Min søster går på yogaholdet, fordi det hjælper hende med at slappe af.

Because in Danish, a possessive like min already makes the noun definite.

So:

• min søster = my sister
• not min søsteren
• not den min søster

This is like English: we say my sister, not the my sister.

Also, søster is in the common gender category, so it takes min. If it were a neuter noun, you would use mit instead.

By itself, går often means walks or goes. But gå på is a very common expression in Danish, and its meaning depends on the context.

Here, går på yogaholdet means something like:

• attends the yoga class/group
• goes to the yoga class

So this is not mainly about physically walking. It is about participating regularly in something.

You will see gå på in other expressions too, for example:

• gå på skole = go to school / attend school
• gå på arbejde = go to work
• gå på et kursus = attend a course

Yogaholdet is made up of:

• yoga = yoga
• hold = team, group, class
• -et = the definite ending for a neuter noun

So yogaholdet means the yoga class/group.

In Danish, the definite article is often added to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word.

Compare:

• et yogahold = a yoga class/group
• yogaholdet = the yoga class/group

Because hold is a neuter noun, the definite singular ending is -et.

Yes, very often you could.

• går til yoga = goes to yoga / does yoga classes
• går på yogaholdet = goes to the yoga class/group

The difference is mainly one of specificity:

• går til yoga is more general
• går på yogaholdet points to a specific class or group, probably one already known in the conversation

So both are natural, but yogaholdet sounds more specific.

Because fordi introduces a subordinate clause: because it helps her relax.

Traditional Danish punctuation usually places a comma before a subordinate clause, so:

• Min søster går på yogaholdet, fordi det hjælper hende med at slappe af.

That comma is normal in written Danish.

Yes. Fordi introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses in Danish do not use normal main-clause verb-second word order.

In your sentence, the subordinate clause is:

• fordi det hjælper hende med at slappe af

This looks similar to English, but the difference becomes clearer when you add a word like ikke:

• Main clause: Det hjælper hende ikke.
• Subordinate clause: ... fordi det ikke hjælper hende.

So after fordi, words like ikke usually come before the finite verb.

That is an important Danish pattern.

Because hende is the object form of hun.

• hun = she
• hende = her

In the sentence, she is not the subject of hjælper. The subject is det. So Danish uses the object pronoun:

• det hjælper hende = it helps her

Compare:

• Hun går på yogaholdet. = She goes to the yoga class.
• Det hjælper hende. = It helps her.

Here det refers to the activity or situation just mentioned: going to the yoga class / doing yoga.

So:

• fordi det hjælper hende ... = because it helps her ...

This kind of det is very common in Danish. It can refer back to an action, idea, or whole situation rather than to a single concrete noun.

The structure is:

• hjælpe nogen med at + infinitive

So:

• hjælper hende med at slappe af = helps her to relax

Breakdown:

• hjælper = helps
• hende = her
• med at = with / to
• slappe af = relax

This is a very common pattern in Danish. For example:

• Det hjælper mig med at forstå det. = It helps me understand it.
• Hun hjælper ham med at lave mad. = She helps him cook.

Even though English often says simply helps her relax, Danish commonly uses med at here.

Slappe af is a fixed verb expression meaning to relax.

You should learn it as a whole unit:

• at slappe af = to relax

The word af is a particle that belongs with the verb. It is not optional.

This is similar to phrasal verbs in English, where a small word is part of the meaning.

Examples:

• Jeg slapper af. = I relax / I’m relaxing.
• Hun vil gerne slappe af. = She wants to relax.

In some contexts, the parts can appear separated in Danish sentences, but they still belong together as one verb expression.

Because slappe af is in the infinitive after med in the pattern med at + infinitive.

So:

• med at slappe af = with relaxing / to relax

The at here is the infinitive marker, like to in English.

Compare:

• at slappe af = to relax
• at spise = to eat
• at sove = to sleep

Both are in the present tense.

• går = goes / is going
• hjælper = helps / is helping

In Danish, the present tense often covers both:

• a habitual meaning: she goes
• a more immediate meaning, depending on context

In this sentence, the most natural reading is habitual:

• My sister goes to the yoga class because it helps her relax.

So it suggests something she does regularly.

Not really. They are related in meaning, but the pronunciation is different.

A learner often notices two things:

• ø is a Danish vowel that does not exist in English in the same way
• søster has a softer, more Danish sound than English sister

A rough guide:

• søster sounds approximately like SUR-ster or SUH-ster, but neither is exact

The important thing is that ø should not be pronounced like English o.

Yes. Hold can mean several related things, including:

• team
• group
• class
• course group

So yogahold is not a sports team in the competitive sense. It usually means a group of people attending the same yoga sessions together.

That is why yogaholdet is very natural here.

Yes, the main clause would show normal Danish verb-second word order.

For example:

• Fordi det hjælper hende med at slappe af, går min søster på yogaholdet.

Notice that after the opening clause, the finite verb comes before the subject in the main clause:

• går min søster
• not min søster går

That is a very important Danish word-order rule.