Min veninde siger, at en vandretur er lige så hyggelig ved solopgang som om aftenen.

Veninde means female friend. Danish often distinguishes between:

• ven = male friend
• veninde = female friend

So min veninde means my female friend.

After a possessive word like min, Danish normally uses the noun in its basic form, not the definite form.

So:

• min veninde = my female friend
• veninden = the female friend

This is the same pattern as:

• min bil = my car
• mit hus = my house
• mine bøger = my books

Here at means that and introduces a subordinate clause:

• Min veninde siger, at ...
• My friend says that ...

English often drops that, but Danish usually keeps at in sentences like this, especially in normal written language.

Because after at, Danish uses subordinate-clause word order, not main-clause word order.

In a main clause, Danish usually puts the verb in second position. But after at, the subject comes before the finite verb:

• at en vandretur er hyggelig

A useful thing to remember: if you add ikke, it would be:

• at en vandretur ikke er ...

That shows clearly that subordinate clauses do not follow the usual main-clause verb-second pattern.

It means just as ... as or equally ... as.

The pattern is:

• lige så + adjective/adverb + som

So here:

• lige så hyggelig ... som ... = just as pleasant/cozy ... as ...

Other examples:

• lige så stor som = just as big as
• lige så hurtigt som = just as fast as

Yes. Så ... som can already mean as ... as.

Adding lige makes the comparison more explicit or emphatic:

• så hyggelig som = as hyggelig as
• lige så hyggelig som = just as hyggelig as / equally hyggelig as

In everyday Danish, lige så ... som is very common and sounds very natural.

Because vandretur is an en-word (common gender), and the adjective agrees with that.

• en vandretur er hyggelig
• et sted er hyggeligt

So:

• hyggelig is used with singular en nouns
• hyggeligt is used with singular et nouns
• hyggelige is used with plural

For example:

• en tur er hyggelig
• et hus er hyggeligt
• ture er hyggelige

Not necessarily. In Danish, an indefinite singular noun can be used in a general sense.

So en vandretur here can mean:

• a hike
• going for a hike
• the activity/experience of a hike, in a general way

It does not have to mean one particular hike. If it were a specific known hike, Danish would more likely use vandreturen.

Because Danish usually writes compound nouns as single words.

So:

• vandretur = vandre
  • tur
• solopgang = sol
  • opgang

This is very common in Danish. English often writes similar ideas as two words, but Danish normally joins them.

More examples:

• sommerhus = summer house
• kaffekop = coffee cup
• togstation = train station

Because Danish uses different prepositions in different time expressions, and they do not always match English word-for-word.

Here:

• ved solopgang = at sunrise
• om aftenen = in the evening

You should learn these as natural expressions rather than translating each preposition literally.

A few similar patterns:

• ved daggry = at dawn
• om morgenen = in the morning
• om eftermiddagen = in the afternoon
• om natten = at night / during the night

In expressions for parts of the day, Danish often uses the definite form:

• om morgenen
• om eftermiddagen
• om aftenen
• om natten

So om aftenen is the normal idiomatic way to say in the evening.

Even though the noun is definite in form, the meaning is often general rather than referring to one particular evening.

Cozy is often the closest English word, but hyggelig is broader.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• cozy
• pleasant
• enjoyable
• nice
• warm and relaxed

So in this sentence, a hike at sunrise being hyggelig does not mean it is literally cozy in the indoor sense. It means it feels pleasantly enjoyable and gives a warm, nice atmosphere or mood.

Because Danish, like English, can leave out repeated words when they are already understood.

So:

• lige så hyggelig ved solopgang som om aftenen

means:

• just as hyggelig at sunrise as it is in the evening

The second hyggelig is understood from the first part, so it does not need to be repeated.