Hvis der kommer for meget ukrudt mellem planterne, tager vi det op med hånden med det samme.

Hvis means if. It introduces a condition:

• Hvis der kommer for meget ukrudt mellem planterne = If too much weed grows/appears between the plants

So the whole sentence has this structure:

• If X happens, we do Y.

This is very common in Danish, just as in English.

Here der is an expletive subject, like English there in sentences such as:

• There is a problem
• There grows a lot of grass here

So der kommer for meget ukrudt literally looks like there comes too much weed, but in natural English it means something like:

• too much weed appears
• too many weeds grow
• too much weed comes up

The der does not refer to a place here. It is just part of the existential construction.

Yes, kommer literally means comes, but in Danish it is often used more broadly than in English. In this sentence, der kommer ukrudt means something like:

• weeds come up
• weeds appear
• weeds start growing

So this is natural Danish, even though English would usually not say too much weed comes between the plants.

Ukrudt is usually treated as an uncountable mass noun, like grass or furniture in English.

So Danish often says:

• meget ukrudt = a lot of weed / many weeds
• for meget ukrudt = too much weed / too many weeds

Even though English often prefers the plural weeds, Danish commonly uses singular ukrudt as a collective substance-like noun.

For meget means too much.

• meget = much / a lot of
• for meget = too much

So:

• for meget ukrudt = too much weed / too many weeds

The word for here does not mean for in the usual English sense. It intensifies meget and means that the amount is excessive.

Mellem means between, and planterne means the plants.

• plante = plant
• planter = plants
• planterne = the plants

So:

• mellem planterne = between the plants

This is just the definite plural form.

This is because Danish is a V2 language in main clauses: the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

When a subordinate clause comes first, like:

• Hvis der kommer for meget ukrudt mellem planterne

then the main clause follows with inversion:

• tager vi det op med hånden med det samme

So the order is:

• subordinate clause first
• then finite verb
• then subject

That is why you get:

• tager vi not
• vi tager

This is one of the most important word-order patterns in Danish.

Det refers back to ukrudt.

Even though ukrudt can be understood as weeds in English, grammatically in Danish it is treated here as a singular neuter noun, so the pronoun is:

• det = it

So:

• tager vi det op = we pull it up / remove it

Tage op is a very common verb combination, and its meaning depends on context. Here it means:

• pull up
• dig up
• remove from the ground

So with ukrudt, tage det op means removing the weeds by pulling them out.

You can think of it as similar to pull up weeds in English.

In Danish, short object pronouns often come before particles like op.

So Danish says:

• tage det op

rather than:

• tage op det

This is normal word order with a verb + object pronoun + particle.

Compare:

• Jeg skriver det ned = I write it down
• Vi tager det op = We pull it up

Med hånden means by hand or literally with the hand.

Even though English usually says by hand, Danish often uses this kind of expression with the singular definite form:

• med hånden

It refers to doing something manually, not with a tool or machine.

So here it means that the weeds are pulled up manually.

Yes, med hænderne would mean with the hands, and that is grammatically possible. But med hånden is a more idiomatic way to express by hand in this kind of general statement.

So:

• med hånden = by hand, manually
• med hænderne = with the hands, more physically explicit

In this sentence, med hånden sounds more natural.

Med det samme is a fixed expression meaning:

• immediately
• right away
• at once

So:

• tager vi det op med hånden med det samme = we pull it up by hand immediately

It does not literally mean something like with the same thing here. You should learn it as a set phrase.

Because they mean different things:

• med hånden = by hand
• med det samme = immediately

Even though both start with med, they are separate expressions.

The first tells you how the action is done. The second tells you when it is done.

It sounds like a general routine or rule, not just one single event.

The present tense in Danish can often be used this way:

• Hvis der kommer ... tager vi ... = If ... happens, we ...

This sounds like a habitual response, similar to English:

• If too many weeds come up between the plants, we pull them up right away.

Yes. That is very common in translation.

Danish grammar treats ukrudt as a singular mass noun, so it uses det. But natural English often translates it with a plural:

• ukrudt → weeds
• det → it in Danish grammar, but often them in natural English translation

So a natural English version might say:

• If too many weeds grow between the plants, we pull them up by hand immediately.

That is a good example of how translation follows meaning, not just word-for-word grammar.