Ved den næste rundkørsel tager vi den tredje afkørsel mod kysten.

This opening phrase means at the next roundabout.

In Danish, ved often means by, at, near depending on context. Here it is used to locate the action at a certain point on the route, so Ved den næste rundkørsel is a very natural way to say At the next roundabout.

A learner might expect something like i for in, but Danish usually does not say in the roundabout in this kind of driving instruction. The focus is the point where you make the turn, not being physically inside it.

Because Danish often uses den/det/de + adjective + noun when referring to a specific, definite thing.

So:

• den næste rundkørsel = the next roundabout
• den tredje afkørsel = the third exit

This is a very common pattern in Danish:

• den store bil = the big car
• det nye hus = the new house

Notice that the noun itself is not marked with the usual definite ending here. You do not say den næste rundkørslen. The definiteness is already shown by den.

This is because Danish follows the V2 rule in main clauses. That means the finite verb normally comes in second position.

The sentence begins with the adverbial phrase:

• Ved den næste rundkørsel

Since that phrase takes first position, the verb comes next:

• tager

and the subject comes after it:

• vi

So:

• Ved den næste rundkørsel tager vi den tredje afkørsel.

If you started with the subject instead, you would say:

• Vi tager den tredje afkørsel ved den næste rundkørsel.

Both are correct, but the original version sounds very natural for directions.

Yes. In driving directions, tage is commonly used the same way English uses take:

• tage en afkørsel = take an exit
• tage til højre = take a right / turn right
• tage første vej til venstre = take the first road on the left

So tager vi den tredje afkørsel literally means we take the third exit.

Afkørsel means exit, especially in traffic contexts.

In a roundabout, den tredje afkørsel means the third exit.

You may also see afkørsel on roads and motorways, where it means an exit ramp or turn-off.

The word is built from:

• af- = off / away
• kørsel = driving

So the idea is roughly a way off the road.

For the same reason as den næste rundkørsel: it is a specific, definite exit.

• den tredje afkørsel = the third exit
• tredje afkørsel by itself would sound more incomplete or general in most contexts

In directions, you usually mean a specific one, so den tredje afkørsel is the normal form.

Mod means toward or in the direction of.

So:

• mod kysten = toward the coast

The noun is kyst = coast.
Here it appears as kysten, the definite form, meaning the coast.

This is natural because you are talking about a known destination or direction, not just any coast in general.

Compare:

• mod byen = toward the town/city
• mod stationen = toward the station
• mod havet = toward the sea

Grammatically, it is present tense:

• tager vi = we take

But Danish often uses the present tense for future actions, especially in plans, instructions, and route descriptions.

So in context, it means something like:

• At the next roundabout, we’ll take the third exit toward the coast.

This is very normal in Danish and also quite similar to English in many situations.

Yes, that is grammatically correct.

It would mean the same thing, but the emphasis changes a little. The original sentence puts the time/place point first:

• Ved den næste rundkørsel tager vi...

That sounds especially natural in spoken directions because it immediately tells the listener when/where to act.

Your version starts with Vi tager..., which is also fine, just a bit less instruction-like in tone.

A rough learner-friendly guide would be:

• rundkørsel ≈ ROON-kur-sel

But that is only approximate. A few important points:

• rund has a soft Danish d, so it is not pronounced like a strong English d
• ø in kørsel is a vowel English does not really have
• the r sounds are Danish, not English

The stress is mainly on the first syllable:

• RUND-kør-sel

If you want to sound natural, it is best to listen to native audio and imitate it, especially the vowel in kør-.

Yes, the sentence would still be complete without it:

• Ved den næste rundkørsel tager vi den tredje afkørsel.

That already means At the next roundabout, we take the third exit.

The phrase mod kysten simply adds extra information about which direction that exit leads in. This is especially useful if road signs point toward destinations rather than numbered exits.

A helpful breakdown is:

• Ved den næste rundkørsel = adverbial phrase
• tager = finite verb
• vi = subject
• den tredje afkørsel = object
• mod kysten = direction phrase

So the pattern is:

• Adverbial + Verb + Subject + Object + Direction

That verb-before-subject order happens because the sentence begins with something other than the subject. This is one of the most important word-order patterns in Danish.