Breakdown of Jeg bruger revet ost til at gøre pastaen bedre.
Questions & Answers about Jeg bruger revet ost til at gøre pastaen bedre.
Because Danish verbs have a present tense ending (often -r).
- Infinitive: at bruge (to use)
- Present: (jeg) bruger (I use / I’m using)
- Past: brugte (used)
So jeg brug isn’t a correct finite verb form in modern Danish.
It can mean both. Danish present tense covers both habitual and ongoing actions, and context decides:
- Jeg bruger revet ost ... = I use / I’m using grated cheese ...
If you want to stress “right now,” you can add lige nu (right now): Jeg bruger revet ost lige nu ...
Revet is the past participle of at rive (to grate), used like an adjective meaning grated.
- ost = cheese
So revet ost literally = grated cheese.
This is a common pattern: participle + noun (like English chopped onions, baked potatoes).
Because revet is the correct participle form used adjectivally for at rive (to grate). Danish participles don’t generally change for plural the way regular adjectives do. You’ll typically see:
- revet ost (grated cheese)
- skåret brød (cut/sliced bread)
Some adjectives do take -e in certain definite/plural contexts, but participles in these food-collocations often stay as the -et/-t form.
Danish often uses the definite form when referring to a specific thing in the situation or a known item (e.g., the pasta you’re eating/cooking).
- pasta = pasta (general/indefinite)
- pastaen = the pasta (the specific pasta in question)
You could say gøre pasta bedre if you mean pasta in general as a concept, but pastaen sounds natural for an actual meal.
In Danish, the definite article is usually attached to the noun as a suffix:
- en pasta = a pasta (common gender)
- pastaen = the pasta
Many nouns take -en (common gender) or -et (neuter) for the definite singular.
til at + infinitive is a very common Danish structure meaning to / in order to when expressing purpose.
So: til at gøre pastaen bedre = to make the pasta better.
It’s similar to English to + verb, but Danish often needs til at where English just uses to.
Not in this sentence if you want the “purpose” meaning after bruger.
- Jeg bruger revet ost til at gøre pastaen bedre. = I use grated cheese to make the pasta better.
If you remove til, it stops sounding like the standard purpose construction and becomes unnatural here.
gøre + object + adjective is the normal pattern for “make something [adjective]”:
- gøre pastaen bedre = make the pasta better
You can replace pastaen with a pronoun: - gøre den bedre = make it better
But you wouldn’t insert til here. gøre X til Y is a different structure meaning “turn X into Y” (change category/identity), e.g. gøre vand til is (turn water into ice).
Because bedre is the irregular comparative of god (good):
- god = good
- bedre = better
- bedst = best
While Danish can use mere + adjective for some adjectives, god is irregular and uses bedre.
Typically ikke comes after the finite verb (the present tense verb):
- Jeg bruger ikke revet ost til at gøre pastaen bedre.
= I don’t use grated cheese to make the pasta better.
If there’s an adverbial phrase, ikke still usually follows the verb and comes before much of the rest.
bruger is very natural and everyday. Alternatives exist, but they change tone:
- Jeg anvender revet ost ... = more formal/technical (I use/apply)
- Jeg putter revet ost på pastaen ... = I put grated cheese on the pasta (more concrete, focuses on the action rather than the purpose)
For your sentence meaning, bruger ... til at ... is a great, idiomatic choice.
A rough guide (varies by accent):
- Jeg often sounds like yai / jaj (soft “y” sound)
- bruger ≈ BROO-uh (the -er is reduced)
- revet ≈ RAY-v’d (final -et is often very soft)
- ost has a rounded vowel, somewhat like ohst
- pastaen ≈ PAS-ta-en, but the ending is often reduced so it flows together.