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På vej hjem køber vi ris og pasta, så vi har noget nemt til i morgen.

På vej hjem køber vi ris og pasta, så vi har noget nemt til i morgen.
On the way home we buy rice and pasta, so we have something easy for tomorrow.
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Questions & Answers about På vej hjem køber vi ris og pasta, så vi har noget nemt til i morgen.

What does på vej hjem mean grammatically, and is it a fixed phrase?

På vej hjem is an idiomatic prepositional phrase meaning (while) on the way home.

  • på = on
  • vej = way/road (here: “way”)
  • hjem = home (direction “homewards”)
    It’s a very common fixed-looking expression in Danish: på vej + (destination/direction), e.g. på vej til arbejde (on the way to work), på vej hjem (on the way home).
Why is it køber vi and not vi køber?

Because Danish has V2 word order in main clauses: the finite verb must be in the second position.
Here, the sentence starts with the time/place phrase På vej hjem (position 1), so the verb køber must come next (position 2), and then the subject vi follows:

  • På vej hjem (1) køber (2) vi …

If you started with the subject, you’d get the more “neutral” order:

  • Vi køber ris og pasta på vej hjem.
Is køber present tense, and can it talk about the future?

Yes, køber is present tense. In Danish, the present tense often covers:

  • what you habitually do, and
  • what you’re doing / are going to do in the near future (especially with context).

So køber vi can naturally mean we buy / we’re buying / we’ll buy depending on context.

Why is there no article before ris and pasta?

In Danish, foods and materials are often used as mass nouns without an article when you mean “some” in general:

  • købe ris = buy (some) rice
  • købe pasta = buy (some) pasta

If you want to specify a type/portion, you might add something:

  • en pose ris (a bag of rice)
  • noget pasta (some pasta)
  • den pasta (that pasta)
Is ris singular or plural in Danish?
Ris is normally treated as a mass noun (“rice”) even though it ends in -s. It doesn’t behave like an English plural. You typically don’t use it as a countable plural (“two rices”), unless you mean kinds of rice (then you’d phrase it differently, e.g. to slags ris = two kinds of rice).
What does så mean here, and does it make the next clause subordinate?

Here så means so / so that, introducing a consequence: you buy rice and pasta so (that) you have something easy for tomorrow.

In this use, så functions like a coordinating link, and the following clause has main-clause word order:

  • …, så vi har … (subject vi before verb har)

If it were a typical subordinate clause word order, you’d expect the verb later (but you don’t get that here).

Why is there a comma before så?

Danish normally uses a comma between two clauses when the second clause is added after a conjunction like så:

  • … køber vi ris og pasta, så vi har …

You’re separating: 1) the clause about buying, and
2) the clause about the purpose/result.

Comma conventions vary a bit (especially with optional commas), but this comma is very standard.

Why is it noget nemt and not noget nem?

Because noget is neuter (“something”), and adjectives agree with neuter singular by adding -t:

  • noget nemt = something easy
  • noget godt = something good
  • noget stort = something big

With a common-gender noun you’d usually get no -t:

  • en nem ting (a easy thing) / more naturally en nem ting = an easy thing
What does til i morgen mean exactly? Is it “to tomorrow” or “for tomorrow”?

It means for tomorrow in the sense of “to have available/use tomorrow.” Danish commonly uses til for intended use/time:

  • mad til i morgen = food for tomorrow
  • tøj til festen = clothes for the party
  • en gave til dig = a gift for you

So noget nemt til i morgen is “something easy (to eat/make) for tomorrow.”

Why is i morgen two words, and can it be one word?

i morgen is the standard spelling for tomorrow (“in morning” historically). It’s written as two words in modern Danish.

There is also imorgen, but it’s generally considered nonstandard/old-fashioned in modern usage; i morgen is what you should learn and use.

Could you also say på vejen hjem instead of på vej hjem?

You can, but it changes the feel:

  • på vej hjem = idiomatic, “on the way home” (focus on the process of traveling)
  • på vejen hjem = literally “on the road/route home” (a bit more concrete; you might be thinking of the actual route)

In everyday speech, på vej hjem is the most common.

What is the function of hjem here—why not til hjem?

hjem can work as an adverb of direction (“homewards”), so it doesn’t need til:

  • Jeg går hjem. = I’m going home.
  • Vi er på vej hjem. = We’re on our way home.

You typically use til when you name a place (not the directional adverb hjem):

  • Jeg går til skolen. (I walk to the school.)