Breakdown of Tjeneren kom med kaffe og kage på en bakke.
og
and
en
a / an (common)
kaffen
the coffee
komme
to come
Questions & Answers about Tjeneren kom med kaffe og kage på en bakke.
Why does the sentence use kom med instead of a word like bragte for "brought"?
While at bringe (to bring) exists in Danish, native speakers usually prefer at komme med (literally "to come with") in everyday situations like a waiter bringing food. Bragte sounds a bit more formal, like delivering an official package or bringing news.
Why do we use the preposition på for the tray?
In Danish, flat surfaces take på (on). Because a tray (en bakke) is a flat object you place things on top of, you use på rather than i (in), which would imply the coffee and cake were enclosed inside something.
Why aren't there any articles before kaffe og kage?
Just like in English, when you talk about food or drink in a general or uncountable sense, you drop the article. If the waiter brought one specific, individual cake, it could be en kage, but here it refers to the mass concept of cake.
Can bakke also mean "hill"? How do I know which one it is here?
Yes, en bakke can mean either a "tray" or a "hill" depending entirely on the context. Because this sentence involves a restaurant setting with a waiter (tjeneren) serving coffee (kaffe), "tray" is the only logical meaning here.