Jeg drikker te i stedet, fordi jeg ikke har kaffe.

I drink tea instead, because I don’t have coffee.

Breakdown of Jeg drikker te i stedet, fordi jeg ikke har kaffe.

• jeg: I
• drikke: to drink
• have: to have
• fordi: because
• kaffen: the coffee
• ikke: not
• teen: the tea
• i stedet: instead

Questions & Answers about Jeg drikker te i stedet, fordi jeg ikke har kaffe.

Why is it Jeg drikker and not Jeg drikke?

Because Danish verbs conjugate for tense, not for person. The present tense of at drikke is drikker for all subjects:

• jeg drikker (I drink)
• du drikker (you drink)
• han/hun drikker (he/she drinks) So drikke is the infinitive (to drink), while drikker is present tense.

Why is there no article—why te and kaffe instead of something like en te or en kaffe?

In Danish, te and kaffe are often treated as uncountable (like tea/coffee in English), especially when you mean the drink in general or some unspecified amount. Then you typically use no article:

• Jeg drikker te.
• Jeg har ikke kaffe. If you mean a serving (a cup / an order), you can use a countable form:
• Jeg drikker en te. (a tea / a cup of tea)
• Jeg vil gerne have en kaffe. (a coffee)

What does i stedet mean here, and is it missing a word like for?

i stedet means instead / instead of that. It can stand alone when the alternative is understood from context (here: instead of coffee). If you want to explicitly say “instead of X”, you use i stedet for:

• Jeg drikker te i stedet for kaffe. In your sentence, i stedet is fine because kaffe is clarified in the following clause.

Can i stedet move to the front of the sentence?

Yes. Danish allows fronting for emphasis, but then you must keep V2 word order (the verb stays in the 2nd position in a main clause):

• I stedet drikker jeg te, fordi jeg ikke har kaffe. Notice how drikker comes right after I stedet.

Why is there a comma before fordi?

Because fordi introduces a subordinate clause, and Danish typically uses a comma to separate that clause:

• ..., fordi jeg ikke har kaffe. Comma practice varies (and there are different comma systems), but placing a comma before a clear subordinate clause like this is very common and usually considered correct.

Why is the word order fordi jeg ikke har kaffe and not fordi jeg har ikke kaffe?

Because after a subordinating conjunction like fordi, Danish uses subordinate clause word order, where ikke typically comes before the finite verb:

• ... fordi jeg ikke har kaffe. In main clauses, you usually get:
• Jeg har ikke kaffe. So the conjunction fordi triggers the change.

Where does ikke go in Danish—what’s the general rule?

A useful rule of thumb:

• In a main clause, ikke usually comes after the finite verb: Jeg har ikke kaffe.
• In a subordinate clause (after fordi, at, som, etc.), ikke usually comes before the finite verb: ... fordi jeg ikke har kaffe. This is one of the most important word-order differences for English speakers.

Could I also say for jeg har ikke kaffe instead of using fordi?

Yes, and it changes the grammar (and slightly the feel).

• ..., fordi jeg ikke har kaffe. (subordinate clause word order)
• ..., for jeg har ikke kaffe. (for = “because/for”, but it introduces a new main clause, so you get main clause word order: jeg har ikke) for is common in writing and sounds a bit more “explanatory” or formal than fordi in some contexts.

Why does Danish use har (have) for coffee—shouldn’t it be something like “there is no coffee”?

Danish often uses at have to mean to have (some available / in stock / at home):

• Jeg har ikke kaffe. (I don’t have any coffee / I’m out of coffee) You can express “there is no coffee” in other ways, but jeg har ikke kaffe is a very natural everyday phrasing for availability.

If I want to stress “any,” do I need noget—like jeg har ikke noget kaffe?

You can add noget to emphasize “any” or “at all”:

• Jeg har ikke kaffe. (neutral, common)
• Jeg har ikke noget kaffe. (more explicit: “I don’t have any coffee.”) Both are correct; the version without noget is often enough.

What about ingen—could it be jeg har ingen kaffe?

Yes. ingen means no/none (like “no coffee”):

• Jeg har ingen kaffe. That’s grammatical and fairly strong/clear. In everyday speech, many people still choose ikke (noget) kaffe, but ingen kaffe is definitely possible.

Is te pronounced like English “tea”? And what about kaffe?

Not exactly.

• te is usually close to [teː] (more like “teh” with a long vowel, not “tee”).
• kaffe is roughly [ˈkʰæfə] in many accents (first syllable stressed; the a is like a Danish æ-type sound for many speakers). Exact pronunciation varies by region, but the key differences for English speakers are the vowel in te and the stressed first syllable in kaffe.

Could I drop jeg in the second clause to avoid repeating it?

In standard Danish, you normally keep the subject:

• ..., fordi jeg ikke har kaffe. You can avoid repetition by restructuring the sentence (e.g., making the reason a separate sentence), but simply omitting jeg after fordi isn’t standard.

Is i stedet always placed after the thing you’re doing (like drikker te i stedet)?

It’s common there, but not mandatory. i stedet can appear in several natural positions depending on emphasis:

• Jeg drikker te i stedet. (common)
• Jeg drikker i stedet te. (more focus on choosing tea)
• I stedet drikker jeg te. (strong emphasis: “Instead, I drink tea.”) Just remember: if something other than the subject comes first in a main clause, Danish keeps verb-second (V2) order.