Learn Hardcore Swedish: Den där presenten vill hon ge tidigt för att verkligen överraska honom på födelsedagen. - That present she wants to give early in order to really surprise him on his birthday.

den där roughly means “that … there” (often something a bit more distant, either physically or in the conversation).
den här means “this … here” (something near in space or in the speaker’s focus).
Just den can mean “that” or sometimes “it”, but on its own it’s less specific and often sounds incomplete with a noun (you’d usually say den presenten or just presenten).

So:

den här presenten = this present (near me / mentally very “close”)
den där presenten = that present (a bit more “over there” / already mentioned, maybe slightly distanced)

In the example, Den där presenten signals a specific present both speakers already know about, and it feels more like “that particular present (we’ve been talking about)” than just den presenten would.

Why is it presenten with -en when we already have den där? Isn’t that “double definite”?

Yes, this is double definiteness, and it’s perfectly normal Swedish.

Pattern for a common-gender noun (like present):

Indefinite: en present = a present
Definite: presenten = the present
With demonstrative: den där presenten = that present

In Swedish, if you use a demonstrative like den, den här, den där, the noun itself still takes the definite ending (-en, -et, -na):

den här stolen (not den här stol) – this chair
det där huset (not det där hus) – that house

So den där presenten is the correct form; den där present would be wrong.

Why is the word order Den där presenten vill hon ge and not Den där presenten hon vill ge like in English “That present she wants to give”?

Swedish main clauses follow the V2 rule (“verb second”):

The finite verb (here: vill) must be in second position, no matter what comes first.

If you put something other than the subject first (here, Den där presenten), the subject hon has to move after the verb:

Hon vill ge den där presenten. – Subject in first position → verb is second.
Den där presenten vill hon ge. – Object in first position → verb still second, subject moves after verb.

Den där presenten hon vill ge breaks the V2 rule (the verb vill is no longer in second position) and sounds ungrammatical as a standalone main clause.

Could I also say Hon vill ge den där presenten tidigt instead? Is there any difference in meaning?

Yes, Hon vill ge den där presenten tidigt is fully correct.

Difference:

Den där presenten vill hon ge tidigt …
– Emphasis on that particular present. It’s “topicalised”, put in focus at the start.
Hon vill ge den där presenten tidigt …
– More neutral, everyday word order, closer to English “She wants to give that present early …”.

The basic meaning is the same; you just shift what you highlight in the sentence.

Why is it hon and not henne here? I thought henne means “her”.

Swedish, like English, distinguishes subject and object forms of pronouns:

hon = she (subject)
henne = her (object)

In the sentence, hon is the subject of vill ge (“she wants to give”), so you must use the subject form:

Hon vill ge presenten. – She wants to give the present.
Jag ger henne presenten. – I give her the present. (henne is the object)

So hon is correct here because it’s the one doing the action.

What is the difference between ge and ge bort? Could we say vill hon ge bort instead?

ge on its own is just “to give” (very general).
ge bort means more specifically “to give away (as a gift)” or “to give away so you no longer keep it”.

In the context of a present, ge is already clearly “to give (as a present)”, so you don’t need bort.

You could say:

Den där presenten vill hon ge bort tidigt …

That would emphasize that she is giving it away (as opposed to keeping it). It’s still natural Swedish, just a tiny nuance difference: ge bort stresses the “away-ness” of the gift.

Why is it tidigt and not tidig here?

tidig is an adjective: “early” describing a noun.
- en tidig present – an early present
tidigt is the adverb: “early” describing a verb (an action).
- Hon vill ge presenten tidigt. – She wants to give the present early.

In the sentence, tidigt modifies ge (the act of giving), not any noun, so the -t adverb form is needed.

What exactly does för att mean here, and how is it different from just att or from eftersom?

In this sentence, för att introduces a purpose clause: “in order to / to”.

… vill hon ge tidigt för att verkligen överraska honom …
= “… she wants to give (it) early in order to really surprise him …”

Contrast:

att by itself (without för) is usually just the infinitive marker, like English “to” in “to give”:
- att ge – to give
eftersom means “because” and introduces a reason, not a purpose:
- Hon ger den tidigt eftersom hon är otålig. – She gives it early because she is impatient.

So:

för att + infinitive = for the purpose of doing something / in order to
eftersom + clause = because (reason)

Why is verkligen placed before överraska? Could it go somewhere else, like överraska honom verkligen?

verkligen means “really / truly” and typically goes before the verb or phrase it modifies:

verkligen överraska honom – really surprise him

Other natural positions:

Hon vill verkligen överraska honom.
För att hon verkligen ska överraska honom.

Överraska honom verkligen is not wrong but sounds more unusual and can sound like you’re stressing “him” in contrast to someone else, or it can feel a bit clumsy. The most neutral and idiomatic position in your sentence is exactly what you see:

för att verkligen överraska honom

Why is it honom and not han?

Just like hon / henne, Swedish distinguishes subject and object forms:

han = he (subject)
honom = him (object)

Here, honom is the object of överraska (the one being surprised), so you use the object form:

Hon överraskar honom. – She surprises him.
Han överraskar henne. – He surprises her.

So honom is the only correct option in this position.

Why is the preposition på used in på födelsedagen? Could you say vid födelsedagen or i födelsedagen instead?

For days and certain time expressions, Swedish often uses på:

på måndag – on Monday
på morgonen – in the morning
på julafton – on Christmas Eve
på födelsedagen – on (the) birthday

i födelsedagen, vid födelsedagen are not natural for “on (his) birthday” in this sense.

You could say:

till födelsedagen – “for the birthday” (as in “for the occasion”, often used with gifts: en present till födelsedagen),
but that has a slightly different meaning; it focuses more on the occasion the present is for, not the time when she gives it.

In this sentence, på födelsedagen is the standard way to say “on (his) birthday” in a temporal sense.

Why does it say födelsedagen with -en at the end? Could you also say på hans födelsedag or på sin födelsedag?

födelsedag = birthday (indefinite)
födelsedagen = the birthday (definite)

på födelsedagen can mean “on the birthday” when it’s obvious whose birthday you mean (often from context).

You can make it more explicit:

på hans födelsedag – on his birthday (someone else’s)
på sin födelsedag – on his/her own birthday (referring back to the subject)

So:

Hon vill ge den tidigt på hans födelsedag. – She wants to give it early on his birthday.
Hon vill ge den tidigt på sin födelsedag. – She wants to give it early on her own birthday.

In the original, honom already tells us “his”, so på födelsedagen is understood as “on his birthday” from context.

Is present always “gift”, or can it also mean “present” like “current” or “here”?

In Swedish:

en present almost always means “a gift / a present” (something you give someone).
It does not mean “present” in the sense of “current” or “here”.

For those meanings, Swedish uses other words:

nuvarande – current (e.g. den nuvarande regeringen – the current government)
närvarande – present (physically there)
här – here (adverb)

So in this sentence, presenten is unambiguously “the gift / the present”.

Are there other natural ways to say the same sentence in Swedish?

Yes, here are some common variants with the same basic meaning:

Hon vill ge den där presenten tidigt för att verkligen överraska honom på födelsedagen.
– More neutral word order; very natural.
Hon vill verkligen ge honom den där presenten tidigt på födelsedagen för att överraska honom.
– Slightly different focus: puts more emphasis on her wanting to give it.
Hon tänker ge honom den där presenten tidigt för att verkligen överraska honom på födelsedagen.
– tänker = is planning to.

All of these are idiomatic; the original just highlights “that present” by placing it first.