Hvilke bøger vil du gerne låne på biblioteket?

Hvilke means which and is used when you are choosing from a set of things, especially plural nouns.

So:

• Hvilke bøger = which books
• Hvad = what

You would not normally say Hvad bøger here.

A useful comparison:

• Hvilke bøger vil du gerne låne? = Which books would you like to borrow?
• Hvad vil du gerne låne? = What would you like to borrow?

The first asks you to identify specific books; the second is more general.

Because the sentence is asking about books in general, in the plural, without saying the books.

Here are the forms:

• en bog = a book
• bogen = the book
• bøger = books
• bøgerne = the books

So:

• Hvilke bøger ...? = Which books ...?

If it were Hvilke bøgerne, that would be wrong here.

Because this is a question.

In Danish main clauses:

• statements often have the subject first: Du vil gerne låne bøger.
• yes/no and many direct questions often have the verb before the subject: Vil du gerne låne bøger?

In your sentence, Hvilke bøger comes first, and then the finite verb vil, followed by the subject du:

• Hvilke bøger
  • vil
    • du
      • gerne låne
        • på biblioteket?

This is a very common Danish pattern.

Gerne is a very common word, but it does not translate neatly into just one English word. In this sentence, it helps express willingness or desire, so vil du gerne låne is like:

• would you like to borrow
• do you want to borrow

So:

• vil du låne = do you want to borrow / will you borrow
• vil du gerne låne = would you like to borrow

It often makes a sentence sound a bit more natural or polite.

Not really. Danish vil can sometimes look like English will, but here it is more about wanting or being willing than simple future.

In this sentence:

• vil du gerne låne = would you like to borrow / do you want to borrow

So vil here is closer to want to than a plain future marker.

This is a very common learner question, because Danish låne can relate to both ideas depending on the context.

In this sentence, it clearly means borrow:

• Hvilke bøger vil du gerne låne på biblioteket? = Which books would you like to borrow from the library?

Related forms:

• at låne = to borrow / to lend (depending on context)
• at låne noget = to borrow something
• at låne noget til nogen = to lend something to someone

If you want to be extra clear, context usually tells you which meaning is intended.

Both på and i can mean things like at/in/on, but Danish often uses certain prepositions idiomatically with places and institutions.

Here, på biblioteket is the normal way to say at the library.

• på biblioteket = at the library
• i biblioteket would sound more like physically inside the library building

So in everyday Danish, when talking about borrowing books, på biblioteket is the natural choice.

Because biblioteket is the definite form: the library.

The noun is:

• et bibliotek = a library
• biblioteket = the library

Danish often uses the definite form where English does too. Since the sentence means at the library, the definite form is expected.

Yes, you could say:

• Hvilke bøger vil du låne på biblioteket?

This is still correct and understandable. But it can sound a bit more direct.

With gerne:

• Hvilke bøger vil du gerne låne på biblioteket?

This sounds a little softer and more natural in many contexts, similar to Which books would you like to borrow at the library?

A rough guide:

• bøger sounds approximately like BUR-gher but with a Danish vowel that does not exist exactly in English.

A few notes:

• ø is a rounded front vowel; English speakers often need practice with it.
• The g in bøger is softer than a hard English g.
• The final -er is usually a light, unstressed ending.

If you are learning pronunciation, it helps to listen to native recordings, because ø is hard to master from spelling alone.

It is roughly:

• bib-lio-TEH-geh-d

The stress is mainly on te: biblioTEket.

A few details:

• Danish t and k can sound softer than English speakers expect.
• The final -et in connected speech may sound less clearly pronounced than you might imagine from the spelling.

Again, hearing native audio is especially useful with longer Danish words like this.

The structure is:

• Hvilke bøger = question phrase
• vil = finite verb
• du = subject
• gerne låne = adverb + infinitive
• på biblioteket = prepositional phrase

So the whole pattern is:

question word/phrase + verb + subject + rest

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

A few natural answers would be:

• Jeg vil gerne låne en krimi. = I’d like to borrow a crime novel.
• Jeg vil gerne låne nogle danske bøger. = I’d like to borrow some Danish books.
• Jeg vil gerne låne de her bøger. = I’d like to borrow these books.
• Jeg ved det ikke endnu. = I don’t know yet.

That lets you reuse the pattern vil gerne in your own reply.