Jeg betaler med mit betalingskort, men terminalen virker ikke.

I pay with my payment card, but the terminal doesn’t work.

Breakdown of Jeg betaler med mit betalingskort, men terminalen virker ikke.

• jeg: I
• men: but
• med: with
• mit: my
• ikke: not
• virke: to work
• betale: to pay
• betalingskortet: the payment card
• terminalen: the terminal

Questions & Answers about Jeg betaler med mit betalingskort, men terminalen virker ikke.

Why is it jeg betaler and not jeg betalte or jeg vil betale?

Jeg betaler is the present tense and is often used for what you’re doing right now or what is generally happening in the situation: “I’m paying / I pay.”

• Jeg betalte = past tense (“I paid / I was paying”).
• Jeg vil betale = future/intention (“I will pay / I want to pay”).
  In everyday speech, Danish often uses the present tense where English might choose “I’m paying” with a progressive form.

What does med mean here, and why do we use it?

Med means “with / by (means of)”. With payment methods, Danish commonly says betale med X:

• Jeg betaler med kort = I pay by card / with a card
• Jeg betaler med kontanter = I pay with cash
  So med marks the method/instrument you use.

Why is it mit betalingskort and not min betalingskort?

Because betalingskort is an intetkøn (neuter) noun: et betalingskort.
Possessives agree with gender/number:

• en-word → min / din / hans / hendes / vores / jeres / deres
• et-word → mit / dit / hans / hendes / vores / jeres / deres
  So it must be mit betalingskort.

What exactly is a betalingskort—is it the same as kreditkort?

Betalingskort is a general term for a card you use to pay (often including debit cards and sometimes broadly any payment card).

• et kreditkort = a credit card specifically
• et dankort = Denmark’s common national debit card (often co-branded with Visa)
  If you say betalingskort, you’re being neutral about which type.

Why does terminalen have -en at the end?

Terminalen means “the terminal”. Danish usually marks definiteness with a suffix (a “postposed article”):

• en terminal = a terminal
• terminalen = the terminal
  So -en corresponds to English “the.”

Why is the word order men terminalen virker ikke and not men virker terminalen ikke?

After men (“but”), you typically keep normal main-clause word order: subject + verb.
So: terminalen (subject) virker (verb) ikke.
If you started with something else (an adverbial) you could trigger verb-second inversion, e.g.:

• men i dag virker terminalen ikke (Today, the terminal doesn’t work)
  Here i dag comes first, so the verb virker comes second, before the subject.

What does virker mean here—does it mean “seems” or “works”?

Virke can mean both “work/function” and “seem/appear”, depending on context.
In terminalen virker ikke, it clearly means “doesn’t work / isn’t functioning.”
Compare:

• Det virker mærkeligt = That seems strange.
• Min telefon virker ikke = My phone doesn’t work.

Why is ikke placed at the end of the clause?

In a simple main clause, ikke typically comes after the verb (and after the subject if the verb is in position 2):

• Terminalen virker ikke
• Jeg betaler ikke med kort
  If there’s an object, ikke often comes after the object (but there are nuances):
• Jeg forstår det ikke = I don’t understand it.
  So the placement here is the standard pattern.

Could you say Jeg betaler med mit kort instead? What changes?

Yes. mit kort is more general and more natural in casual speech if the context makes it obvious it’s a payment card.

• mit kort = my card (could be any type of card, but usually understood as bank card in a shop)
• mit betalingskort = explicitly “my payment card” (more specific, slightly more formal/precise)

Is terminalen the card reader, the cashier terminal, or something else?

In this context, terminalen usually means the payment terminal / card reader (the device you tap/insert/swipe your card on).
If you want to be extra clear, you might also hear:

• kortterminalen = the card terminal (very explicit)

Is there a more natural spoken way to say the whole sentence?

Your sentence is correct. In everyday speech, Danes might shorten or simplify it, e.g.:

• Jeg betaler med kort, men terminalen virker ikke. (very common)
• Jeg vil gerne betale med kort, men terminalen virker ikke. (polite: “I’d like to pay…”)
• Jeg prøver at betale med kort, men den virker ikke. (“I’m trying to pay…, but it doesn’t work.”)

Why does Danish use med kort without an article—why not med et kort?

With payment methods, Danish often uses the bare noun without an article, similar to English “by card” or “in cash”:

• med kort (by card)
• med kontanter (with cash)
  If you say med et kort, it sounds like you mean a specific physical card in a more literal way (“with a card (one card)”), not the general payment method.

Could I replace men with something like dog? What’s the difference?

Sometimes, yes, but the nuance changes.

• men = neutral “but”, simple contrast.
• dog = “however / though”, often adds emphasis or a slightly more formal tone.
  Example: Jeg betaler med mit betalingskort; terminalen virker dog ikke.
  That feels a bit more written/formal than your original.

Are there any pronunciation pitfalls in this sentence?

A few common ones for learners:

• Jeg is often pronounced closer to [yai] / [jaj] (varies by accent), not a clear “jeg” as spelled.
• betaler: stress on -ta-; the ending -er is often a reduced schwa sound.
• terminalen: the final -en is also reduced; don’t over-pronounce it.
• virker ikke: ikke is often reduced in fast speech (can sound like ik’).