Hvad med at reservere en anden bowlingbane?

Hvad med at ... is a very common Danish pattern for making a suggestion. It means something like:

• How about ...
• What about ...
• How about [verb]-ing ...

So Hvad med at reservere en anden bowlingbane? means How about reserving another bowling lane?

A few similar examples:

• Hvad med at tage bussen? — How about taking the bus?
• Hvad med at vente lidt? — How about waiting a bit?
• Hvad med at prøve igen? — How about trying again?

This is one of the most useful everyday suggestion patterns in Danish.

Because at marks the infinitive, like to in English.

• at reservere = to reserve
• at spise = to eat
• at gå = to go

In the expression Hvad med at ..., Danish normally uses at + infinitive:

• Hvad med at spise nu? — How about eating now?
• Hvad med at ringe til ham? — How about calling him?

So in this sentence:

• at reservere = to reserve

Even though English often uses -ing after How about, Danish uses at + infinitive here.

Because after at, Danish uses the infinitive form of the verb.

The infinitive of the verb is:

• reservere — to reserve

Compare:

• Jeg reserverer en bane. — I reserve / am reserving a lane.
  (reserverer = present tense)

• Vi vil reservere en bane. — We want to reserve a lane.
  (reservere = infinitive)

• Hvad med at reservere en anden bowlingbane? — How about reserving another bowling lane?
  (reservere = infinitive after at)

So this is not a full main clause with a finite verb; it is a suggestion structure.

Good observation. This is not a normal yes/no question such as:

• Reserverer du en bane? — Are you reserving a lane?

Instead, Hvad med at ... is a fixed expression used to suggest something. So the structure behaves differently from ordinary question word order.

You can think of it as a set phrase:

• Hvad med at + infinitive

Examples:

• Hvad med at gå hjem?
• Hvad med at spørge hende?
• Hvad med at reservere en anden bowlingbane?

So even though it begins with Hvad, you do not treat the rest like a standard question clause with inversion.

en anden means another or a different.

In Danish, a common noun in the singular usually needs an article. Since bowlingbane is a common gender noun (en-word), you get:

• en bowlingbane — a bowling lane
• en anden bowlingbane — another / a different bowling lane

You cannot normally say just anden bowlingbane by itself in this kind of indefinite singular phrase.

Compare:

• en anden stol — another chair
• en anden idé — another idea

But:

• den anden stol — the other chair
• den anden idé — the other idea

So en anden = another, while den anden = the other.

This is an important difference:

• en anden = another, a different one
• den anden = the other one

Examples:

• Vi skal bruge en anden bowlingbane.
  We need another / a different bowling lane.

• Vi skal bruge den anden bowlingbane.
  We need the other bowling lane.

In your sentence, en anden bowlingbane means there is some different lane being suggested, not a specific one already identified as the other.

Because Danish, like German and unlike English, often forms compound nouns by writing them as a single word.

So:

• bowling
  • bane → bowlingbane

This is very normal in Danish:

• togstation — train station
• sommerhus — summer house
• fodboldkamp — football match

English often separates these into two words, but Danish usually joins them.

So even if English says bowling lane, Danish writes bowlingbane as one noun.

Because bowlingbane is a common gender noun in Danish.

Danish nouns are mainly divided into:

• common gender → usually take en
• neuter gender → usually take et

So:

• en bowlingbane
• bowlingbanen = the bowling lane

You generally have to learn the gender together with the noun.

A useful habit is to memorize nouns with their article:

• en bane
• en bowlingbane
• et hus
• et bord

That will help you build correct phrases like en anden bowlingbane.

Sometimes anden can mean second, but not in this sentence.

Examples where it means second:

• anden gang — second time
• anden sal — second floor

But in en anden bowlingbane, it means another / different.

Why? Because the pattern en anden + noun usually means another:

• en anden bog — another book
• en anden dag — another day
• en anden bowlingbane — another bowling lane

So context and structure tell you which meaning is intended.

You can use it very productively with many verbs. It is a general pattern for suggestions.

Examples:

• Hvad med at købe billetterne nu? — How about buying the tickets now?
• Hvad med at spørge læreren? — How about asking the teacher?
• Hvad med at tage en pause? — How about taking a break?
• Hvad med at reservere en anden bowlingbane? — How about reserving another bowling lane?

It is common in both spoken and written Danish, especially in everyday conversation.

It is usually neutral to polite. It sounds like a suggestion, not an order.

So:

• Hvad med at reservere en anden bowlingbane?
  feels cooperative and relatively gentle.

Compare:

• Reserver en anden bowlingbane. — Reserve another bowling lane.
  This is much more direct, like a command.

• Kunne vi reservere en anden bowlingbane? — Could we reserve another bowling lane?
  This can sound a bit more tentative or formal.

So Hvad med at ... is a very natural, friendly way to suggest an action.

Not exactly. In normal spoken Danish, hvad is often pronounced more like va than a careful spelling-based hvad.

So:

• Hvad med ... often sounds close to Va med ...

This is very common in everyday speech. Danish often reduces or weakens sounds in frequent words.

Learners are often surprised because the written form looks much fuller than the spoken form. So if you hear something like Va med at reservere ..., that is very likely the same expression.

Yes, but the meaning shifts slightly.

• Hvad med at reservere en anden bowlingbane?
  = How about reserving another bowling lane?
  Focus: the action

• Hvad med en anden bowlingbane?
  = What about another bowling lane?
  Focus: the thing itself

Both are natural, but the version with at reservere is more specific because it suggests exactly what to do.