Han smutter fra mødet, mens de andre læser dagsordenen.

Smutter is the present tense of at smutte. In this sentence, it means something like:

• slips away
• sneaks off
• ducks out
• pops out

It is a fairly everyday, slightly informal verb. It often suggests leaving quickly, quietly, or without much fuss.

So Han smutter fra mødet has a nuance closer to He slips out of the meeting than the more neutral He leaves the meeting.

Fra means from, and it is used here because the person is leaving from the meeting.

• Han smutter fra mødet = He slips away from the meeting

In Danish, fra is very common when talking about movement away from a place, event, or situation.

You might also hear other ways to express leaving, such as:

• Han går fra mødet = He leaves the meeting
• Han forlader mødet = He leaves the meeting

But smutter fra gives the idea of slipping away more casually or discreetly.

Because mødet is the definite form: the meeting.

The noun is:

• et møde = a meeting
• mødet = the meeting

Danish often adds the definite article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like the.

So:

• fra mødet = from the meeting

For the same reason: dagsordenen is the definite form, meaning the agenda.

The noun is:

• en dagsorden = an agenda
• dagsordenen = the agenda

So:

• de andre læser dagsordenen = the others are reading the agenda

The definite form is natural here because it refers to a specific agenda, probably the one for that meeting.

Mens means while.

It connects two actions that happen at the same time:

• Han smutter fra mødet = He slips away from the meeting
• mens de andre læser dagsordenen = while the others read/are reading the agenda

So mens introduces a time clause.

It is a very common conjunction in Danish for simultaneous actions.

Because after mens, Danish uses subordinate clause word order.

In this clause:

• mens = conjunction
• de andre = subject
• læser = verb
• dagsordenen = object

So the normal order is:

• mens de andre læser dagsordenen

This is different from main-clause word order in Danish, where the finite verb often comes second.

A useful comparison:

• De andre læser dagsordenen. = main clause
• ..., mens de andre læser dagsordenen. = subordinate clause

So after mens, you do not invert the subject and verb.

Because Danish does not usually have a separate tense like the English present progressive.

So the present tense can mean both:

• read
• are reading

In this sentence:

• Han smutter fra mødet can mean He slips away / is slipping away from the meeting
• de andre læser dagsordenen can mean the others read / are reading the agenda

The context tells you that these are actions happening right now, so in English you would often translate them with is slipping away and are reading.

De andre means the others.

It refers to the other people in the group. In this context, it probably means the other people at the meeting.

Breakdown:

• de = they / those / the, depending on context
• andre = other / others

Together, de andre is a fixed, very common expression meaning the others.

Examples:

• De andre kommer senere. = The others are coming later.
• Jeg kender de andre. = I know the others.

It is more informal and conversational than a verb like forlader.

Compare:

• Han smutter fra mødet. = He slips out of the meeting.

  • casual
  • slightly vivid
  • can suggest doing it quietly or quickly

• Han forlader mødet. = He leaves the meeting.

  • more neutral or formal

So if you want natural everyday Danish, smutter is useful, but it has a more colloquial tone.

Yes. You could say:

• Mens de andre læser dagsordenen, smutter han fra mødet.

That is also correct.

Notice what happens in the main clause after the fronted mens-clause:

• smutter han
• not han smutter

This is because Danish main clauses follow the verb-second rule. When the subordinate clause comes first, the finite verb in the main clause comes before the subject.

So:

• Han smutter fra mødet, mens de andre læser dagsordenen.
• Mens de andre læser dagsordenen, smutter han fra mødet.

Both are correct, but the second version puts more emphasis on the timing.

A Danish speaker would probably hear it as a fairly natural, everyday sentence in which:

• han leaves quietly or casually
• the others are occupied with the agenda
• the timing matters: he does it while they are distracted

So the sentence does not just state two actions. It also suggests a small contrast in behavior:

• he slips away
• while the others are doing what they are supposed to be doing

That nuance comes mainly from smutter and mens together.