Det er lige meget, om dressingen eller dippen står på bordet.

It is a fixed expression meaning it doesn’t matter or it makes no difference.

A word-for-word translation is not very helpful here. Even though lige often means just / exactly / equal and meget means much / a lot, together in this expression lige meget means of no importance.

So:

• Det er lige meget = It doesn’t matter
• Det er ligegyldigt = also It doesn’t matter

Both are common, but Det er lige meget is especially common in everyday speech.

Here det is a dummy subject, just like it in English phrases such as It is important or It doesn’t matter.

So:

• Det er lige meget = It doesn’t matter

The det does not refer to a specific thing. It is just required by the grammar of the sentence.

In this sentence, om means whether.

It introduces an indirect question or a choice:

• om dressingen eller dippen står på bordet = whether the dressing or the dip is on the table

This is very common in Danish:

• Jeg ved ikke, om han kommer. = I don’t know whether he is coming.
• Det er lige meget, om du ringer eller skriver. = It doesn’t matter whether you call or write.

So here, om ... eller ... works like whether ... or ... in English.

Because they are in the definite singular form: the dressing and the dip.

In Danish, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word like English the.

So:

• en dressing = a dressing

• dressingen = the dressing

• en dip = a dip
• dippen = the dip

Both dressing and dip are loanwords from English, but once they are used in Danish, they follow Danish grammar.

Because Danish spelling often doubles the final consonant in this kind of inflected form.

So:

• en dip
• dippen

This helps preserve the short vowel sound before the p. You see the same pattern in many Danish words, for example:

• en kop → koppen
• en prop → proppen

So dippen is just the normal definite form.

This is a very common Danish feature. Danish often uses position verbs where English would simply use be.

Common ones are:

• stå = stand
• ligge = lie
• sidde = sit

In Danish, objects are often described according to how they are positioned. A bottle, bowl, jar, or container on a table will often stå.

So:

• dressingen står på bordet
• dippen står på bordet

means that the dressing or dip is sitting there in its container, placed upright on the table.

English usually just says is on the table, but Danish often prefers står in this kind of situation.

Not literally in the English sense. This is partly about how Danish talks about food items in context.

When Danish says dressingen står på bordet, it often really means:

• the bottle of dressing
• the bowl of dip
• the container holding it

Danish often lets the food name stand for the container in everyday speech.

So the sentence sounds natural in Danish, even if English learners may feel that liquids and sauces cannot literally stand.

Because eller means or, so the idea is one or the other, not both together.

That is why singular står is natural:

• dressingen eller dippen står på bordet

English works similarly:

• Either the dressing or the dip is on the table

If it were and instead of or, then the meaning would be different, and a plural idea would be involved.

Because bordet means the table.

Danish usually expresses definiteness by adding the article to the noun:

• et bord = a table
• bordet = the table

So:

• på bordet = on the table
• på et bord = on a table

Also note that bord is a neuter noun, which is why the indefinite article is et and the definite ending is -et.

Yes. The part after om is a subordinate clause.

In this sentence, the order looks simple:

• om dressingen eller dippen står på bordet

But it is still useful to know that subordinate clauses in Danish behave differently from main clauses, especially when adverbs like ikke are added.

Compare:

• Main clause: Dippen står ikke på bordet.
• Subordinate clause: ... om dippen ikke står på bordet.

In a subordinate clause, ikke normally comes before the finite verb. That is an important pattern in Danish grammar.

Yes. Det er ligegyldigt and Det er lige meget both mean It doesn’t matter.

Very roughly:

• Det er lige meget = very common and conversational
• Det er ligegyldigt = also common, sometimes a bit more neutral or formal in tone

In this sentence, both work:

• Det er lige meget, om dressingen eller dippen står på bordet.
• Det er ligegyldigt, om dressingen eller dippen står på bordet.

Both are correct.