Learn Hardcore Danish: Jeg er ved at lave mad i køkkenet, mens hun taler i telefon. - I am in the middle of cooking in the kitchen while she is talking on the phone.

Often it means you are actively cooking right now:
- Jeg er ved at lave mad. Kan du ringe senere?
  “I’m cooking. Can you call later?”
It can also mean “I’m just about to start cooking / I’m getting started”, depending on context:
- Jeg er ved at lave mad nu = I’m just starting / in the middle of it.
- Filmen er ved at begynde = The movie is about to start.

So er ved at + infinitive usually covers “in the middle of doing” and sometimes “about to do.” Context decides which feels more natural in English.

What’s the difference between Jeg er ved at lave mad and Jeg laver mad?

Both can be translated as “I am cooking”, but they’re not identical:

Jeg laver mad
- Simple present.
- Can mean “I cook (as a habit)” or “I am cooking (right now).”
- Context tells you which:
  - Jeg laver mad hver dag. = I cook every day.
  - (On the phone) Jeg kan ikke snakke nu, jeg laver mad. = I can’t talk now, I’m cooking.
Jeg er ved at lave mad
- Emphasises the process happening right now or right around now.
- Very close to English “I’m in the middle of cooking” or “I’m just starting to cook.”

In the given sentence, Jeg er ved at lave mad i køkkenet highlights that the cooking is an ongoing activity at that moment.

What does er ved at literally mean, and is it a fixed construction?

Literally:

er = am/is/are (present of at være, “to be”)
ved = usually “by/at” (as a preposition)
at = infinitive marker before a verb

So er ved at + [infinitive] literally looks like “am by/at to [verb].”
In practice, it’s a fixed aspect construction meaning:

“be in the process of doing X”
sometimes “be about to do X”

Common examples:

Jeg er ved at spise. = I’m (in the middle of) eating.
Hun er ved at falde i søvn. = She is falling asleep / about to fall asleep.
Vi er ved at flytte. = We’re in the process of moving.

You can’t freely interpret ved here as the normal preposition “by/at”; it’s best to learn er ved at + infinitive as a set pattern.

Why do we need at before lave in er ved at lave mad?

In Danish, at is the usual infinitive marker, like “to” before a verb in English:

at lave = to make / to cook
at spise = to eat
at tale = to speak

The pattern is:

er ved at + [infinitive]

So you must say:

Jeg er ved at lave mad. ✅
Not:
Jeg er ved lave mad. ❌

Here at doesn’t have its own meaning like a preposition; it just marks the verb lave as infinitive.

Why is it mens hun taler i telefon and not mens taler hun i telefon?

Mens (“while”) introduces a subordinate clause in Danish.

In a main clause, Danish often has verb-second word order:

Hun taler i telefon. (subject–verb–other stuff)

But after a subordinating conjunction like mens, the order is: > [conjunction] + [subject] + [verb] + …

So:

mens hun taler i telefon ✅
mens taler hun i telefon ❌ (that looks like a main-clause pattern, which is wrong here)

The pattern is the same with other subordinating conjunctions:

fordi hun er træt (because she is tired)
når jeg har tid (when I have time)
mens hun taler i telefon (while she is talking on the phone)

Can I say mens at hun taler i telefon?

No. In modern standard Danish, you do not use at after mens.

mens hun taler i telefon ✅
mens at hun taler i telefon ❌ (sounds incorrect / nonstandard)

Some conjunctions can optionally be followed by at in colloquial Danish (e.g. fordi (at)), but mens is not one of them.

What does taler i telefon mean exactly, and why is there no article?

taler i telefon is an idiomatic expression meaning “is on the phone / is talking on the phone.”

tale i telefon = to speak on the phone
No article is used; you don’t say i telefonen in this idiom.

It’s similar to English “on the phone” (no “the” in normal speech about phone use).

You can say taler i telefonen, but then you’re emphasising the physical phone more (e.g. talking into a particular device). The everyday idiom for simply being on a call is tale/snakkе i telefon without an article.

Could I say snakker i telefon instead of taler i telefon?

Yes, very often.

tale i telefon and snakke i telefon both mean “talk on the phone.”
tale is a bit more neutral/formal,
snakke is more colloquial / informal (“chat”).

In everyday spoken Danish, Hun snakker i telefon is very common. In slightly more formal or written contexts, Hun taler i telefon is perfectly standard.

Why is it i køkkenet and not just i køkken?

køkken means “kitchen.” To say “in the kitchen” in a specific, concrete sense, Danish normally uses the definite form:

køkkenet = the kitchen
i køkkenet = in the kitchen

Using the indefinite form i et køkken would mean “in a kitchen” (unspecified, some kitchen or other), which is a different meaning.

So, when you mean “I am in the (my/our/the) kitchen” in the normal sense, you say:

Jeg er i køkkenet.
Jeg er ved at lave mad i køkkenet.

Why is the preposition i used in i køkkenet and i telefon, and not something else?

i means “in” and is the standard choice:

i køkkenet = in the kitchen (a physical space)
i stuen = in the living room
i bilen = in the car

For i telefon, the logic is more idiomatic:

Literally: “in phone,” but idiomatically: “on the phone.”
Danish uses i for phone use here, just as English uses on.

So:

i køkkenet: normal spatial “in.”
i telefon: part of a set expression meaning “on the phone.”

Why is mad used without an article in lave mad? Could you say lave en mad?

In lave mad, mad works like an uncountable mass noun (“food”), and lave mad is a fixed expression meaning “to cook” / “to make food.”

Jeg er ved at lave mad. = I’m cooking / I’m making food. ✅
Jeg kan godt lide at lave mad. = I like cooking. ✅

You don’t normally say lave en mad in this sense. That would sound wrong or at best very odd in standard Danish.

Some related phrases:

maden = the food / the meal (specific)
et måltid = a meal
en ret = a dish (one specific dish on the menu)

But the general activity “to cook” is at lave mad (no article).

Why is it hun in mens hun taler i telefon and not hende?

Danish, like English, has different forms for subject and object pronouns.

hun = she (subject form)
hende = her (object form)

In mens hun taler i telefon, the pronoun is the subject of the verb taler (“[she] talks”), so you must use hun:

Hun taler i telefon. = She is talking on the phone. ✅
Jeg ringer til hende. = I call her. ✅ (object of ringer til)

So:

mens hun taler i telefon ✅
mens hende taler i telefon ❌

Why is there a comma before mens in …, mens hun taler i telefon?

mens introduces a subordinate clause (“while she is talking on the phone”).

Traditional Danish punctuation rules required a comma before all subordinate clauses, so you would always write:

Jeg er ved at lave mad i køkkenet, mens hun taler i telefon.

In modern usage, that comma is still very common and considered correct. Technically, you can omit some of these commas under newer rules, but in practice most writers keep the comma before mens-clauses because it clearly separates the two actions.

So the comma:

marks the start of the “while…” clause,
makes the sentence easier to read,
and is fully correct in standard Danish.