Tjeneren spørger, om vores bestilling er rigtig, før kokken begynder at lave maden.

Because om introduces an indirect yes/no question.

Here, the waiter is not asking the question directly. He is asking whether the order is correct.

• Direct question: Er vores bestilling rigtig? = Is our order correct?
• Indirect question: Tjeneren spørger, om vores bestilling er rigtig. = The waiter asks whether our order is correct.

So in this sentence, om means whether / if.

Because after om, Danish uses subordinate clause word order, not normal question word order.

In a direct question, you would say:

• Er vores bestilling rigtig?

But in a subordinate clause, the subject comes before the verb:

• om vores bestilling er rigtig

So:

• om
  • subject
    • verb
      • rest

This is very common in Danish after words like om, at, fordi, hvis, and før.

Because bestilling is a common-gender noun: en bestilling.

When an adjective is used after er and describes a singular common-gender noun, it usually has no -t ending:

• en bestilling er rigtig
• bilen er hurtig
• døren er åben

You would use -t with a singular neuter noun:

• et svar er rigtigt

So here:

• bestilling = common gender
• therefore: rigtig

Here rigtig means correct.

So vores bestilling er rigtig means our order is correct.

Depending on context, rigtig can also mean things like:

• right
• proper
• real
• sometimes even very in informal speech, as in rigtig god

But in this sentence, it clearly means correct.

In Danish, possessives usually come before the noun, just like in English.

So:

• vores bestilling = our order
• min bil = my car
• deres hus = their house

You do not normally put the possessive after the noun in this kind of structure.

Also notice that when a possessive comes before the noun, the noun is usually indefinite in form:

• vores bestilling
• not vores bestillingen

That is the normal pattern in Danish.

Because begynde is commonly followed by at + infinitive when it means begin to do something.

So:

• begynder at lave = begins to make / starts making
• begynder at spise = begins to eat
• begynder at tale = begins to speak

This is a very standard Danish pattern:

• begynde at + infinitive

Yes, lave literally often means make, but in Danish it is also very commonly used for preparing food / cooking.

So:

• lave mad = cook / make food
• lave maden = prepare the food / cook the meal

It is a very natural choice here. Danish often uses lave where English prefers cook.

Because maden means the food / the meal, referring to something specific.

In this sentence, the chef is preparing the food connected with our order, so it is specific food, not food in general.

Compare:

• lave mad = cook food / do some cooking in general
• lave maden = prepare the food / the meal specific to the situation

So maden sounds more natural here because it points to the particular meal being ordered.

Because før introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses in Danish normally keep subject + verb order.

So:

• før kokken begynder at lave maden

not:

• før begynder kokken at lave maden

Compare with a main clause:

• Kokken begynder at lave maden.

After før, the clause becomes subordinate, but the order still stays:

• før kokken begynder ...

This is the same kind of pattern as after om.

Because Danish often uses the present tense for actions that are happening now, are habitual, or are understood from context as part of a sequence.

In this sentence, the idea is something like:

• the waiter asks
• before the chef starts cooking

Even though one action happens before another, Danish does not need a future form like English sometimes does.

So the present tense works naturally for all three verbs:

• spørger = asks
• er = is
• begynder = begins

This is completely normal Danish.

Spørger is the present tense of spørge = to ask.

Some useful forms are:

• at spørge = to ask
• spørger = ask / asks
• spurgte = asked
• har spurgt = have/has asked

So:

• Tjeneren spørger = The waiter asks / is asking

Yes, tjeneren means the waiter.

The base noun is:

• en tjener = a waiter

To make it definite, Danish usually adds the article to the end of the noun:

• tjeneren = the waiter

This is a key feature of Danish:

• en kok = a chef
• kokken = the chef
• en bestilling = an order
• bestillingen = the order

So the -en ending here is the definite article for a common-gender noun.

A direct version of the waiter’s question would be:

• Er vores bestilling rigtig?

And the full idea could be expressed as:

• Tjeneren spørger: Er vores bestilling rigtig?

In the original sentence, this direct question is turned into an indirect one:

• Tjeneren spørger, om vores bestilling er rigtig ...

So one useful thing to learn here is the contrast between:

• Er vores bestilling rigtig? = direct question
• om vores bestilling er rigtig = indirect question