Jeg afleverer glas og metal på genbrugsstationen, før jeg går hjem.

Danish often uses the simple present for things happening now, regularly, or in the near future.

So Jeg afleverer glas og metal ... før jeg går hjem can mean:

• I’m dropping off glass and metal ... before I go home
• I drop off glass and metal ... before I go home
• I will drop off glass and metal ... before I go home

If Danish speakers need to make the future extra explicit, they can use something like jeg vil aflevere or jeg skal aflevere, but very often the plain present is enough.

Because glas and metal here are being used as general material nouns or recycling categories, not as specific individual objects.

So:

• glas og metal = glass and metal, in general
• not et glas = a glass, meaning a drinking glass
• not metallet = the metal, meaning some specific metal already known

At a recycling station, Danish commonly uses the material/category name without an article:

• papir
• pap
• glas
• metal
• plast

Aflevere means something like:

• hand in
• turn in
• drop off
• deliver

In this sentence, drop off is probably the most natural English match. It suggests taking something to the proper place and leaving it there.

So jeg afleverer glas og metal på genbrugsstationen means that the speaker is taking those recyclables to the recycling station and leaving them there.

This is mostly a matter of Danish usage and idiom.

With places like institutions, locations, or service points, Danish often uses på where English might use at:

• på skolen = at school
• på arbejdet = at work
• på hospitalet = at the hospital
• på genbrugsstationen = at the recycling station

You might hear i genbrugsstationen if someone is emphasizing being physically inside the area/building, but på genbrugsstationen is the normal way to say it in this context.

The -en is the definite article attached to the noun. In Danish, the definite article is usually added to the end of the word.

So:

• en genbrugsstation = a recycling station
• genbrugsstationen = the recycling station

This is very common in Danish:

• en bil → bilen
• en dag → dagen
• en station → stationen

Because Danish forms compound nouns by joining words together.

Here:

• genbrug = recycling / reuse
• station = station

Together:

• genbrugsstation = recycling station

Notice the extra -s- in the middle. That linking s is common in Danish compounds, though it is not completely predictable in every case and often just has to be learned with the word.

Because før introduces a subordinate clause.

In Danish subordinate clauses, the word order is usually more straightforward:

• conjunction + subject + verb

So:

• før jeg går hjem = before I go home

This is different from main clauses, where Danish normally uses verb-second word order:

• Jeg går hjem
• Nu går jeg hjem

But after før, you are inside a subordinate clause, so jeg stays before går.

No. The subordinate clause needs its own subject.

So Danish must say:

• før jeg går hjem

Just like English says:

• before I go home

Even though it is the same person as in the main clause, Danish still needs the subject in the second clause.

Literally, går hjem means goes home or even walks home, but in everyday Danish it often simply means go home, not necessarily on foot.

Hjem is not a noun here. It acts more like an adverb of direction:

• hjem = homeward / home
• hjemme = at home

So:

• jeg går hjem = I go home
• jeg er hjemme = I am at home

That distinction is very important in Danish.

Yes, in standard Danish writing, a subordinate clause like før jeg går hjem is normally separated by a comma.

So:

• Jeg afleverer glas og metal på genbrugsstationen, før jeg går hjem.

Danish comma rules are a bit more formal and visible than in English, and commas before subordinate clauses are very common.

Yes, absolutely.

You can say:

• Før jeg går hjem, afleverer jeg glas og metal på genbrugsstationen.

Notice what happens in the main clause after the fronted subordinate clause:

• afleverer jeg not
• jeg afleverer

That is because Danish main clauses follow the verb-second rule. When Før jeg går hjem comes first, the finite verb afleverer must come before the subject jeg in the main clause.

These are both words English speakers often find difficult.

• før has a vowel sound that does not exist in standard English. It is roughly like saying fur, but with rounded lips.
• går has a long vowel, roughly something like gor or gore without fully matching either English word.

A few helpful points:

• ø in før is a rounded front vowel
• å in går sounds like the vowel in many pronunciations of English more or law, but exact pronunciation depends on accent

If you are learning pronunciation, it helps a lot to listen to native audio and repeat whole chunks:

• før jeg går hjem
• på genbrugsstationen

Because glas and metal are broad recycling categories.

Danish often refers to waste and recycling by material type rather than by individual object:

• glas = glass
• metal = metal
• plast = plastic
• papir = paper

So this sentence sounds natural if the speaker means they are dropping off glass items and metal items generally. If they wanted to be more specific, they could say:

• flasker og dåser = bottles and cans

But the original sentence is perfectly normal for recycling context.