Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Finally, you’ve got a seat at a table. Now it’s time to order!
In this lesson, we'll cover how to ask for a menu and then order your food and drinks.
GRAMMAR POINT
Normally you have to catch the waiter’s attention, perhaps by raising your right hand a bit. And then you might say “May I ask for the menu, please.” In Danish, this would be:
Må jeg bede om menuen, tak.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Må jeg bede om menuen, tak.
Once more:
Må jeg bede om menuen, tak.
Må jeg is equivalent to the English “may I”
(slow) Må jeg.
Må jeg.
This is followed by the verb “to ask” which is bede and the word om, which in this case is translated as “for.” So it is “ask for”
(slow) Bede om.
Bede om.
This is the original form of the conjugation be’om which means “please.”
Menuen means “the menu”.
(slow) Me-nu-en.
Menuen.
And at the end we have tak meaning “thanks” but here it is translated as “please”.
The literal translation of the expression would be “May I ask for the menu, thanks.”
Here’s the whole expression again:
Må jeg bede om menuen, tak.
“May I see the menu, please.”
In most cases, the waiter or waitress will start by asking “What do you want to drink?”
Hvad vil du have at drikke?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Hvad vil du have at drikke?
Once more:
Hvad vil du have at drikke?
Hvad means “what.”
(slow) Hvad.
Hvad.
This is followed by vil du, which means “do you”
(slow) Vil du.
Vil du.
Have is a form of the verb “to have” but in this case is translated as “want”
(slow) Have.
Have.
Lastly you have at drikke which is “to drink”
(slow) At drikke.
At drikke.
Again, the whole question is
Hvad vil du have at drikke?
You might also hear the question like this. Vil du have noget at drikke? Which translates into “Do you want something to drink?”
Again we have the phrase vil du have which means “do you want”
This time followed by noget meaning “something”
(slow) Noget.
Noget.
And last we have the verb “to drink”
One more time:
(slow) Vil du have noget at drikke?
Vil du have noget at drikke?
You can change what you are asking about in both questions simply by changing the last verb to another, or exchanging the at drikke completely with a noun.
Now let’s take a look at some typical beverages Danish restaurants might have:
Vand (“water”)
(slow) Vand.
Vand.
Øl (“beer”)
(slow) Øl.
Øl.
Hvidvin (“white wine”)
(slow) Hvidvin.
Hvidvin.
Rødvin (“red wine”)
(slow) Rødvin.
Rødvin.
Cola (“cola”)
(slow) Co-la.
Cola.
Once you have looked at the menu, you can finally call the waiter to order.
Now let’s take a look at some good dishes you can find on a typical Danish menu. They are very common, and you shouldn’t miss them if you come to Denmark.
Frikadeller. (“Danish meat-balls”)
(slow) Frikadeller.
Frikadeller.
Stegt flæsk (“oven or pan-fried pork”)
(slow) Stegt flæsk.
Stegt flæsk.
Stegt rødspætte. (“fried flounder”)
(slow) Stegt rødspætte.
Stegt rødspætte.
Dansk bøf med løg. (hamburger steak with onions)
(slow) Dansk bøf med løg.
Dansk bøf med løg.
In Denmark when you order, you can just say the name of the dish you want and add tak, meaning “thanks” or be’om, meaning “please”.
Let’s say you want to order beer and stegt flæsk. You should say this to the waiter:
En øl og en gang stegt flæsk, be’om.
(slow) En øl og en gang stegt flæsk, be’om.
En øl og en gang stegt flæsk, be’om.
And en means one.
In this sentence the word og means “and.”
En gang would be translated here as “one round of”

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