pattern with other seasons:

• om vinteren = in winter
• om foråret = in spring
• om efteråret = in autumn

After om in season expressions, Danish often uses the definite form:

• om sommeren
• om vinteren

This is just the standard idiomatic pattern. It does not mean the summer in the same strong way English does. In this kind of time expression, it simply means in summer.

So learners should usually remember the whole chunk:

• om sommeren = in summer

rather than trying to translate each word separately.

Because now the sentence is talking about one specific item that the nephew chooses.

• en pære = a pear

With a singular countable noun, Danish normally needs an article when you mean one unspecified thing.

So:

• vælger en pære = chooses a pear

That is different from the earlier food words, which are being used more generally:

• spiser gerne druer og melon

So the contrast is:

• general food preference: druer og melon
• one chosen object: en pære

I stedet means instead.

So:

• min nevø vælger ofte en pære i stedet = my nephew often chooses a pear instead

The alternative is understood from the context.

But i stedet for means instead of, and it is followed by what is being replaced:

• Han vælger en pære i stedet for melon = He chooses a pear instead of melon

So:

• i stedet = instead
• i stedet for = instead of

Because men simply joins two main clauses.

So after men, Danish normally starts a new main clause with ordinary word order:

• men min nevø vælger ofte en pære i stedet

That means:

• men
  • subject
    • verb
      • rest

There is no inversion just because men is there.

Compare:

• Min niece spiser gerne druer, men min nevø vælger ofte en pære
• normal main clause on both sides of men

But if some other element were moved to the front, then inversion would happen:

• Om sommeren vælger min nevø ofte en pære

Because men is linking two full clauses, and Danish normally uses a comma before men in this kind of sentence.

Here the two clauses are:

• Min niece spiser gerne druer og melon om sommeren
• men min nevø vælger ofte en pære i stedet

So the comma helps mark the boundary between them.

This is very common in written Danish:

• clause 1, men clause 2

It is a good habit for learners to expect a comma before men when it joins two independent clauses.