Når solen skinner, hænger hun lagenerne på tørresnoren bag huset.

This is because Danish main clauses normally follow the verb-second (V2) rule.

The first element in the main clause here is the whole subordinate clause:

Når solen skinner

So when that comes first, the finite verb in the main clause must come next:

• Når solen skinner, hænger hun lagenerne på tørresnoren bag huset.

Not:

• Når solen skinner, hun hænger ...

A useful pattern is:

• When-clause + verb + subject + rest

So in Danish:

• Når solen skinner, hænger hun ...
• I dag hænger hun ...
• Om sommeren hænger hun ...

In all of these, something else comes first, so the verb comes before the subject.

Here, når means when in the sense of whenever or every time that.

So this sentence suggests a repeated or general situation:

• Når solen skinner, hænger hun lagenerne på tørresnoren bag huset.
• Whenever the sun is shining, she hangs the sheets on the clothesline behind the house.

By contrast, da is often used for a specific event in the past:

• Da solen skinnede, hængte hun lagenerne ud.
• When the sun was shining, she hung the sheets out.

A simple way to remember it:

• når = general/repeated/future when
• da = one specific past when

In Danish, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun.

So:

• sol = sun
• solen = the sun

This is very common in Danish:

• hus = house
• huset = the house
• snor = cord/string
• snoren = the cord/string

For many common-gender nouns, the definite ending is -en. For many neuter nouns, it is -et.

So solen is just the normal Danish way to say the sun.

Yes. Skinner is the present tense of skinne, meaning to shine.

So:

• at skinne = to shine
• skinner = shines / is shining

Danish verbs are much simpler than English verbs in one important way: they do not change for different persons.

So you get:

• jeg skinner = I shine
• du skinner = you shine
• hun skinner = she shines

Same present-tense form throughout.

Also, Danish present tense often covers both English simple present and present progressive, depending on context:

• solen skinner = the sun shines / the sun is shining

Lagenerne is the definite plural form of lagen, which means sheet or bedsheet.

The forms are:

• et lagen = a sheet
• lagenet = the sheet
• lagener = sheets
• lagenerne = the sheets

So lagenerne means the sheets.

A learner may notice that this looks a bit irregular. That is because the plural is not just lagen + s as in English. Danish nouns form plurals in different ways, and this noun uses:

• singular: lagen
• plural: lagener

Then the definite plural adds -ne:

• lagenerne

Tørresnoren means the clothesline or more literally the drying line.

It is a compound noun:

• tørre = to dry
• snor = cord / line

Together:

• tørresnor = clothesline / drying line
• tørresnoren = the clothesline

Compound nouns are extremely common in Danish, just as they are in German and often in English too.

So instead of using several separate words, Danish often builds one noun from smaller parts.

Because Danish uses på with things that something is placed or hung on.

So:

• på tørresnoren = on the clothesline

This matches English quite closely here.

With hænge in this kind of sentence, på is the natural choice when something is attached to or hanging on a surface, hook, line, wall, etc.

Examples:

• Billedet hænger på væggen. = The picture hangs on the wall.
• Jakken hænger på knagen. = The jacket is hanging on the hook.

So på tørresnoren is the normal expression.

For the same reason as solen and tørresnoren: Danish usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun.

So:

• hus = house
• huset = the house

Therefore:

• bag huset = behind the house

There is no separate word like English the in this phrase.

So Danish says literally something like:

• behind house-the

That is just normal Danish structure.

Bag huset tells you where the clothesline is, or where the action happens more specifically.

The core of the sentence is:

• Når solen skinner, hænger hun lagenerne på tørresnoren.
• When the sun is shining, she hangs the sheets on the clothesline.

Then bag huset adds location:

• behind the house

So it functions as an adverbial phrase of place.

You can think of the sentence as:

• time: Når solen skinner
• action: hænger hun lagenerne
• place: på tørresnoren bag huset

Here, hænger means hangs in the sense of puts up to dry / hangs up.

But this is a good question, because Danish hænge can be tricky. It can describe either:

1. a state:

   • Billedet hænger på væggen.
   • The picture is hanging on the wall.

2. an action, depending on context:

   • Hun hænger lagenerne på tørresnoren.
   • She hangs the sheets on the clothesline.

In everyday Danish, context usually makes the meaning clear.

Also, learners may come across hænge op, which often makes the action sense even clearer:

• Hun hænger lagenerne op.
• She hangs the sheets up.

Most naturally, it sounds habitual or general.

Because of når, the sentence suggests:

• Whenever the sun is shining, she hangs the sheets on the clothesline behind the house.

So it describes something she typically does under those conditions.

Even though the verbs are in the present tense, Danish present tense often expresses general truths, habits, and repeated actions, just like English.

If you wanted a more immediate, right-now feeling, Danish would usually rely on context or add something else, for example:

• Lige nu hænger hun lagenerne på tørresnoren.
• Right now she is hanging the sheets on the clothesline.

Because the first clause is about the sun, not about she.

The subordinate clause is:

• Når solen skinner
• When the sun shines / is shining

Its subject is solen.

Then the main clause is:

• hænger hun lagenerne ...
• she hangs the sheets ...

Its subject is hun.

So the sentence has two clauses, each with its own subject:

1. solen in the når-clause
2. hun in the main clause

This is completely normal.

Because Når solen skinner is a subordinate clause placed before the main clause.

Danish punctuation traditionally uses a comma to separate clauses like this:

• Når solen skinner, hænger hun lagenerne på tørresnoren bag huset.

So the comma marks the boundary between:

• the subordinate clause: Når solen skinner
• the main clause: hænger hun lagenerne ...

This also helps the reader see why the word order changes in the main clause.

Yes, but it changes the meaning slightly.

• Når solen skinner = when / whenever the sun is shining

  • general, habitual, repeated

• Mens solen skinner = while the sun is shining

  • emphasizes that something happens during the same period of time

So:

• Når solen skinner, hænger hun lagenerne på tørresnoren. = Whenever the sun is out, she hangs the sheets on the line.

• Mens solen skinner, hænger hun lagenerne på tørresnoren. = While the sun is shining, she is hanging the sheets on the line.

In this sentence, når is the more natural choice if the idea is a usual habit.

You mostly have to learn the gender together with the noun:

• et hus = a house

That tells you it is a neuter noun.

Then the definite singular becomes:

• huset = the house

Compare:

• en sol → solen
• et hus → huset

So the indefinite article gives you the gender:

• en = common gender
• et = neuter

This is why it is very useful to learn Danish nouns with their article:

• en sol
• et hus
• en tørresnor
• et lagen

Yes, it is natural.

A very common alternative would be:

• Når solen skinner, hænger hun lagenerne ud bag huset.

Here ud adds the sense of out or out to dry, which is often very idiomatic in Danish when talking about laundry.

Another possible phrasing is:

• Når solen skinner, hænger hun lagenerne op på tørresnoren bag huset.

Adding op can make the action of hanging something up feel more explicit.

But the original sentence is perfectly understandable and natural.