Der står mange mennesker ved spor tre, fordi toget har en forsinkelse på ti minutter.

Here der is an expletive/dummy subject, like English there in There are many people...

So:

• Der står mange mennesker ... = There are many people standing ...

It does not mean a specific place like over there. The actual location comes later in the sentence: ved spor tre.

Står literally means stand(s), and Danish often uses verbs like stå, sidde, and ligge to describe how something or someone is physically positioned.

So:

• Der står mange mennesker ... = There are many people standing ...
• Der er mange mennesker ... = There are many people ...

Using står gives a more visual, physical picture: the people are upright, gathered there. English often just says There are many people, but Danish very naturally uses står in this kind of situation.

Ved means at, by, or near.

So ved spor tre means:

• by track 3
• at track 3

In natural English, depending on the station system, you might also think of it as at platform 3, but Danish spor literally means track.

So the idea is that the people are gathered near the departure area for track 3.

Not exactly.

• spor = track
• perron = platform

In real station language, spor 3 is often the numbered place passengers go to, so in practice it can function a bit like English platform 3 depending on the railway system. But literally, spor is track.

That is why ved spor tre is a sensible phrase: people stand by track 3, not literally on it.

Danish usually does not use an article with numbered labels like this.

So:

• spor tre = track 3
• bus 5 = bus 5
• kapitel 2 = chapter 2

This works much like English.

If you wanted to say the third track in a more descriptive sense, that would be different:

• det tredje spor = the third track

But spor tre is the normal station-label style.

This is about definiteness.

• toget = the train
• en forsinkelse = a delay

Toget is definite because it refers to a specific train that speaker and listener can identify from the situation.

En forsinkelse is indefinite because it is being introduced as new information.

Also note the Danish definite article pattern:

• et tog = a train
• toget = the train

The definite article is often added as an ending in Danish.

Fordi means because and introduces a subordinate clause.

In standard written Danish, subordinate clauses do not use main-clause inversion. So you get normal subject + verb order:

• fordi toget har en forsinkelse ...
• because the train has a delay ...

Not:

• fordi har toget ... ❌

So this sentence follows standard Danish subordinate-clause word order.

Here på means something like of or amounting to.

So:

• en forsinkelse på ti minutter = a delay of ten minutes

This use of på is common with measurements and amounts:

• en pris på 50 kroner = a price of 50 kroner
• et hus på 120 kvadratmeter = a house of 120 square meters

So på is not literal on here.

Yes, absolutely.

That is a very common alternative:

• Toget er ti minutter forsinket = The train is ten minutes delayed / The train is ten minutes late

Compared with:

• Toget har en forsinkelse på ti minutter = The train has a delay of ten minutes

Both are correct. The version with har en forsinkelse can sound a little more formal or announcement-like, while er ti minutter forsinket is often more direct.

Yes, folk could also be used in many situations.

• mange mennesker = many people
• mange folk = many people / lots of people

But there is a slight difference in feel:

• mennesker is neutral and straightforward
• folk is often a bit more informal or collective

So the original sentence sounds perfectly natural, especially in standard written Danish.

It depends on the comma style being used.

The sentence as written uses a comma before fordi, which many Danish writers do. This is common in the start-comma system.

In modern Danish, you may also see the comma omitted in this position, depending on style:

• Der står mange mennesker ved spor tre, fordi toget har en forsinkelse på ti minutter.
• Der står mange mennesker ved spor tre fordi toget har en forsinkelse på ti minutter.

So both may occur, depending on punctuation preferences or house style.

Both are possible.

In running text, Danish often writes numbers as words, especially smaller numbers:

• ti minutter

But digits are also very common, especially in signs, timetables, and practical information:

• 10 minutter

So this is mostly a style choice, not a grammar difference.