Breakdown of Jeg læser menuen langsomt, før jeg bestiller min kaffe.
Questions & Answers about Jeg læser menuen langsomt, før jeg bestiller min kaffe.
Danish present tense is used both for actions happening now and for general or typical actions, just like English.
In this sentence, it describes a habitual or typical sequence: you generally read the menu first, then you order coffee. English could say:
- I read the menu slowly before I order my coffee.
- I read the menu slowly before ordering my coffee.
Danish keeps both verbs in the present: jeg læser … før jeg bestiller …, which is normal for describing regular sequences of actions. You don’t need a special “-ing” form in Danish here; the simple present is enough.
Danish usually marks definiteness with an ending on the noun:
- en menu = a menu
- menuen = the menu
In this context, it’s a specific menu (the one in the café/restaurant you’re in), so Danish prefers the definite form menuen.
Using just menu without the ending would sound like you’re talking about menus in general, not the particular one in front of you.
In Danish, adverbs of manner like langsomt (slowly) usually come after the direct object:
- Jeg læser menuen langsomt.
- Subject: Jeg
- Verb: læser
- Object: menuen
- Adverb: langsomt
*Jeg læser langsomt menuen is not completely impossible, but it sounds marked or unusual. The neutral, natural word order is verb – object – adverb of manner, so menuen langsomt is the normal choice here.
You can say læse i menuen, but it has a slightly different feel:
- læse menuen = read the menu (more thoroughly, the whole thing or with focus)
- læse i menuen = read in the menu / read from the menu (more like browsing or looking through it)
In everyday café context, Jeg læser menuen langsomt is the most straightforward way to say I read the menu slowly. Jeg læser langsomt i menuen is understandable, but sounds more like “I’m slowly browsing through the menu.”
In Danish, it’s very common (and traditionally required) to put a comma before a dependent clause introduced by words like før, når, fordi, at, etc.:
- Jeg læser menuen langsomt, før jeg bestiller min kaffe.
This comma marks the boundary between the main clause (Jeg læser menuen langsomt) and the subordinate clause (før jeg bestiller min kaffe).
Modern Danish punctuation rules have become a bit more flexible, but in most teaching contexts and everyday writing, that comma is still expected.
Both før and inden can mean before in time, and in this sentence they are both acceptable:
- … før jeg bestiller min kaffe.
- … inden jeg bestiller min kaffe.
Some rough guidelines:
- inden is always a conjunction (must be followed by a clause with a verb):
- Inden jeg går, vil jeg sige farvel.
- før can be a conjunction or a preposition/adverb:
- Før jeg går, vil jeg sige farvel. (conjunction)
- Før frokost drikker jeg en kop kaffe. (preposition)
In spoken modern Danish, før and inden are often interchangeable when they introduce a clause. Stylistically, inden can sound a bit more formal or careful in some contexts, but here the difference is minimal.
No, you can’t drop the subject jeg here. Danish is not a “pro-drop” language like Spanish or Italian; you normally must state the subject in each clause.
So you need:
- Jeg læser menuen langsomt, før jeg bestiller min kaffe.
Leaving out jeg (*før bestiller min kaffe) is ungrammatical, even though it’s clear from context who the subject is.
All three are possible in Danish, but they mean slightly different things:
- min kaffe = my coffee (the one I intend to order for myself)
- kaffen = the coffee (a specific, already known coffee)
- bare kaffe = coffee in general or “some coffee”
In a typical café situation, min kaffe emphasizes that this is your coffee order.
If the context is very general, you might also hear:
- Jeg læser menuen langsomt, før jeg bestiller kaffe.
(I read the menu slowly before I order coffee (in general).)
But if you want to keep the nuance that it’s your coffee, min kaffe is the best match.
bestiller is the conjugated present tense form of the verb at bestille (to order).
- Infinitive: at bestille
- Present: (jeg) bestiller
- Past: (jeg) bestilte
In Danish, you must use the conjugated form (finite verb) in a normal clause with a subject:
- Jeg bestiller min kaffe.
Not: *Jeg bestille min kaffe. (wrong in a main clause)
The infinitive bestille is used after other verbs, prepositions, or with at, e.g.:
- Jeg vil bestille kaffe.
- Jeg elsker at bestille kaffe online.
Yes. Danish læse covers both:
- to read
- to study (at a university/higher education)
Examples:
- Jeg læser menuen. = I read the menu.
- Jeg læser medicin. = I study medicine.
- Jeg læser på universitetet. = I study at the university.
In your sentence, the object menuen makes it clearly mean read, not study.
Approximate standard pronunciations (IPA):
- jeg ≈ /jaj/ (often sounds like “y-eye”)
- læser ≈ /ˈlɛːsɐ/
- læ- like the le in let but with a longer vowel
- final -ser is quite weak, often something like a soft -suh
A rough English-like approximation:
- jeg ≈ “yai”
- læser ≈ “LEH-suh”
So the start of the sentence would sound roughly like “Yai LEH-suh menuen langsomt…”
That word order is technically possible, but it changes the focus:
- Jeg læser menuen langsomt, før jeg bestiller min kaffe.
Focus: I read the menu slowly (the slowness applies to the reading). - Jeg læser menuen, før jeg langsomt bestiller min kaffe.
Focus: I slowly order my coffee (the slowness now applies to the ordering).
Since the intended meaning is usually that you read the menu slowly (not that you order slowly), the original word order is the natural one.