Hvis jeg ikke skynder mig, havner jeg i en lang kø ved stationen.

Because the verb is at skynde sig, which is a reflexive verb in Danish.

That means it normally needs a reflexive pronoun:

• jeg skynder mig
• du skynder dig
• han skynder sig
• vi skynder os

So jeg skynder mig means I hurry / I hurry myself.

You cannot normally say just jeg skynder in this meaning.

This is because ikke is inside a subordinate clause introduced by hvis.

In Danish, word order changes in subordinate clauses. Sentence adverbs such as ikke usually come before the finite verb there.

So you get:

• Hvis jeg ikke skynder mig ...

Compare that with a main clause:

• Jeg skynder mig ikke.

A useful contrast:

• Main clause: subject + verb + ikke
  
  • Jeg kommer ikke.
• Subordinate clause: subject + ikke
  • verb
    
    • ... hvis jeg ikke kommer.

Because the sentence begins with a subordinate clause:

• Hvis jeg ikke skynder mig, ...

After a subordinate clause comes the main clause, and in Danish main clauses the verb usually takes second position. When something other than the subject comes first, the subject and verb switch places.

So:

• Jeg havner i en lang kø ved stationen.
  = normal main clause
• Hvis jeg ikke skynder mig, havner jeg i en lang kø ved stationen.
  = inversion after the opening clause

This is a very common Danish pattern.

Danish often uses the present tense to talk about the future, especially when the future meaning is clear from the context.

So:

• Hvis jeg ikke skynder mig, havner jeg ...

literally looks like:

• If I do not hurry, I end up ...

but naturally means:

• If I don’t hurry, I’ll end up ...

This is completely normal in Danish.

If you wanted, Danish could also use vil, but it is often unnecessary:

• Hvis jeg ikke skynder mig, vil jeg havne ...

That is possible, but the original version sounds very natural and idiomatic.

At havne literally means to land, to end up, or to wind up somewhere.

In this sentence, it means:

• I’ll end up in a long queue

It often suggests that you arrive in a situation as a result of what happened before.

Examples:

• Han havnede i problemer. = He ended up in trouble.
• Vi havnede på det forkerte tog. = We ended up on the wrong train.

So here it is not just physical movement. It is the idea of ending up in an undesirable situation.

Because kø is a common-gender noun in Danish, so it takes en.

• en kø = a queue
• køen = the queue

Also, the adjective must match the noun phrase pattern:

• en lang kø

If it were a neuter noun, you would use et and often a different adjective form.

Stationen is the definite form: the station.

In Danish, definiteness is often shown by adding an ending to the noun:

• en station = a station
• stationen = the station

The sentence uses stationen because it refers to a specific station, probably one that is already known from the situation or context.

Yes, both can be possible, but they are not always exactly the same.

• ved stationen = by / at the station, often focusing on the area near it
• på stationen = at the station / on the station premises, often focusing more on being there as a location

In this sentence, ved stationen sounds natural if the idea is the queue forms by the station or at the station area.

Depending on context, some speakers might also say:

• på stationen

So this is partly a matter of nuance and usage, not a strict right-or-wrong difference in every situation.

Hvis means if and introduces a condition.

So the first part:

• Hvis jeg ikke skynder mig

sets up the condition:

• If I don’t hurry

Then the second part gives the result:

• havner jeg i en lang kø ved stationen
• I’ll end up in a long queue at/by the station

This is a very common sentence pattern in Danish:

• Hvis + clause, main clause

Examples:

• Hvis det regner, bliver vi hjemme.
• Hvis du kommer nu, kan du nå toget.

Then the main clause would have normal word order:

• Jeg havner i en lang kø ved stationen, hvis jeg ikke skynder mig.

Notice the difference:

• Hvis jeg ikke skynder mig, havner jeg ...
• Jeg havner ..., hvis jeg ikke skynder mig.

When the main clause comes first, you usually get:

• subject + verb = jeg havner

When the sentence starts with the subordinate clause, the main clause uses inversion:

• havner jeg

Kø is pronounced roughly like a long vowel sound similar to the vowel in French deux or German schön, but without any n or r after it.

A rough guide is:

• kø ≈ k-øø

This vowel does not exist naturally in standard English, so it can take practice.

Also note:

• kø = queue
• ko = cow

Those are very different words, so the vowel matters a lot.

Not really in the same natural way.

In English, get into a queue can sometimes work, but in Danish komme i en kø is less idiomatic here. Havne i en kø sounds much more natural because it expresses ending up stuck in that queue.

So:

• havner jeg i en lang kø = natural
• kommer jeg i en lang kø = not the best choice here

A close alternative might be:

• ... ender jeg i en lang kø ...

That would also mean I end up in a long queue.

Here lang means long in the sense of a queue with many people in it.

Danish often describes queues as long, just like English:

• en lang kø = a long queue

So it refers to the queue’s length, not really its physical size in a general sense.