Learn how to place an order in Danish restaurants
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to get a waiter’s attention and order food and drinks at a restaurant. Once you have the beverages and meal you ordered, you can enjoy the mouthwatering food. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| During your dinner, the waiter will come to your table and ask in a nice manner, “Is everything well here?” In Danish this is |
| Er alt vel her? |
| Let’s break that down: |
| (slow) Er alt vel her? |
| Once again: |
| Er alt vel her? |
| In this sentence er is a form of the verb “to be” in English, translated as “is” |
| (slow) Er. |
| Er. |
| Alt means “everything” and this will very often be followed by vel, which in English is “well” creating the phrase “everything well” |
| (slow) Alt vel. |
| Alt vel |
| At the end we have her which literally means “here” |
| (slow) Her. |
| Her. |
| Let’s hear the question one more time. |
| (slow) Er alt vel her? |
| Er alt vel her? |
| The answer to this would typically be a simple “yes” ja. Or you can reply with this Alt vel, tak. Which means “Everything is well, thanks.” |
| Let’s hear that one more time. |
| (slow) Alt vel, tak. |
| Alt vel, tak. |
| The waiter might also ask if he can get you something else. That sounds like this in Danish - Mangler I noget? |
| Mangler is the form of the verb “to miss” which means “missing” |
| (slow) Mangler. |
| Mangler |
| Combine “missing” with the plural personal pronoun I which in English is the plural of “you,” and you get the meaning of “are you missing” |
| (slow) Mangler I. |
| Mangler I. |
| And lastly we have noget meaning “something.” |
| (slow) No-get. |
| Noget. |
| “Are you missing something?” or “Can I get you something else?” is |
| Mangler I noget? |
| If you don’t want to order anything else, you can say Nej, ellers tak. |
| (slow) Nej, ellers tak. |
| You may recall that nej means “no” and tak means “thanks.” |
| The new word here is ellers which literally translates as “otherwise,” but in this case would be “but” |
| (slow) Ellers. |
| Ellers. |
| So if you don't need anything, simply say: “No, but thanks.” |
| (slow) Nej, ellers tak. |
| Nej, ellers tak. |
| If you are finished at this point you might want to get the check. For “Check, please.” use this phrase: |
| Regningen, tak. |
| Regningen is the singular of “bill” translated into English as “the bill” or “the check” |
| (slow) Regningen. |
| Regningen. |
| This is followed by tak, which is “thanks” or “please” |
| (slow) Regningen, tak. |
| Regningen, tak. |
| ・ |
| Even if you are finished eating and your plates have been taken away, the waiter doesn't assume you are leaving, since Danes like to chat after dinner for a long time. So when you’re ready to leave and if the waiter hasn’t been around your table in a while, you’ll want to ask for the check. In Danish, “Could I get the check, please?” would be Må jeg bede om regningen, tak. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Må jeg bede om regningen, tak? |
| Once more: |
| Må jeg bede om regningen, tak? |
| The first two words må jeg literally mean “may I” |
| (slow) Må jeg. |
| Må jeg. |
| This is followed by bede om which here means “ask for” |
| (slow) Bede om. |
| Bede om |
| Regningen as you know means “the bill”. |
| And after that we have tak. |
| Here’s the whole sentence: |
| Må jeg bede om regningen, tak?. |
| (slow) Må jeg bede om regningen, tak?. |
| Må jeg bede om regningen, tak? |
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