Buying bread and finding orange juice | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Hvor mange skiver brød skal vi købe?

   How many slices of bread should we buy?

   Hvor mange

   how many

   skiver

   slices

   brød

   bread

   skal vi

   should we

   købe

   buy

   More detail

   Hvor mange asks for the number of countable items. mange is used with plural nouns, while meget is used with an uncountable amount: Hvor mange skiver? means “How many slices?”, whereas Hvor meget brød? means “How much bread?” skiver means “slices” here. It is the plural of skive, “slice” or “disc.” The singular and plural contrast is en skive / skiver; the form in the sentence is plural because the question asks for a number of slices. Example: Jeg spiser to skiver. — “I am eating two slices.” brød identifies what the slices are slices of: bread. In this sentence it is used as an uncountable substance noun, so skiver brød has the reusable pattern “slices of bread,” with the material noun placed after the countable unit. Example: tre skiver ost — “three slices of cheese.” skal vi combines skal, the present form of skulle, with the subject pronoun vi, “we.” Skal is a modal form; with an infinitive it can express what someone is to do, should do, or is expected to do. Here the fixed translation gives the intended sense “should.” Vi is the first-person plural subject, “we.” In a question beginning with Hvor mange, the modal and subject appear before the infinitive: Hvor mange ... skal vi ...? købe is the infinitive “to buy.” After the modal skal, Danish uses the infinitive without an English-style to: Vi skal købe means “We should buy” or, in another context, “We are going to buy.” The infinitive stays købe; skal carries the finite present-tense form. Example: Vi skal købe mælk. — “We should buy milk.” Together, Hvor mange skiver brød asks for the number of bread slices, and skal vi købe asks what number the speakers should buy. The whole utterance is therefore: “How many slices of bread should we buy?”

2. Fire skiver i alt.

   Four slices in total.

   Fire

   four

   skiver

   slices

   i alt

   in total

   More detail

   Fire means “four.” Danish cardinal numerals normally do not change for the grammatical gender or number of the noun they count. Compare fire skiver (“four slices”) and fire bøger (“four books”): fire stays the same. skiver means “slices” here. Its singular base form is skive (“slice”), and skiver is the plural form. The ending -r marks the plural in this noun: en skive (“a slice”) → skiver (“slices”). i alt is a reusable expression meaning “in total” or “altogether.” It summarizes the quantity of the relevant items rather than adding another item. Together, Fire skiver i alt. means “Four slices in total.” It gives the total quantity in response to the question about how many slices to buy. The following sentence divides that total into two for each person, which is consistent with four overall.

3. To til mig og to til dig.

   Two for me and two for you.

   To

   two

   til mig

   for me

   til dig

   for you

   More detail

   To means “two.” It is the Danish cardinal number for a quantity of two and does not change for the person receiving the items. The same number appears again as lowercase to later in the sentence. til mig means “for me” here. til commonly marks the recipient or intended person, while mig is the first-person singular pronoun used after a preposition. Compare jeg (“I”) as the subject form and mig (“me”) in this position. Example: Det er til mig. — “It is for me.” The second to again contributes a quantity of two. til dig means “for you,” with dig as the second-person singular pronoun after a preposition. Compare du (“you”) as the subject form and dig (“you”) in this position. Example: Det er til dig. — “It is for you.” Together, To til mig and to til dig divide the stated items into two for the speaker and two for the addressee: “Two for me and two for you.” In the supplied context, this corresponds to four slices in total.

4. Det burde være nok. Vi mangler stadig appelsinjuice.

   That should be enough. We still need orange juice.

   Det

   that / it

   burde

   should

   være

   be

   nok

   enough

   Vi

   we

   mangler

   need

   stadig

   still

   appelsinjuice

   orange juice

   More detail

   Det means “that” here and refers to the amount or situation being assessed. As a Danish pronoun/demonstrative, its form is neuter singular; that grammatical form does not by itself identify a particular concrete noun. Example: Det er klart. — “That is clear.” burde expresses an expectation or mild recommendation: “should” or “ought to.” It is the past-form counterpart of present bør, but burde can refer to a present situation, as it does here; it does not necessarily place the event in the past. Danish uses the infinitive være after this modal: Det bør være nok. — “That should be enough.” være is the infinitive “be.” After modal verbs such as burde, Danish normally uses the bare infinitive, without at: Det burde være ... — “That should be ...”. nok means “enough” or “sufficient” in this sentence. With være, it describes whether something meets the needed amount or requirement. Danish nok can have other uses in other contexts, including a probability-related meaning, but the fixed translation establishes the sufficiency meaning here. Example: Har vi nok vand? — “Do we have enough water?” Vi is the first-person plural pronoun “we.” It is the subject of the second sentence, so the group referred to is presented as needing something. Example: Vi kommer senere. — “We are coming later.” mangler is the present-tense form of mangle, “to lack” or, in this context, “to need.” Danish present-tense verbs commonly have an -r form, and mangler is used with vi here. The pattern Vi mangler + thing means “We need/lack + thing”: Vi mangler tid. — “We need time.” stadig means “still.” It shows that the need continues at the relevant time; it does not itself say when the need began. Example: Jeg er stadig her. — “I am still here.” appelsinjuice is the noun phrase “orange juice.” It is a compound noun referring to the drink, and it appears here without a separate article, as is natural for an unspecified or mass substance in this object position. In the following context, the definite form is appelsinjuicen, “the orange juice”; the definiteness marking is added at the end of the compound. Example: Jeg køber appelsinjuice. — “I am buying orange juice.” Together, Det burde være nok means “That should be enough”: the speaker expresses an expectation that the amount or situation is sufficient. Vi mangler stadig appelsinjuice means “We still need orange juice”: vi is the subject, mangler states the need, stadig marks that it continues, and appelsinjuice names what is needed. The full utterance therefore says: “That should be enough. We still need orange juice.”

5. Kan du finde appelsinjuicen?

   Can you find the orange juice?

   Kan du

   Can you

   finde

   find

   appelsinjuicen

   the orange juice

   More detail

   Kan du is a reusable Danish question pattern: kan is the present-tense form of kunne, “can/be able to,” and du means “you.” In a yes/no question, the verb comes before the subject: Kan du ...? means “Can you ...?” The form du is used for both singular and plural “you.” Example: Kan du hjælpe? — “Can you help?” finde means “find.” It is the infinitive form of finde; after the modal verb kan, Danish uses the infinitive without an additional infinitive marker: kan finde, “can find.” Example: Jeg kan finde nøglerne. — “I can find the keys.” appelsinjuicen means “the orange juice.” It is one compound noun, not three separate words: appelsinjuice means “orange juice,” and the ending -en marks the definite form of this common-gender noun, giving appelsinjuicen, “the orange juice.” The observed form refers to a specific orange juice understood in the situation. Example: Jeg drikker appelsinjuicen. — “I am drinking the orange juice.” Together, Kan du finde appelsinjuicen? has the structure Can you find the orange juice?: the question begins with the modal verb, followed by the subject, the infinitive verb, and the definite noun phrase.

6. Ikke endnu. Lad os tjekke den næste hylde.

   Not yet. Let's check the next shelf.

   Ikke endnu

   Not yet

   Lad os

   Let’s

   tjekke

   check

   næste

   next

   hylde

   shelf

   More detail

   Ikke endnu means “not yet.” ikke is the ordinary Danish negation. endnu can mean “still” or “yet”; with negation, ikke endnu is the reusable pattern “not yet,” referring here to the search action not having happened at this point. Lad os begins a common Danish way to propose a joint action. lad is the imperative of lade (“let” or “allow”), and os is the object form meaning “us.” Together, Lad os + infinitive corresponds to “let’s + verb.” tjekke is the infinitive of tjekke, “to check.” After Lad os, the following action is expressed with the infinitive: Lad os tjekke means “Let’s check.” Example: Lad os vente. — “Let’s wait.” næste means “next.” It is a descriptive adjective identifying something as the one that follows another in sequence. Example: den næste bus — “the next bus.” hylde means “shelf.” It is a common-gender noun; its definite form is hylden, “the shelf.” In den næste hylde, however, den is the definite article used before the adjective, while hylde remains in its indefinite form. Together, Ikke endnu. Lad os tjekke den næste hylde. means “Not yet. Let’s check the next shelf.” The first short sentence says that the relevant action has not happened yet. The second proposes that the speaker and the listener check the shelf that comes next.

7. Lad os spørge en, der arbejder her.

   Let's ask someone who works here.

   Lad os

   let's

   spørge

   ask

   en

   someone

   der

   who

   arbejder

   works

   her

   here

   More detail

   Lad os is a reusable Danish way to propose an action: “let’s …”. Lad is the imperative of lade (“let”); with os (“us”), it forms the pattern Lad os + infinitive. The next verb stays in the infinitive: Lad os gå. — “Let’s go.” This construction expresses a suggestion involving the speaker and at least one other person; it does not itself state how many other people there are. spørge means “to ask” here. It is the infinitive form of spørge, used after Lad os. A useful contrast is spørger, the present form: Vi spørger ham. — “We ask him” or “We are asking him.” en means “someone” in this sentence. Here it is an indefinite pronoun referring to an unspecified person; it is not being used to assert a particular numeric count. Danish en can also occur with a common-gender noun as an indefinite article, but that is a different use. der introduces the following relative clause and means “who” here. It is the subject of arbejder, referring back to the unspecified person. In Danish, der is used for a subject in a relative clause and does not change for the subject's gender or number. For example: Jeg kender en, der bor her. — “I know someone who lives here.” arbejder means “works” here. It is the present-tense form of arbejde (“to work”). Danish present-tense verbs generally do not change according to the subject’s person or number, so the same form can occur with different subjects: De arbejder her. — “They work here.” her is the place adverb “here”. It identifies the place associated with the working, without naming that place. Compare der (“there”), which points to a different location: Hun arbejder her, ikke der. — “She works here, not there.” Together, Lad os spørge gives the suggestion “Let’s ask.” The object is en, “someone,” and der arbejder her specifies that this person works here. Thus the complete utterance means: “Let’s ask someone who works here.”