Questions & Answers about Kommer du mælk i kaffen?
Why is the verb kommer used here? Doesn't it normally mean "comes"?
While kommer usually means "comes", the phrase at komme noget i noget is a very common Danish idiom meaning "to put something in something" or "to add something to something". So here, kommer du mælk i means "do you put milk in".
In English we say "add milk to the coffee". Why use the preposition i instead of til?
In Danish, you describe the physical action of putting the milk literally inside the drink. Because you are pouring it directly into the liquid, Danish uses i (in) rather than til (to). You would typically only use til when adding something to an abstract collection, like adding a name to a list.
Why does it say kaffen (the coffee) instead of just kaffe or din kaffe (your coffee)?
Danish often uses the definite form (the -en ending) instead of a possessive pronoun like din when it is obvious from the context whose item it is. If you are asking someone about the cup they are about to drink from, kaffen is the most natural, everyday way to say "your coffee".
Why is there no helper verb like "do" at the start of this question?
Unlike English, Danish does not use a helper word like "do" to form questions. Instead, it simply swaps the subject and the verb. Moving the verb kommer to the very front of the sentence before the subject du is all it takes to turn a statement into a yes/no question.