Min mor sidder i skyggen under parasollen og læser sin bog.

It can mean both, depending on context.

In Danish, the present tense often covers both:

• she sits
• she is sitting

So Min mor sidder i skyggen ... can naturally mean My mother sits in the shade... or My mother is sitting in the shade...

Also, Danish often uses posture verbs like:

• sidde = sit
• stå = stand
• ligge = lie

where English might sometimes just use be. So Danish prefers the more physical description here.

Because Danish usually says i skyggen for in the shade.

Here skyggen is the definite form of skygge:

• en skygge = a shade / a shadow
• skyggen = the shade / the shadow

This is very natural in Danish, just like English often says in the shade, not in shade.

So:

• i skyggen = in the shade

Parasollen is the definite form:

• en parasol = a parasol
• parasollen = the parasol

Using under parasollen suggests a specific parasol, probably one that is already known from the situation.

If you said under en parasol, it would mean under a parasol, with less specificity.

So both are possible in the right context:

• under parasollen = under the parasol
• under en parasol = under a parasol

This is a very important Danish grammar point.

Sin/sit/sine is a reflexive possessive, used when the owner is the subject of the clause.

Here the subject is Min mor, so if the book belongs to her, Danish uses sin:

• Min mor ... læser sin bog = My mother ... is reading her own book

If you used hendes bog, it would normally mean the book belongs to some other woman, not to the mother herself.

So:

• sin bog = her own book
• hendes bog = another woman’s book

Because after a possessive word, Danish nouns normally do not take the definite ending.

Compare:

• bogen = the book
• min bog = my book
• sin bog = her/his own book

So possessives like min, din, hans, hendes, sin already make the noun definite in meaning, and Danish therefore uses the basic noun form:

• bog, not bogen

Because Danish, like English, does not need to repeat the subject when two verbs share the same subject and are linked by og.

So:

• Min mor sidder ... og læser sin bog

works just like English:

• My mother is sitting ... and reading her book

You could repeat the subject, but it would sound unnecessary:

• Min mor sidder ... og min mor læser ...

They are both in the present tense.

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

• sidde → sidder
• læse → læser

This tense can describe:

• something happening now
• something habitual
• something generally true

So the sentence could describe what she is doing right now, or a typical scene.

The order is very natural Danish main-clause word order:

• Min mor = subject
• sidder = finite verb
• i skyggen under parasollen = place phrase
• og læser sin bog = second action

Danish main clauses normally follow the verb-second pattern, meaning the finite verb comes early in the clause. Here the subject comes first, so the verb comes right after it:

• Min mor sidder ...

The sentence could be rearranged a bit for emphasis, but this version is simple and natural.

Yes, that is also grammatical and natural.

The difference is mainly one of focus:

• Min mor sidder i skyggen under parasollen og læser sin bog paints the scene first, then adds the reading.
• Min mor læser sin bog i skyggen under parasollen focuses more directly on the action of reading.

The original sentence feels a little more descriptive because sidder helps set the scene.

Because min already functions as the determiner.

Compare:

• en mor = a mother
• moren = the mother
• min mor = my mother

In Danish, you do not combine a possessive like min with an article like en or the definite ending -en.

So:

• min mor is correct
• not min moren
• not min en mor

They are different forms of the same reflexive possessive, and they must agree with the noun that follows.

• sin is used with common gender singular nouns

  • sin bog = her/his own book

• sit is used with neuter singular nouns

  • sit hus = her/his own house

• sine is used with plural nouns

  • sine bøger = her/his own books

In your sentence, bog is a common gender singular noun, so sin is correct.

It can mean both shade and shadow, depending on context.

In this sentence, i skyggen is best understood as in the shade, because the parasol is blocking the sun.

So although skygge can sometimes translate as shadow, here shade is the more natural English meaning.

A rough guide is something like LEH-ser, but with a Danish æ, which is more open than English e.

A few quick pronunciation notes:

• læ sounds a bit like the vowel in cat, but not exactly
• ser is not pronounced like English seer
• the r in Danish is softer and different from most English r sounds

If you are learning pronunciation, læser is a good word to listen to from native audio, because Danish vowels are hard to guess from spelling alone.