Onklen drikker kaffe i stuen.

The uncle drinks coffee in the living room.

Breakdown of Onklen drikker kaffe i stuen.

• i: in
• drikke: to drink
• stuen: the living room
• kaffen: the coffee
• onklen: the uncle

Questions & Answers about Onklen drikker kaffe i stuen.

Why is it Onklen and not Onkel or en onkel?

Danish usually marks “the” by adding a suffix to the noun instead of using a separate word:

• onkel = uncle
• en onkel = an uncle
• onklen = the uncle

So -en is the definite ending for common-gender nouns (the “en-words”).
That’s why you say onklen for the uncle, not den onkel (unless there’s an adjective: den gamle onkel = the old uncle).

Does Onklen mean the uncle or my uncle?

Normally, onklen means the uncle, referring to a specific uncle both speaker and listener know about from context.

To say my uncle, you would generally say:

• min onkel = my uncle

Danish does not usually use the definite form of onkel to mean my uncle. That kind of usage is more typical with mor (mother) and far (father), e.g. Mor kommer (Mum is coming), and even there it’s slightly different from English.

Why is there no word for is like in “is drinking”?

Danish does not have a special continuous tense like English is drinking.

The simple present drikker covers both:

• Onklen drikker kaffe i stuen.
  – The uncle drinks coffee in the living room.
  – The uncle is drinking coffee in the living room.

Context tells you whether it’s a general habit or something happening right now.

What tense is drikker, and how is it formed?

Drikker is the present tense of the verb at drikke (to drink).

For regular verbs, Danish present tense is usually formed by adding -r to the infinitive:

• at drikke → drikker
• at bo (to live) → bor
• at tale (to speak) → taler

So drikker simply means drink / drinks / is drinking / are drinking, depending on context.

Why is there no article before kaffe?

Kaffe is a mass noun here, like water or milk in English:

• Onklen drikker kaffe. = The uncle drinks coffee.

You only use an article if you treat it as a countable portion, for example:

• Onklen drikker en kaffe. (colloquial) = The uncle is having a coffee (one cup / one serving).
• More clearly: Onklen drikker en kop kaffe. = The uncle is drinking a cup of coffee.

So no article is needed when you talk about coffee in general.

Can kaffe also mean a cup of coffee?

Yes, in everyday speech en kaffe can often be understood as a coffee (a serving), especially in cafés:

• Jeg vil gerne have en kaffe. = I’d like a coffee.

But kaffe on its own, without en, is more neutral and usually means coffee as a substance:

• Jeg kan godt lide kaffe. = I like coffee (in general).

In your sentence, drikker kaffe is naturally understood as drinking some amount of coffee, not “a specific cup”.

What does i stuen mean exactly, and why i and not another preposition?

I stuen literally means in the living room:

• i = in
• stuen = the living room (definite form of stue)

Danish uses i for being inside enclosed spaces:

• i stuen = in the living room
• i køkkenet = in the kitchen
• i huset = in the house

You would not say på stuen here. På is more for surfaces or certain set expressions (på bordet = on the table, på arbejde = at work).

What does stuen literally mean? Is it always living room?

The noun is stue (living room, lounge), and stuen is the definite form:

• stue = living room
• stuen = the living room

Common meanings of stue:

• The main living room of a home
• In compounds like stueetage (ground floor), historically referring to the floor with main rooms.

Context usually makes it clear, but in a normal household context, i stuen will be understood as in the living room.

Why does i stuen come at the end of the sentence?

The neutral word order in Danish main clauses is:

Subject – Verb – Object – (other information, like place/time)

So here:

• Onklen (subject)
• drikker (verb)
• kaffe (object)
• i stuen (place phrase)

That’s why i stuen naturally comes at the end: it’s extra information about where the action happens.

Can I move i stuen to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes, you can put the place first for emphasis or style:

• I stuen drikker onklen kaffe.

Danish has a “verb second” rule for main clauses: no matter what you put first (subject, time, place, etc.), the finite verb (drikker) must be the second element. So when i stuen comes first, the subject onklen has to move after the verb.

How would I turn this sentence into a yes/no question?

You invert the subject and the verb:

• Onklen drikker kaffe i stuen.
  → Drikker onklen kaffe i stuen? = Is the uncle drinking coffee in the living room?

So the pattern is:

• Statement: Subject – Verb – …
• Question: Verb – Subject – …

How would I say “The uncle is not drinking coffee in the living room”?

You add ikke (not) after the verb (and usually after the object if there is a simple object):

• Onklen drikker ikke kaffe i stuen.

Word order:

• Onklen (subject)
• drikker (verb)
• ikke (negation)
• kaffe (object)
• i stuen (place phrase)

How do you pronounce Onklen, drikker, kaffe, and stuen?

Approximate pronunciations (Standard Danish):

• Onklen ≈ [ˈɔŋklən]

  • on like English ong in song, but shorter
  • klen like klen, with a schwa -en at the end

• drikker ≈ [ˈdʁɛg̊ɐ]

  • dr with a guttural r (in the throat)
  • -ikker sounds a bit like “e-guh”, with a soft ending

• kaffe ≈ [ˈkʰafə]

  • ka like kah
  • ffe like feh with a schwa

• stuen ≈ [ˈsd̥uːən] (often sounding close to “stoo-en”)

  • long u like in food
  • -en is a weak, unstressed -ən

Regional accents vary, but these are good approximations for standard pronunciation.