Badedragten er stadig våd, så hun hænger den over stolen på terrassen.

Danish normally writes compound nouns as one word, so badedragt is a single noun made from bade + dragt.

Here it becomes badedragten because Danish usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

• badedragt = swimsuit
• badedragten = the swimsuit

The ending -en shows that this is a singular common-gender noun in the definite form.

Because badedragt is an en-word in Danish, also called a common-gender noun.

That means:

• en badedragt = a swimsuit
• badedragten = the swimsuit
• den = it, referring back to that noun

If the noun were a det-word instead, Danish would use det.

Because våd is the form that matches a singular common-gender noun.

The subject is badedragten, which is singular and common gender, so the adjective is:

• våd for common gender singular
• vådt for neuter singular
• våde for plural, and often in attributive definite contexts

A very important point for learners: after er, the adjective is predicative, and Danish does not use a special definite adjective form just because the noun is definite.

So:

• badedragten er våd = correct
• not badedragten er våde

Stadig means still.

In a simple main clause, Danish often places this kind of adverb after the finite verb:

• er stadig våd = is still wet

So the pattern is:

• subject + finite verb + adverb + complement

Here:

• Badedragten = subject
• er = finite verb
• stadig = adverb
• våd = complement

Here så means so, introducing the result of the first clause.

In this use, så works like a conjunction, and the following clause keeps normal main-clause order:

• så hun hænger den ...

That is why the subject hun comes before the verb hænger.

If så meant something more like then as an adverb at the front of a clause, you could get inversion:

• Så hænger hun den ...

So the two patterns are different:

• ..., så hun hænger den ... = ... so she hangs it ...
• Så hænger hun den ... = Then she hangs it ...

Because the action is to hang something up.

In this sentence, hun is doing the action to the swimsuit, and den is the object:

• hun hænger den = she hangs it

This is different from describing the swimsuit’s position by itself:

• den hænger over stolen = it is hanging over the chair

So here the verb is being used transitively: someone hangs something somewhere.

Because short object pronouns in Danish usually come early in the clause.

So Danish prefers:

• hun hænger den over stolen på terrassen

rather than moving den later.

This is very natural Danish word order:

• subject
• verb
• short object pronoun
• prepositional phrases

If you used the full noun again, that would also be possible:

• hun hænger badedragten over stolen på terrassen

But once the noun has already been mentioned, den is the normal choice.

It literally means over the chair, but in this context it usually means something like draped over the chair, often over the back of the chair.

So it does not usually mean the swimsuit is floating above the chair. It means the chair is being used as the support.

This is a very natural use of over in Danish for cloth, towels, clothes, and similar things.

Because over suggests that the swimsuit is hanging or draped across the chair.

• over stolen = over the chair, draped across it
• på stolen = on the chair

With something being put out to dry, over is often the more natural choice because the item is hanging over part of the chair rather than just resting on the seat.

Danish uses på with places like a terrace, balcony, or patio.

So:

• på terrassen = on the terrace / out on the terrace

English and Danish do not always use the same preposition, but here på is the normal Danish choice.

Also, terrassen is definite, meaning the terrace, probably a specific terrace known from the situation.

Because the sentence has two clauses:

• Badedragten er stadig våd
• så hun hænger den over stolen på terrassen

The comma separates the first clause from the second one. In standard Danish writing, a comma is normally used before a coordinating clause introduced by a word like så when it links two full clauses.

Because Danish usually uses the simple present where English might use either the simple present or the present progressive.

So:

• hun hænger den can mean she hangs it or, in context, she is hanging it

Likewise:

• badedragten er stadig våd = the swimsuit is still wet

Danish does not need a special continuous form like English is hanging in order to sound natural here.