Hun holder begge hænder på rattet og bremser roligt ved det røde lys.

In Danish, holde is often used when someone is keeping or placing something in a position.

So Hun holder begge hænder på rattet is more like:

• She keeps both hands on the steering wheel
• She is holding both hands on the steering wheel

If you used har (has), it would sound more like possession, not physical placement. Danish often prefers holde in this kind of situation.

Danish often leaves out possessives with body parts when it is already obvious whose body parts they are.

So:

• Hun holder begge hænder på rattet = She keeps both hands on the steering wheel

It would usually be unnecessary to say her hands, because of course the hands belong to hun.

You can use a possessive in some contexts, but here it sounds most natural without one.

Because begge already works as a determiner meaning both.

So Danish says:

• begge hænder = both hands

Not:

• de begge hænder in this sentence

This is similar to English, where we say both hands, not the both hands.

Rat means steering wheel, while rattet means the steering wheel.

Danish usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun:

• et rat = a steering wheel
• rattet = the steering wheel

So på rattet means on the steering wheel.

Because roligt is an adverb here, meaning calmly.

It comes from the adjective rolig (calm). A common way to form adverbs in Danish is to use the neuter form of the adjective:

• rolig = calm
• roligt = calmly / in a calm way

So:

• Hun bremser roligt = She brakes calmly

This is because Danish adjectives change form depending on grammar.

Here, lys is a neuter noun:

• et lys = a light

With a definite noun phrase, the adjective usually takes -e:

• det røde lys = the red light

Compare:

• et rødt lys = a red light
• det røde lys = the red light

So the -e form is used because the phrase is definite.

Here ved means something like at, by, or near.

So:

• ved det røde lys = at/by the red light

In traffic context, this is very natural and can mean she is braking as she comes to or is at the traffic light.

English and Danish do not always use the same preposition, so it is best to learn ved det røde lys as a normal expression.

Literally, it means the red light.

In context, though, it usually refers to the red traffic signal. So Danish is focusing on the red light itself, not necessarily naming the whole traffic light structure.

That is very natural in Danish.

Danish uses the present tense very often to describe:

• what someone is doing right now
• what is happening in a picture
• a habitual action

So:

• Hun holder ... og bremser ...

can mean:

• She is holding ... and braking ...
• She holds ... and brakes ...

English often uses the progressive (is holding, is braking) where Danish simply uses the present tense.

Because Danish does not need a separate verb like English does in this sentence.

English often uses:

• She is braking

Danish simply uses the present tense:

• Hun bremser

That one word already carries the present meaning.

Danish does have ways to emphasize ongoing action, but in an ordinary sentence like this, simple present is the normal choice.

No, it is the normal main-clause word order.

The structure is:

• Hun = subject
• holder = verb
• begge hænder på rattet = object/complement
• og
• bremser = second verb, still linked to the same subject
• roligt = adverb
• ved det røde lys = prepositional phrase

After og, Danish does not automatically invert the word order. The subject hun is simply understood for the second verb.

So the sentence is very straightforward.

A few points that often matter to English speakers:

• hun: the u is not like English oo
• hænder: æ is a very open front vowel, a bit like the vowel in British cat for some speakers, but not exactly
• rattet: the a is short; the tt is not strongly exploded like in English
• roligt: the g is not pronounced like a hard English g
• ved: the final d is usually a soft Danish d, not a full English d
• røde: ø is one of the classic Danish vowels that English speakers need practice with

The biggest challenge is usually not individual letters, but getting used to Danish vowel quality and soft consonants.

Yes, there are several natural alternatives, depending on style and meaning.

For example:

• Hun har begge hænder på rattet og bremser roligt ved det røde lys.
• Hun holder hænderne på rattet og bremser roligt ved det røde lys.

These are understandable, but the original sentence is very natural.

The exact choice depends on what you want to emphasize:

• holder begge hænder emphasizes keeping both hands there
• har begge hænder sounds slightly more like describing the situation
• hænderne means the hands, where ownership is still understood from context