Learn Hardcore Danish: Vi spiser ofte frokost i kantinen eller på en café, fordi maden der er billig. - We often eat lunch in the canteen or at a café because the food there is cheap.

Be careful: older texts (and some dialects) used frokost for a morning meal, but in everyday contemporary Danish, you should understand it as lunch.

Why is the word order Vi spiser ofte frokost and not Vi ofte spiser frokost?

Danish main clauses normally follow a verb-second rule: the finite verb (here spiser) comes in the second position, and adverbs like ofte usually come after that verb.

Typical pattern in a simple main clause:

Subject – Verb – Adverb – Other stuff

So:

Vi (subject)
spiser (verb)
ofte (adverb)
frokost i kantinen eller på en café (rest of the sentence)

A sentence like Vi ofte spiser frokost sounds wrong or at least very marked in normal Danish.

Why is there no article before frokost? Why not Vi spiser ofte frokosten?

Meals in Danish, as in English, are usually used without an article when you mean them in a general, habitual way:

Vi spiser ofte frokost = We often have lunch (as an everyday activity)

You would use the definite form frokosten (the lunch) only if you are talking about a specific lunch that both speaker and listener know about, e.g.:

Frokosten i dag var god. = The lunch today was good.

Why is it i kantinen but på en café? What is the difference between i and på here?

Both i and på can mean in/at, but they are used with different kinds of places:

i kantinen = in the canteen
- i is often used for enclosed spaces and institutions you belong to or are inside:
  - i skolen (at/in the school)
  - i huset (in the house)
  - i banken (in the bank)
på en café = at a café
- på is common with many public places / venues and activities:
  - på café (at a café)
  - på restaurant (at a restaurant)
  - på arbejde (at work)
  - på universitetet (at the university)

So i kantinen feels like “inside the canteen room we normally use”, while på en café fits the idea of going out somewhere to eat.

Why is it kantinen but en café? Why definite for canteen and indefinite for café?

kantinen = the canteen (definite form)
en café = a café (indefinite form)

This reflects what is known and specific vs one of many possible places:

kantinen: There is usually one particular canteen connected to your workplace, school, etc. Both speaker and listener know which one, so Danish uses the definite form with the -en ending.
en café: This is any café, not a specific, known one. So the indefinite article en is used.

Grammatically, both kantine and café are common-gender nouns (they take en in the indefinite), but in the sentence we need one definite (kantinen) and one indefinite (en café) because of the meaning.

What does maden der mean, and what is der doing here?

maden der means “the food there”.

maden = the food (mad
- definite ending -en)
der = there, referring back to the places just mentioned (i kantinen or på en café)

So maden der is one phrase: the food there / the food in those places.

Here der is not the “dummy” der from sentences like Der er mange mennesker (There are many people). It’s a place adverb meaning there.

Could you also say fordi maden er billig der? Is that different from fordi maden der er billig?

Yes, you can say both, and both are correct:

fordi maden der er billig = because the food there is cheap
- Stresses maden der as one unit: “the food there”.
fordi maden er billig der = because the food is cheap there
- Keeps maden and der a bit more separate: “the food is cheap there”.

In everyday speech, the difference is very small. maden der sounds slightly more like you are classifying a type of food by place (the canteen food / café food), but both are very natural.

How does the word order work after fordi in fordi maden der er billig?

fordi introduces a subordinate clause. In subordinate clauses, Danish does not use verb-second word order. Instead, the pattern is:

Subordinator – Subject – (Adverbs etc.) – Verb – Rest

So:

fordi (subordinator)
maden der (subject phrase)
er (verb)
billig (adjective / predicate)

A sentence like fordi er maden der billig would be wrong in standard Danish word order. The verb er must come after the subject in this type of clause.

Why is there a comma before fordi?

Danish traditionally places a comma before most subordinate clauses, including those introduced by fordi.

…, fordi maden der er billig.

Under the newer comma rules, leaving this comma out is allowed in some cases, but many writers and learners still use it because it clearly marks the start of the subordinate clause. In teaching materials you will very often see the comma before fordi.

Why is it maden and not just mad? What difference does the -en make?

mad = food (in general, uncountable idea)
maden = the food (specific, definite)

In the sentence, we are talking about the food in those particular places (the canteen or a café). That is a specific, known food situation, so Danish uses the definite form maden.

If you said fordi mad der er billig, it would be ungrammatical; you need the definite (or some determiner) for this kind of specific reference.

What does ofte mean, and where can it go in the sentence?

ofte means often (frequency adverb).

The neutral position in a main clause is:

Vi spiser ofte frokost …

You can move ofte for emphasis or in subordinate clauses, but the most natural everyday order with this sentence is:

Vi spiser ofte frokost i kantinen eller på en café …

Putting ofte before the verb (Vi ofte spiser frokost) is not standard.

How is ofte pronounced, and is the t silent?

Yes, in normal Danish the t in ofte is silent.

Very roughly in English-friendly terms, it sounds like:

something close to “off-teh”, but with a quiet or non‑pronounced t:
- /ˈɔf.də/ or /ˈɔf.tə/ depending on dialect and speed

Learners are usually safe pronouncing it with almost no audible t. Native speakers will typically not make a clear t sound there.