Hun skriver en formel email til sin chef.

Hun means she. It is the subject pronoun, so it tells you who is doing the action.

In this sentence:

• Hun = she
• skriver = writes / is writing

So Hun skriver ... means She writes / She is writing ...

Danish subject pronouns include:

• jeg = I
• du = you
• han = he
• hun = she
• vi = we
• I = you (plural)
• de = they

Skriver is the present tense of at skrive = to write.

A very useful thing for English speakers: in Danish, the present tense does not change depending on the subject.

So you get:

• jeg skriver = I write / I am writing
• du skriver = you write / you are writing
• hun skriver = she writes / she is writing

Unlike English, there is no special -s form only for he/she/it. Danish just uses skriver for everyone in the present tense.

Because email here is treated as an en-word (common gender noun).

In Danish, singular nouns usually take either:

• en for common gender
• et for neuter gender

Here:

• en email = an email

Because the noun is an en-word, the adjective in the indefinite singular also takes the common-gender form:

• en formel email = a formal email

Compare that with a neuter noun:

• et formelt brev = a formal letter

So the adjective changes depending on the noun’s gender:

• en formel ...
• et formelt ...

Formel means formal.

So en formel email is a formal email, meaning an email written in a polite, professional, or official style.

It is the adjective describing email.

You may also notice that formel looks a lot like the English word formal, which makes it relatively easy to remember.

Yes. Danish commonly uses email, and you may also see:

• e-mail
• sometimes mail in everyday language

In modern Danish, email is very common and completely natural.

So en email is a normal way to say an email.

Til means to.

It shows the recipient of the email:

• til sin chef = to her boss

So the structure is:

• Hun skriver en formel email til sin chef.
• She is writing a formal email to her boss.

Til is very commonly used for direction, destination, or recipient.

Examples:

• Jeg skriver til min ven. = I write to my friend.
• Hun sender en pakke til sin mor. = She sends a package to her mother.

This is one of the most important grammar points in the sentence.

Sin is a reflexive possessive. It is used when the possessor is the same as the subject of the sentence.

Here, the subject is Hun = she.

So:

• Hun skriver ... til sin chef.

means:

• She writes ... to her own boss.

If you said hendes chef, it would usually mean another woman’s boss, not the subject’s own boss.

So compare:

• Hun skriver en email til sin chef. = She writes an email to her own boss.
• Hun skriver en email til hendes chef. = She writes an email to her boss, where her refers to someone else.

This distinction is much stronger in Danish than in English, so learners often need extra practice with it.

Because chef is a singular en-word.

The reflexive possessive changes form depending on the noun that follows:

• sin
  • singular common gender noun
• sit
  • singular neuter noun
• sine
  • plural noun

So:

• sin chef = her/his own boss
• sit brev = her/his own letter
• sine emails = her/his own emails

Since chef is singular and takes en, the correct form is sin.

In Danish, chef usually means boss, manager, or head of something.

That is different from modern English, where chef usually means a professional cook.

So in this sentence:

• sin chef = her boss

not her cook.

This is a very common false friend for English speakers.

Yes, but this sentence uses the normal main-clause word order.

The basic pattern here is:

• Subject + verb + object + prepositional phrase

So:

• Hun = subject
• skriver = verb
• en formel email = object
• til sin chef = prepositional phrase

Danish main clauses usually put the finite verb in the second position. In a simple sentence like this, that gives you:

• Hun skriver en formel email til sin chef.

If something else comes first, the verb still stays in second position:

• I dag skriver hun en formel email til sin chef. = Today she is writing a formal email to her boss.

That verb-second pattern is a key feature of Danish.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Danish present tense often covers both:

• she writes
• she is writing

So:

• Hun skriver en formel email til sin chef.

could mean:

• She writes a formal email to her boss
• She is writing a formal email to her boss

If the context makes it clear that the action is happening right now, English often prefers is writing, but Danish usually just uses the simple present form skriver.

Then you would usually say:

• Hun skriver den formelle email til sin chef.

Here is what changed:

• en ... email = a ... email
• den ... email = the ... email
• formel becomes formelle before a definite noun

So:

• en formel email = a formal email
• den formelle email = the formal email

This is a common adjective pattern in Danish: adjectives often take -e in the definite form.