Min lærer siger, at et spørgsmålstegn passer bedre end et udråbstegn, når man faktisk stiller et spørgsmål.

Because Danish normally does not use the definite ending after a possessive.

• lærer = teacher
• læreren = the teacher
• min lærer = my teacher

So after min, you use the basic singular noun form, not the definite form.

Also, lærer is a singular common-gender noun, so min is the correct possessive form. Compare:

• min lærer = my teacher
• mit spørgsmål = my question
• mine lærere = my teachers

Both nouns are neuter, so they take et.

A very useful rule in Danish compounds is that the last part usually decides the gender. Here, both words end in tegn:

• spørgsmålstegn = question mark
• udråbstegn = exclamation mark
• tegn = sign/mark

Since tegn is a neuter noun, the whole compound becomes neuter too:

• et tegn
• et spørgsmålstegn
• et udråbstegn

Here at introduces a subordinate clause, like English that:

• Min lærer siger, at ...
• My teacher says that ...

In English, that is often omitted. In Danish, at is very commonly kept in this kind of sentence.

So at et spørgsmålstegn passer bedre ... is the content of what the teacher says.

Those commas mark the beginning of subordinate clauses:

• ..., at et spørgsmålstegn passer bedre ...
• ..., når man faktisk stiller et spørgsmål

This sentence is written with front commas before subordinate clauses. That is a normal way to write Danish.

You may also see Danish written without these front commas, depending on the comma style being used. So the commas here are not strange—they reflect one accepted Danish comma system.

Passe here means something like fit, suit, or be more appropriate.

So:

• passer bedre = fits better / is more suitable
• end = than

Together:

• passer bedre end = suits better than / is more appropriate than

This is the normal comparative pattern in Danish:

• god → bedre
• bedre end = better than

Even though bedre comes from god, it is also used naturally after verbs like passe.

Because når is used for general, repeated, or whenever-type situations.

Here the meaning is not about one specific event in the past. It means something like:

• when/whenever you really ask a question

So når is the right choice.

By contrast, da is usually used for a specific past occasion:

• Da jeg kom hjem, ... = When I came home, ...

So:

• når man faktisk stiller et spørgsmål = when one actually asks a question
• not a one-time past event

No. In this sentence, man is the impersonal pronoun.

It means something like:

• one
• you
• people

So når man faktisk stiller et spørgsmål means something like:

• when you actually ask a question
• when one actually asks a question
• when people actually ask a question

This use of man is extremely common in Danish.

Because in a subordinate clause, adverbs like faktisk, ikke, nok, and similar words often come before the finite verb.

So Danish says:

• når man faktisk stiller et spørgsmål

This is a very useful word-order pattern to notice.

Compare it with a main clause:

• Man stiller faktisk et spørgsmål.

In the main clause, the finite verb comes earlier because Danish main clauses follow the verb-second pattern. In the subordinate clause after når, that pattern disappears, and the adverb can come before the verb.

It adds emphasis: really, actually, in fact.

The idea is that the speaker is talking about a real question, not just a sentence that looks dramatic or emotional.

So faktisk helps underline:

• when you are genuinely asking something,
• a question mark is more appropriate than an exclamation mark.

It gives the sentence a slightly corrective tone.

Yes—and that is exactly why this expression can feel strange to English speakers.

Danish often uses stille et spørgsmål, literally put/pose a question, where English usually says ask a question.

So this is a common collocation:

• at stille et spørgsmål = to ask a question

You should learn it as a set phrase.

Because they are all in the present tense.

In Danish, the present tense is usually formed by adding -r to the infinitive:

• sige → siger
• passe → passer
• stille → stiller

So in this sentence:

• siger = says
• passer = fits / suits
• stiller = asks

This -r ending is one of the most important verb patterns in Danish.

Yes, and doing that is very helpful in Danish, because Danish uses a lot of compound nouns.

• spørgsmålstegn = spørgsmål

  • tegn
  • spørgsmål = question
  • tegn = sign/mark

• udråbstegn = udråb

  • s
    • tegn
  • udråb = exclamation/outcry
  • s = linking sound/letter
  • tegn = sign/mark

So both are built in a very Danish way: several elements joined into one word. That is completely normal in Danish spelling.