Same word, new meaning
Several words you already know have a second everyday meaning. The words around them almost always tell you which one is meant.
| word | the meaning you know | the new meaning |
|---|---|---|
| få | to get | few |
| sur | mad, grumpy | sour |
| turen | the trip | the turn |
| pladsen | the square | the space, the seat |
| kassen | the box | the checkout, the till |
| The café has only a few tables. | Caféen har kun få borde. |
As a verb, få comes after kan, må or vil (Kan jeg få kaffe?) or changes to får and fik: to get. When it is not a verb, in front of a plural noun and often after kun, it means few: kun få borde.
| The lemon is very sour. | Citronen er meget sur. |
Said about food and drink, sur means sour. Said about a person, it usually means grumpy or cross.
| There is a long queue at the checkout. | Der er en lang kø ved kassen. |
In a shop, kassen is usually the till where you pay; elsewhere en kasse is usually a box.
Your turn, a seat, one more
| We are standing in the queue, and now it is our turn. | Vi står i kø, og nu er det vores tur. |
Det er min / din / vores tur: it is my / your / our turn. A tur you go on is a trip; a tur you wait for is a turn.
| Is there room for us? | Er der plads til os? |
Plads with no article is room or space. With a possessive, min plads, sin plads, it is usually someone's seat.
| Would you like one more? | Vil du have en til? |
en til means one more. With a noun, til goes after it: en kop kaffe til, and with a neuter noun et glas vin til.
