Jeg tilsætter salt, fordi suppen ellers smager fladt.

I add salt because otherwise the soup tastes bland.

Breakdown of Jeg tilsætter salt, fordi suppen ellers smager fladt.

• jeg: I
• smage: to taste
• fordi: because
• ellers: otherwise
• suppen: the soup
• tilsætte: to add
• saltet: the salt
• flad: bland

Questions & Answers about Jeg tilsætter salt, fordi suppen ellers smager fladt.

Why is it Jeg tilsætter and not Jeg tilsætte?

Tilsætter is the present tense form of the verb at tilsætte (to add). Danish verbs don’t change for person (no I add / he adds difference), but they do change for tense:

• Infinitive: (at) tilsætte
• Present: tilsætter
• Past: tilsatte
• Past participle: tilsat

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What’s the word order rule in the first part: Jeg tilsætter salt?

That’s a normal Danish main clause with V2 (verb-second) word order: 1) Jeg (subject) 2) tilsætter (finite verb) 3) salt (object)

If you start with something else (time/place, etc.), the verb still stays second and the subject moves after the verb.

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Why does the word order change after fordi?

Fordi introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses generally have non-V2 word order: the finite verb does not move to position 2.

So you get:

• fordi suppen ellers smager fladt
  • subject: suppen
  • adverb: ellers
  • verb: smager
  • complement: fladt

Compare:

• Main clause style (V2): Suppen smager ellers fladt.
• Subordinate clause style: ... fordi suppen ellers smager fladt.

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What does ellers do here, and why is it placed where it is?

Ellers means otherwise / if not. In subordinate clauses it typically sits in the adverb slot, usually after the subject and before the verb:

• suppen ellers smager

So the structure is basically: because the soup otherwise tastes flat.

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Why is there a comma before fordi?

In Danish, it’s standard to put a comma before a subordinate clause introduced by words like fordi, at, som, etc. So:

• Jeg tilsætter salt, fordi ...

(Some writing styles have slightly different comma rules, but this comma is very common and often expected.)

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Why is it suppen and not suppe?

Suppen is the definite form: the soup.

• suppe = soup (in general / some soup)
• suppen = the soup (a specific soup already known in context)

Danish often expresses the by using a suffix on the noun (here -en).

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Why is salt not definite (not saltet)?

Here salt is used as an uncountable ingredient in a general sense: (some) salt. You typically keep it indefinite when you mean an unspecified amount.

Saltet would mean the salt, i.e., a specific salt already identified (for example, the salt on the table).

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Why is it smager fladt—why does the adjective end in -t?

In expressions like smage + adjective, Danish commonly uses the neuter form (-t), functioning a bit like an adverbial/predicative description of the taste:

• smager godt (tastes good)
• smager sødt (tastes sweet)
• smager fladt (tastes flat/bland)

It’s an idiomatic pattern: the -t form is very common after verbs of perception like smage.

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Is fladt the same as flat in English?

Related idea, but in this context smager fladt usually means bland / lacking depth / not flavorful enough, not literally “flat” in shape. It’s a fixed, natural collocation for taste.

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Could I replace tilsætter with another verb, and would the sentence still be natural?

Yes. These are common alternatives with slightly different feel:

• Jeg tilsætter salt ... = neutral, a bit “recipe-like”
• Jeg tilføjer salt ... = also neutral, slightly more formal
• Jeg kommer salt i (suppen) ... = very common spoken Danish (I put salt in)

The fordi-clause would stay the same.