Menuen i kantinen er lang, men ret sund.

The menu in the canteen is long but quite healthy.

Breakdown of Menuen i kantinen er lang, men ret sund.

• i: in
• være: to be
• men: but
• lang: long
• sund: healthy
• ret: quite
• menuen: the menu
• kantinen: the canteen

Questions & Answers about Menuen i kantinen er lang, men ret sund.

Why does menuen end in -en instead of using a separate word like the menu?

Danish normally shows definiteness (the-form) with an ending on the noun instead of a separate word:

• en menu = a menu (indefinite, common gender)
• menuen = the menu (definite, common gender)

So -en is the definite article for most common gender (n-words).
If the word were neuter, you’d typically see -et instead:

• et bord = a table
• bordet = the table

In your sentence, menuen simply means the menu.

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Then why is it also kantinen with -en? Is that the same thing?

Yes, it’s the same pattern:

• en kantine = a canteen
• kantinen = the canteen

Both menu and kantine are common gender nouns, so their definite singular form takes -en.

Compare:

• Menuen i kantinen = the menu in the canteen
• En menu i en kantine = a menu in a canteen

The sentence wants to talk about specific, known things, so both are definite.

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What exactly does ret mean here in ret sund? Is it the same as English right?

No. In this sentence ret is an adverb meaning roughly:

• quite, pretty, rather

So ret sund ≈ quite healthy / pretty healthy.

The word ret has several different uses in Danish:

• ret (noun) = a dish / a course (e.g. en hovedret = a main course)
• ret (noun) = a right (legal/moral), menneskerettigheder = human rights
• ret (adverb/adj.) = right / straight / correct in some expressions
• ret (adverb, as here) = quite / rather / pretty

In your sentence, it’s the “quite / rather” meaning.

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Why use ret sund and not something like meget sund? Is there a nuance?

Yes, the nuance is in how strong the judgment is:

• ret sund ≈ quite / pretty healthy (fairly positive, but not extreme)
• meget sund = very healthy (stronger)
• temmelig sund = rather healthy (can sound a bit more formal or slightly negative in tone, depending on context)
• ganske sund ≈ quite / fairly healthy (often slightly more positive or confirming)

ret is very common in spoken Danish and sounds neutral and informal. It often downplays a bit, like English pretty healthy.

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Why is it lang and sund without any extra endings (like lange, sunde, or langt)?

These adjectives are used predicatively (after the verb er), and they agree with the subject:

• Menuen is common gender, singular.

• For common gender singular in this predicative position, the adjective is in its base form:

  • Menuen er lang. = The menu is long.
  • Menuen er sund. = The menu is healthy.

Other forms:

• Neuter singular:
  
  • Bordet er langt. = The table is long.
• Plural:
  
  • Menuerne er lange. = The menus are long.
  • Maden og menuen er sunde. = The food and the menu are healthy.

So lang and sund are correct because the subject is a single common-gender noun (menuen).

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Why is there a comma before men?

In Danish, men is a coordinating conjunction (like English but). The sentence actually contains two main clauses joined by men:

1. Menuen i kantinen er lang
2. (Menuen i kantinen) er ret sund

Danish comma rules normally require a comma before coordinating conjunctions when they join two full main clauses:

• …, men …
• …, og …
• …, for …
• …, så …

So Menuen i kantinen er lang, men ret sund. follows the standard rule: comma before men because a new clause starts.

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After men, why is there no subject and verb written? Why not men den er ret sund?

The full form would be:

• Menuen i kantinen er lang, men den er ret sund.

Here, the second clause clearly has its own subject (den) and verb (er).

In everyday Danish, when two clauses share the same subject, you can often drop the repeated subject (and sometimes part of the verb phrase) in the second clause, especially after conjunctions like men and og. The subject is understood from context.

So:

• Menuen i kantinen er lang, men (den er) ret sund.

This is perfectly natural and common.
If you include den er, it is also correct—slightly more explicit or emphatic:

• Menuen i kantinen er lang, men den er ret sund.
  → stronger contrast: It’s long, but it *is quite healthy.*

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Why is it i kantinen and not på kantinen?

Both i and på can sometimes translate as in in English, but Danish uses them differently.

• i is used with many enclosed spaces / interiors:

  • i kantinen = in the canteen
  • i køkkenet = in the kitchen
  • i stuen = in the living room

• på is used more with surfaces, some institutions, islands, and set expressions:

  • på bordet = on the table
  • på arbejde = at work
  • på restaurant = at a restaurant

For kantine, the normal idiomatic choice is i:

• i kantinen = inside the canteen room/space.

På kantinen would sound wrong in standard Danish in this meaning.

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Is Menuen i kantinen one unit? Why does i kantinen go right after menuen?

Yes, menuen i kantinen is a noun phrase where i kantinen is a prepositional phrase describing which menu (the one in the canteen).

The internal structure is:

• [Menuen [i kantinen]] er lang, …
  
  • head noun: menuen
  • modifier: i kantinen

In neutral word order, the modifier comes right after the noun it describes, just like in English:

• The menu in the canteen is long…
• Menuen i kantinen er lang…

You could move the whole phrase for emphasis:

• I kantinen er menuen lang, men ret sund.
  → In the canteen, the menu is long, but quite healthy.

But you wouldn’t normally split them like i kantinen menuen er lang.

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Why is the order ret sund and not sund ret?

In Danish, adverbs that modify adjectives usually go before the adjective:

• ret sund = quite healthy
• meget lang = very long
• virkelig god = really good

Putting the adjective first (sund ret) would be ungrammatical here and would also clash with another meaning of ret (a dish), where sund ret could be interpreted as healthy dish in another context.

So the correct, normal order for quite healthy is ret sund.