Min tante lægger sig i solstolen, mens børnene leger i sandet.

In Danish, possessive words like min already make the noun definite, so you do not add a separate definite article.

• min tante = my aunt
• not den min tante

This works like English: we say my aunt, not the my aunt.

A few related forms:

• min tante = my aunt
• din tante = your aunt
• hans tante = his aunt
• hendes tante = her aunt

Because tante is a common-gender noun, it takes min rather than mit.

lægger sig means lies down, reclines, or settles oneself.

The word sig is a reflexive pronoun, meaning the action comes back to the subject. So:

• lægger sig = lays herself/himself down → natural English: lies down
• lægger without sig usually means puts/places something somewhere

Compare:

• Hun lægger bogen på bordet. = She puts the book on the table.
• Hun lægger sig i solstolen. = She lies down in the deck chair.

So sig is important because it shows that the aunt is positioning herself, not placing another object somewhere.

This is a very common Danish distinction.

• lægger sig = lies down / moves into a lying position
• ligger = is lying / is located

So in your sentence:

• Min tante lægger sig i solstolen = My aunt lies down in the deck chair.

If she were already there, Danish would more likely use:

• Min tante ligger i solstolen = My aunt is lying in the deck chair.

A simple way to remember it:

• lægge = action, movement, putting
• ligge = state, position, already there

Danish often uses i where English might sometimes expect in or on, depending on how the object is imagined.

A solstol is a deck chair / sun lounger, and lægge sig i solstolen is a natural way to say that someone settles into it. The chair is thought of as something you are in rather than just on top of.

So:

• i solstolen = in the deck chair / in the sun lounger

In some contexts, Danish speakers may also use på with furniture, but here i solstolen is very natural because the person is reclining into it.

The ending -en marks the noun as definite.

• en solstol = a deck chair / a sun lounger
• solstolen = the deck chair / the sun lounger

Unlike English, Danish usually adds definiteness directly to the noun as a suffix.

More examples:

• en stol = a chair
• stolen = the chair
• et barn = a child
• barnet = the child

So i solstolen literally contains the idea of in the deck chair.

børnene means the children, while børn just means children in a general or indefinite sense.

• børn = children
• børnene = the children

In your sentence, we are talking about a specific group of children, so Danish uses the definite form.

Also note:

• barn = child
• børn = children
• børnene = the children

This is an irregular plural, so it is worth memorizing.

sandet is the definite form of sand.

• sand = sand
• sandet = the sand

So:

• i sandet = in the sand

The ending -et is one common definite ending for neuter nouns.

Compare:

• et hus = a house
• huset = the house

Since sand is a neuter noun (et sand in grammar terms, though that indefinite form is not very commonly used in isolation), the definite form becomes sandet.

mens means while.

It connects two actions that happen at the same time:

• Min tante lægger sig i solstolen, mens børnene leger i sandet.
• My aunt lies down in the deck chair, while the children play in the sand.

So the two simultaneous actions are:

1. the aunt lies down
2. the children play

Mens introduces a subordinate clause.

Because mens introduces a subordinate clause, Danish normally places a comma before it.

So:

• Min tante lægger sig i solstolen, mens børnene leger i sandet.

This is standard Danish punctuation.

English punctuation can be a bit more flexible with while, but Danish commonly uses the comma before subordinate clauses like this.

In Danish, the present tense is the same for all persons and numbers. That means the verb does not change depending on whether the subject is I, you, he, or they.

Examples with lege:

• jeg leger = I play
• du leger = you play
• hun leger = she plays
• børnene leger = the children play

So leger works for both singular and plural subjects.

The same is true for lægger:

• jeg lægger
• hun lægger
• de lægger

This is easier than English in some ways, because there is no special -s form like he plays.

The word order here is normal.

In the main clause:

• Min tante = subject
• lægger = verb
• sig i solstolen = rest of the sentence

After mens, the clause also begins with the subject:

• børnene = subject
• leger = verb
• i sandet = rest

So both clauses have a straightforward subject + verb structure here.

What is useful to know is that Danish main clauses often follow the verb-second rule, but because the subject comes first here, it looks very similar to English.

These vowels are often tricky for English speakers.

• æ in lægger is somewhat like the vowel in English cat, but often a bit more open depending on accent.
• ø in børnene has no exact English equivalent. It is a front rounded vowel. A rough approximation is to say something like the vowel in bird, but with rounded lips.

Very rough guides:

• lægger ≈ LEH-ger
• børnene ≈ something like BUR-ne-ne, but with rounded lips on the first vowel

These are only approximations. Danish pronunciation varies and is often less clearly pronounced than spelling suggests, so listening to native audio is especially helpful.

Yes, solstol is a compound noun, and Danish very often writes compound nouns as one word.

• sol = sun
• stol = chair
• solstol = sun chair / deck chair / sun lounger

This is very common in Danish:

• sommerhus = summer house
• håndklæde = towel
• sandkasse = sandbox

English sometimes writes similar ideas as two words, but Danish usually prefers one compound word.

Yes. Danish present tense often covers both the simple present and the present progressive meanings that English separates.

So:

• børnene leger i sandet can mean
  • the children play in the sand
  • the children are playing in the sand

In this sentence, English would often naturally use:

• while the children are playing in the sand

But the Danish form stays just leger.