Learn Hardcore Danish: Lad os bage en kage og lave dessert i stedet for at købe is. - Let’s bake a cake and make dessert instead of buying ice cream.

Lad is the imperative form of at lade (to let / to allow).
os is the object pronoun “us”.
Together it’s a fixed, very common phrase for making suggestions, just like English “let’s”.
It’s not formal or old-fashioned; it’s used all the time in speech and writing.

You don’t say “Lad vi”; it’s always Lad os + verb in the infinitive (without at).

Why is it bage en kage but lave dessert (no article)? Why does kage have en, but dessert doesn’t?

Both kage and dessert can take an article, but they behave a bit differently in normal usage.

bage en kage
- en kage = “a cake” (a single, specific cake you’re going to bake).
- Food items that are clearly countable as single objects are very often used with an article in this kind of context:
  - bage en pizza – bake a pizza
  - koge en suppe – cook a (pot of) soup
lave dessert
- Here, dessert is used more like an uncountable / generic concept: “make dessert (as a course of the meal)”.
- You’re not necessarily talking about exactly one object; you’re talking about the dessert course.

You can say lave en dessert:

Lad os lave en dessert – Let’s make a dessert (one specific dessert dish). This sounds like you’re choosing one particular dessert recipe as a project.

So:

bage en kage: one concrete cake.
lave dessert: provide/make dessert in general (as part of the meal), not focusing on “one dessert item”.

Could you also say lave en dessert here? Would it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say lave en dessert instead of lave dessert, and it’s grammatically correct.

Nuance:

lave dessert – “make dessert” in general, as the dessert course.
lave en dessert – “make a dessert”, with a bit more emphasis on a specific dessert dish (one recipe / one item).

In your sentence:

Lad os bage en kage og lave dessert i stedet for at købe is.
= “Let’s bake a cake and (take care of) dessert instead of buying ice cream.”
If you change it to lave en dessert, it sounds more like:
“Let’s bake a cake and make a (particular) dessert instead of buying ice cream.”

The difference is subtle, and both are natural.

Why is it bage and lave, and not something like bage for both actions?

Danish distinguishes between baking and making just like English:

at bage = to bake (in the oven, typically bread, cakes, etc.)
- bage en kage – bake a cake
- bage brød – bake bread
at lave = to make / to do
- lave mad – make food / cook
- lave dessert – make dessert
- lave lektier – do homework

You normally:

bage specific baked goods (cake, bread, buns, etc.).
lave broader things like mad (food), dessert, aftensmad (dinner), or non-food actions.

So bage en kage and lave dessert is the natural verb choice in Danish, just as English prefers “bake a cake” but “make dessert”.

Why is there no “at” after Lad os? We have bage and lave, not at bage or at lave.

After Lad os, Danish uses the bare infinitive (without at):

Pattern: Lad os + infinitive (no at)
- Lad os spise. – Let’s eat.
- Lad os gå hjem. – Let’s go home.
- Lad os bage en kage. – Let’s bake a cake.

Compare:

After many other verbs, you do use at:
- Jeg vil bage en kage. – I want to bake a cake.
- Jeg elsker at bage. – I love to bake.
- Det er sjovt at bage. – It’s fun to bake.

So:

Lad os bage / lave (no at) – fixed pattern with Lad os.
i stedet for at købe – here you need at, because i stedet for is followed by at + infinitive.

What exactly does i stedet for mean, and how does it work with verbs?

i stedet for means “instead of”.

As a pattern:

i stedet for + noun/pronoun
- i stedet for is – instead of ice cream
- i stedet for ham – instead of him
i stedet for at + infinitive
- i stedet for at købe is – instead of buying ice cream
- i stedet for at tage bussen – instead of taking the bus
- i stedet for at lave lektier – instead of doing homework

In your sentence:

i stedet for at købe is = “instead of buying ice cream”.

You generally need at when i stedet for is followed by a verb, because the verb must be in the infinitive:

not i stedet for købe is, but i stedet for at købe is.

Why is it købe is and not købe en is? What’s the difference?

is in Danish can mean:

ice cream (as a mass/uncountable noun), or
an ice cream (a single portion, e.g. an ice cream cone) when you add an article.

købe is
- = “buy ice cream” in general, as a type of food.
- Used when you talk about ice cream non-specifically, similar to English “buy ice cream”.
købe en is
- = “buy an ice cream” (one portion / one item).
- Typical if you mean “buy one ice cream each” or “buy an ice cream cone”.

In your sentence:

i stedet for at købe is – instead of buying ice cream (not focusing on the number of portions, just the idea of buying ice cream as dessert).

You could say købe en is if the meaning was more like “buy an ice cream (cone)” as a single treat, but the sentence as given sounds natural and general.

What is the difference between vi and os? Why is it os in Lad os?

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

vi = “we” (subject form)
- Vi spiser. – We eat.
- Vi laver dessert. – We make dessert.
os = “us” (object form)
- Han ser os. – He sees us.
- Det irriterer os. – It annoys us.

In Lad os:

Lad = “let” (imperative)
os = “us” (object)

Literally: “Let us (do something)”, so you need the object form, just like English:

Let we bake a cake ❌
Let us bake a cake ✔

So Lad os is fixed; you do not say “Lad vi”.

Why is the verb form bage and lave, not something like bager or laver?

bage and lave are infinitive forms (the dictionary forms), used in two places here:

After Lad os:
- Lad os bage … – Let’s bake …
- Lad os lave … – Let’s make …
After at:
- i stedet for at købe is – instead of buying ice cream

Danish infinitive:

Usually ends in -e: bage, lave, købe, spise.

The present tense would be:

bager, laver, køber, spiser.

You use:

present tense when it’s a normal finite verb:
- Vi bager en kage. – We are baking a cake.
infinitive after certain words and patterns:
- Lad os bage en kage.
- Jeg vil bage en kage.
- i stedet for at købe is.

Is it okay to have two verbs (bage and lave) after one Lad os? Why don’t we repeat Lad os?

Yes, it is perfectly natural to have multiple infinitives connected by og after a single Lad os.

Pattern:

Lad os + infinitive 1 + og + infinitive 2 (+ …)
- Lad os tage hjem og se en film. – Let’s go home and watch a movie.
- Lad os lave mad og høre musik. – Let’s make food and listen to music.

So:

Lad os bage en kage og lave dessert …
= “Let’s bake a cake and make dessert …”
One Lad os “controls” both bage and lave.

You could repeat it:

Lad os bage en kage, og lad os lave dessert …
This is grammatically fine but sounds heavier, more emphatic. The version with one Lad os is more natural in everyday language.

Can i stedet for at købe is be placed elsewhere in the sentence, or must it be at the end?

It’s most natural at the end, as in your sentence, but Danish word order is flexible enough to move it, with some stylistic effects.

Your original:

Lad os bage en kage og lave dessert i stedet for at købe is.
→ neutral, natural order.

You can move it to the front:

I stedet for at købe is, lad os bage en kage og lave dessert.
→ Slightly more formal / written style. Emphasises the contrast: Instead of buying ice cream, let’s…

You generally don’t split the phrase:

Lad os i stedet for bage en kage og lave dessert at købe is. ❌ (wrong)
You can, however, move just i stedet:
- Lad os i stedet bage en kage og lave dessert. – Let’s instead bake a cake and make dessert. Here i stedet stands alone, and you drop for at købe is entirely (different sentence).

So for your exact meaning, i stedet for at købe is is best kept as one unit, either at the end or at the very beginning.