Bestikket mangler ved hendes plads, så hun beder om en gaffel og en ske.

Bestik means cutlery in a general, indefinite sense.

Bestikket means the cutlery or the cutlery set in a specific sense. The ending -et is the definite article for a neuter noun in Danish.

So:

• bestik = cutlery
• bestikket = the cutlery

In this sentence, it is specific cutlery that should be at her place, so bestikket is natural.

Also note the extra k in bestikket. Danish often doubles the final consonant before adding an ending to keep the vowel short in pronunciation.

In Danish, bestik is usually a collective noun, much like cutlery in English. Even though it refers to several utensils, the noun itself is treated as singular.

So:

• Bestikket mangler = The cutlery is missing

You do not normally need a plural form here, because the idea is the set of eating utensils as one group.

Mangler is the present tense of mangle, which often means:

• to be missing
• to lack

In this sentence, Bestikket mangler means that the cutlery is not there.

A useful thing to notice is that mangle can work in slightly different ways:

• Jeg mangler penge. = I lack money.
• Nøglen mangler. = The key is missing.

Here it is the second kind: something is absent.

Ved often means by, at, or next to.

So ved hendes plads means something like:

• at her place
• by her seat
• at her setting

In a dining context, plads means her place at the table, not just a general location.

English might say at her place setting or at her seat, while Danish naturally uses ved hendes plads here.

This is a very common learner question.

Danish uses sin/sit/sine for a reflexive possessor, but only when the possessor refers back to the subject of the same clause.

In the clause:

• Bestikket mangler ved hendes plads

the subject is bestikket, not hun. So the reflexive form sin cannot refer to hun, because hun is not the subject of that clause.

That is why Danish uses hendes.

Compare:

• Hun vasker sine hænder. = She washes her hands.
  Here hun is the subject, so sine is used.

But in your sentence:

• Bestikket mangler ved hendes plads.

the subject is bestikket, so hendes is correct.

Så here means so in the sense of therefore / as a result.

The sentence has two parts:

• Bestikket mangler ved hendes plads
• så hun beder om en gaffel og en ske

So the logic is:

The cutlery is missing at her place, so she asks for a fork and a spoon.

This så connects cause and result.

Because så here is being used as a conjunction meaning so, connecting two clauses.

After a conjunction like this, Danish normally keeps subject + verb order:

• så hun beder ...

If you wrote så beder hun ..., that would sound more like then she asks ... with adverb-style inversion, which is a different structure.

So in this sentence:

• så hun beder om ... = so she asks for ...

That is the normal word order.

The verb bede often means to ask or to request, and when you ask for something, Danish usually uses om.

So:

• bede om noget = ask for something

Examples:

• Hun beder om hjælp. = She asks for help.
• Jeg bad om vand. = I asked for water.

So:

• hun beder om en gaffel og en ske = she asks for a fork and a spoon

Without om, the meaning would be incomplete or different.

Because she is asking for a fork and a spoon, not specific ones already identified.

In Danish, just as in English, you use the indefinite article for non-specific singular nouns:

• en gaffel = a fork
• en ske = a spoon

If you used the definite forms:

• gaffelen
• skeen

that would mean the fork and the spoon, which would suggest particular known items.

Because both gaffel and ske are common gender nouns in Danish.

Danish has two grammatical genders:

• common gender → usually takes en
• neuter → usually takes et

So:

• en gaffel
• en ske

By contrast:

• et bord = a table
• et glas = a glass

This is something you usually need to learn together with each noun.

A rough guide for an English speaker:

• bestikket ≈ beh-STIG-ed
• mangler ≈ MANG-ler
• ved ≈ vel or vehth depending on speaker, but very soft
• hendes ≈ HEN-nes
• plads ≈ plahs
• beder ≈ BAY-ther with a soft d
• gaffel ≈ GAH-fel
• ske ≈ sgay or skay, with a long vowel

A few important pronunciation notes:

• Danish d is often very soft, not like a strong English d
• final endings like -et and -er are often reduced in natural speech
• ske has a long vowel sound

Exact pronunciation varies by region, but these approximations can help you get started.

Yes. Danish allows a few natural alternatives, for example:

• Der mangler bestik ved hendes plads, så hun beder om en gaffel og en ske.
• Bestikket er væk ved hendes plads, så hun beder om en gaffel og en ske.

Your original sentence is perfectly natural, but these alternatives show slightly different styles:

• Der mangler bestik ... emphasizes that cutlery is missing there
• Bestikket er væk ... means the cutlery is gone / not there

The original sentence is a good, standard way to say it.