I en bisætning kommer verbet senere end i en hovedsætning.

A hovedsætning is a main clause: it can stand on its own as a complete sentence.

A bisætning is a subordinate clause: it depends on another clause and usually cannot stand alone in the same way.

Examples:

• Hovedsætning: Han kommer i dag.
  = He is coming today.

• Bisætning: fordi han kommer i dag
  = because he is coming today

In the sentence you were given, the grammar point is that Danish word order is different in these two types of clauses.

Because Danish has different word order rules in main clauses and subordinate clauses.

In a main clause, the finite verb usually comes very early, often in position 2. This is the famous V2 rule in Danish.

Example:

• I dag kommer han.
  = Today, he comes.

Here, kommer is the verb, and it comes in the second position.

In a subordinate clause, the verb usually comes after things like ikke or some adverbs, so it is felt to come later.

Compare:

• Main clause: Han kommer ikke.
• Subordinate clause: fordi han ikke kommer.

So senere does not mean much later in time. It means later in the word order of the clause.

Verbet means the verb.

It comes from:

• et verbum = a verb
• verbet = the verb

The ending -et is the definite ending for a neuter noun in Danish.

So:

• et verbum = a verb
• verbet = the verb

This is normal in Danish: instead of using a separate word like the, Danish often adds the definiteness to the end of the noun.

Because i means in, and both bisætning and hovedsætning are common-gender nouns that take en in the indefinite singular.

So:

• en bisætning = a subordinate clause
• en hovedsætning = a main clause

And:

• i en bisætning = in a subordinate clause
• i en hovedsætning = in a main clause

This is just standard Danish noun grammar.

Not really. Literally, kommer usually means comes. But here it is used in a more abstract way:

• verbet kommer senere
  = the verb comes later

In English, we might also say:

• the verb appears later
• the verb is placed later
• the verb occurs later

So this is a normal explanatory way of talking about word order.

Senere end means later than.

Here:

• senere = later
• end = than

So:

• senere end i en hovedsætning
  = later than in a main clause

Again, this is about position in the sentence, not about time.

Yes. A very common comparison is with ikke.

Main clause:

• Han kommer ikke.
  = He is not coming.

Order:

• Han = subject
• kommer = finite verb
• ikke = not

Subordinate clause:

• fordi han ikke kommer
  = because he is not coming

Order:

• han = subject
• ikke = not
• kommer = finite verb

So in the subordinate clause, the verb kommer is placed later.

Usually, the finite verb comes in second position in a main clause. That is a central rule of Danish syntax.

Examples:

• Han kommer i morgen.
• I morgen kommer han.
• Måske kommer han i morgen.

Even when something else comes first, the finite verb still tends to stay in second position.

That is why subordinate clauses feel different: they do not follow this V2 pattern in the same way.

The sentence is talking about the finite verb, even though it just says verbet.

The finite verb is the verb form that shows tense and agrees with the clause structure.

For example:

• han kommer
• hun gik
• de har spist

In discussions of Danish word order, it is usually the finite verb whose position matters most.

So when the sentence says the verb comes later in a subordinate clause, it means the finite verb is placed later.

It is a main clause.

The whole sentence is:

• I en bisætning kommer verbet senere end i en hovedsætning.

Its structure is roughly:

• I en bisætning = fronted prepositional phrase
• kommer = finite verb
• verbet = subject
• senere end i en hovedsætning = rest of the sentence

Notice that kommer comes before verbet. That is normal in a Danish main clause when something other than the subject is placed first.

Because Danish main clauses follow the V2 rule.

The sentence starts with I en bisætning, which takes the first position. Then the finite verb kommer must come in second position. After that comes the subject verbet.

So the pattern is:

• Position 1: I en bisætning
• Position 2: kommer
• Then: verbet

This is a very typical Danish sentence pattern, and it may feel unusual to English speakers because English usually keeps the subject before the verb more consistently.

You could also say:

• Verbet kommer senere i en bisætning end i en hovedsætning.

This version starts with the subject verbet, so the word order is a little more straightforward for an English speaker.

Both versions are natural, but the original version is useful because it also demonstrates Danish main-clause word order: when another element comes first, the verb still comes second.

The main takeaway is:

• In a main clause, Danish usually puts the finite verb early — often in second position.
• In a subordinate clause, the finite verb usually comes later.

A very useful memory pair is:

• Main clause: Han kommer ikke.
• Subordinate clause: fordi han ikke kommer.

That contrast is exactly what the sentence is explaining.