Word
Han tog recepten og gik på apoteket.
Meaning
He took the prescription and went to the pharmacy.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Han tog recepten og gik på apoteket.
han
he
og
and
tage
to take / to make (a decision)
gå
to walk / to go / to go out, to fail (of power)
Questions & Answers about Han tog recepten og gik på apoteket.
Does recepten mean 'the recipe' or 'the prescription'?
It means 'the prescription' (for medicine). A cooking recipe is opskriften. It is easy for English speakers to mix these up because recept looks and sounds like 'recipe', but in Danish it is strictly used in a medical context.
Why do we use på here instead of til for 'to the pharmacy'?
In Danish, you use på rather than til when talking about going to certain public institutions or community services. You will also see this rule apply to places like på hospitalet (to the hospital), på posthuset (to the post office), and på biblioteket (to the library).
The English translation says he 'went', but doesn't gik specifically mean he 'walked'?
Yes, gik is the past tense of at gå, which specifically means to walk or go on foot. English often uses 'went' as a general term regardless of the mode of transport, but in Danish, using gik strongly implies he walked there. If he had driven, the sentence would use kørte.
Is the word for pharmacy an en-word or an et-word?
It is an et-word (et apotek). You can tell because the definite form ('the pharmacy') in the sentence has the -et suffix attached to the end, making it apoteket.