Jeg kunne ikke finde min nøgle i morges.

Kunne is the past tense of kan (can / be able to).

So:

• jeg kan ikke finde min nøgle = I can't find my key
• jeg kunne ikke finde min nøgle = I couldn't find my key

In this sentence, kunne shows that the problem happened earlier, specifically this morning.

Because after a modal verb like kunne, Danish uses the infinitive of the main verb.

So:

• kunne = modal verb in past tense
• finde = infinitive, meaning to find

This is similar to English:

• I could not find not
• I could not found

Other Danish examples:

• Jeg kunne ikke sove = I couldn’t sleep
• Hun kunne ikke komme = She couldn’t come

In a simple main clause, ikke usually comes after the finite verb and before the infinitive/main verb part.

Here the finite verb is kunne, so the sentence becomes:

• Jeg kunne ikke finde min nøgle i morges.

A useful pattern is:

subject + finite verb + ikke + infinitive/rest

Compare:

• Jeg kan ikke komme.
• Vi vil ikke vente.
• Han kunne ikke sove.

So the position of ikke is very normal here.

Jeg means I and is the subject form of the pronoun.

Like English:

• I = subject
• me = object

In Danish:

• jeg = subject
• mig = object

So here, jeg is correct because the speaker is doing the action:

• Jeg kunne ikke finde... = I could not find...

In Danish, when you use a possessive like min (my), you do not also use an indefinite article like en.

So:

• min nøgle = my key not
• en min nøgle

This is the same as English: we say my key, not a my key.

Danish possessives change depending on the gender and number of the noun.

For my:

• min
  • common gender singular
• mit
  • neuter singular
• mine
  • plural

Since nøgle is a common gender singular noun, you use min:

• min nøgle = my key

Compare:

• min bil = my car
• mit hus = my house
• mine nøgler = my keys

Nøgle is an en-word (common gender noun).

So its basic forms are:

• en nøgle = a key
• nøglen = the key
• nøgler = keys
• nøglerne = the keys

That is why the possessive is min nøgle and not mit nøgle.

Because Danish normally does not use an article when a possessive already determines the noun.

So:

• min nøgle = my key
• din jakke = your jacket
• hans bil = his car

The possessive already makes the noun specific, so no extra article is needed.

I morges is a fixed expression meaning this morning.

It refers to the morning of today, seen from later in the day.

Examples:

• Jeg så ham i morges. = I saw him this morning.
• Det regnede i morges. = It rained this morning.

This is different from more general expressions like om morgenen, which means in the morning(s) in a habitual or general sense.

Usually no, not if you mean this morning.

• i morges = this morning (a specific morning: today)
• om morgenen = in the morning / in the mornings (general or habitual)

So:

• Jeg kunne ikke finde min nøgle i morges. = I couldn’t find my key this morning.
• Jeg kan aldrig finde mine nøgler om morgenen. = I can never find my keys in the morning.

So the sentence uses i morges because it refers to one specific time.

Yes, but it is not exactly the same.

• Jeg kunne ikke finde min nøgle i morges = I couldn’t find my key this morning
  This focuses on not being able to locate it.
• Jeg fandt ikke min nøgle i morges = I didn’t find my key this morning
  This focuses more on the result: you did not find it.

In many situations, these are very close in meaning. But kunne ikke finde often sounds a bit more like I tried / looked, but I couldn’t locate it.

Yes. Danish is a V2 language, which means the finite verb usually stays in the second position in a main clause.

So if you start with i morges, you get:

• I morges kunne jeg ikke finde min nøgle.

Notice what changed:

• Jeg kunne ikke finde min nøgle i morges.
• I morges kunne jeg ikke finde min nøgle.

When a different element comes first, the verb kunne still stays second, and jeg moves after it.

The most important thing for an English speaker is the vowel ø, which does not exist in standard English.

A rough guide:

• nøgle sounds approximately like NUH-gleh, but with a rounded vowel in the first syllable
• the g is often quite soft in actual speech

Don’t rely too much on English spelling to guess it. The best approach is to listen to native audio and repeat it several times.

Also note that Danish pronunciation is often less phonetic than the spelling suggests, so hearing the word is especially helpful.

Yes, in this version it is quite close to English:

• Jeg = I
• kunne = could
• ikke = not
• finde = find
• min nøgle = my key
• i morges = this morning

So the structure is almost a word-for-word match:

I could not find my key this morning.

That makes this a very learner-friendly Danish sentence, even though details like ikke placement, modal + infinitive, and i morges are still important to learn.