Min morgenrutine er enkel: kaffe, et hurtigt bad og derefter metroen til universitetet.

Because Danish, like English, often forms compound nouns by joining words together. Morgenrutine is morgen + rutine, meaning morning routine.

This is very common in Danish:

• morgenmad = breakfast
• studiekammerat = fellow student
• togstation = train station

If you wrote the parts separately, it would usually look unnatural in Danish.

Because rutine is a common gender noun in Danish, not a neuter noun.

In Danish:

• min is used with common gender singular nouns
• mit is used with neuter singular nouns
• mine is used with plurals

So:

• min rutine
• min morgenrutine

Compare:

• min bil = my car
• mit hus = my house
• mine bøger = my books

The adjective agrees with the noun it describes.

Here, morgenrutine is:

• singular
• common gender
• indefinite

So the adjective stays in its basic form:

• en enkel rutine
• Min morgenrutine er enkel

You would use enkelt with a neuter singular noun:

• et enkelt bad
• et enkelt problem

And usually enkle in plural or definite forms:

• enkle rutiner
• den enkle rutine

The colon introduces an explanation or list. The sentence first says the routine is simple, and then the speaker shows what that routine consists of:

• kaffe
• et hurtigt bad
• derefter metroen til universitetet

So the colon works a bit like namely or here is what I mean.

This is an example of ellipsis, where words are left out because they are easy to understand from context.

A fuller version might be something like:

• Min morgenrutine er enkel: jeg drikker kaffe, tager et hurtigt bad og tager derefter metroen til universitetet.

But Danish, like English, often allows a shorter list style, especially after a colon. It sounds natural and efficient.

In English we do this too:

• My morning routine is simple: coffee, a quick shower, then the subway to campus.

Because kaffe here is being used in a general, list-like way, not as a coffee referring to one specific cup.

In routines and lists, Danish often uses bare nouns:

• kaffe
• morgenmad
• arbejde
• skole

So kaffe here means something like coffee as part of the routine.

If you said en kaffe, that would more strongly suggest a coffee / one cup of coffee.

Because bad is a neuter noun, so it takes:

• the article et
• the adjective ending -t in the singular indefinite form

So:

• et bad = a bath / a shower
• et hurtigt bad = a quick shower/bath

Compare with a common gender noun:

• en hurtig morgen
• en hurtig kaffe would be odd in meaning, but grammatically it shows the pattern

So the important grammar point is:

• common gender: en hurtig ...
• neuter: et hurtigt ...

Literally, bad means bath or wash, but in everyday context it can also refer to a shower, especially in routine descriptions.

So et hurtigt bad is very naturally understood as:

• a quick shower or more generally
• a quick wash

The exact English translation depends on context, but the Danish phrase itself is perfectly normal.

Because metroen is the definite form, meaning the metro.

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

• en metro = a metro
• metroen = the metro

Here it means the speaker takes the metro, probably the usual one they use.

In this shortened list style, metroen til universitetet means something like:

• the metro to the university or
• taking the metro to the university

Because universitetet is the definite form: the university.

Danish often uses the definite form where English might say:

• to university
• to the university
• to campus

Forms:

• et universitet = a university
• universitetet = the university

In this sentence, the speaker is referring to a specific destination, probably their own university.

Because til expresses movement toward a destination:

• til universitetet = to the university

By contrast, på universitetet means being at the university:

• Jeg er på universitetet = I am at the university

So:

• metroen til universitetet = the metro to the university
• på universitetet would describe location, not direction

Derefter means after that, afterwards, or then.

It shows sequence:

1. kaffe
2. et hurtigt bad
3. derefter metroen til universitetet

In a full sentence, you might also see:

• Jeg tager derefter metroen til universitetet.
• Derefter tager jeg metroen til universitetet.

Here it fits naturally into the list after the colon and means then as the next step in the routine.