Hvis der ikke er tomat i køleskabet, skærer jeg bare en agurk og en moden banan til frokost.

Here der is the Danish existential there, like English there is / there are.

So:

• der er tomat i køleskabet = there is tomato in the fridge
• der ikke er tomat i køleskabet = there is not tomato in the fridge

In this sentence, der does not mean there as a place. It is just part of the structure used to say that something exists or is present somewhere.

So Hvis der ikke er ... means If there isn’t / if there are no ...

Because in Danish subordinate clauses like clauses starting with hvis (if), words like ikke usually come before the finite verb.

So the order is:

• Hvis der ikke er tomat ...

not:

• Hvis der er ikke tomat ... ❌

This is a very important Danish word-order pattern:

• Main clause: adverb often comes after the verb
  
  • Der er ikke tomat.
• Subordinate clause: adverb often comes before the verb
  
  • Hvis der ikke er tomat ...

This is because Danish is a V2 language in main clauses. That means the finite verb normally comes in second position.

The whole Hvis ... clause comes first:

• Hvis der ikke er tomat i køleskabet, = first element

So the main clause must begin with the verb:

• skærer jeg bare en agurk ...

Compare:

• Jeg skærer bare en agurk til frokost.
• Hvis der ikke er tomat i køleskabet, skærer jeg bare en agurk til frokost.

In the second version, the if-clause takes first position, so skærer moves before jeg.

In Danish, foods and ingredients are often used without an article when speaking in a more general or uncountable way.

So:

• der er tomat i køleskabet can mean something like there is tomato / any tomato in the fridge
• It does not have to mean exactly one tomato

This is similar to English when we say:

• There’s no bread
• There isn’t any milk

Even though tomato is usually countable in English, Danish can sometimes use the singular noun more generally in food contexts.

If you wanted to be more specifically countable, you might say:

• der ikke er nogen tomater = there aren’t any tomatoes
• der ikke er en tomat = there isn’t a tomato / not a single tomato

Køleskabet means the fridge. The ending -et is the definite article attached to the noun.

So:

• et køleskab = a fridge
• køleskabet = the fridge

Danish usually adds the to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word.

In this sentence, it is a specific fridge, so i køleskabet = in the fridge.

Skærer is the present tense of skære (to cut).

So:

• at skære = to cut
• jeg skærer = I cut / I am cutting

In Danish, the present tense is often used where English might use either:

• I cut
• I’m cutting
• sometimes even I’ll cut, depending on context

Here, because of the if-clause, English may translate it naturally as:

• If there’s no tomato in the fridge, I’ll just cut ...

But Danish still uses the present tense skærer.

Bare here means just.

It adds the idea of simplicity, resignation, or that’s fine, I’ll do this instead.

So:

• skærer jeg bare en agurk ... = I’ll just cut a cucumber ...

It suggests something like:

• no problem
• as a simple alternative
• that’ll do

Very common Danish uses of bare include:

• Bare rolig = Just relax / Don’t worry
• Kom bare ind = Just come in
• Jeg gør det bare senere = I’ll just do it later

Both agurk and banan are common gender nouns, so they take en in the singular indefinite:

• en agurk = a cucumber
• en banan = a banana

The adjective moden means ripe. In the singular indefinite with an en-word, the basic adjective form is used:

• en moden banan = a ripe banana

Compare:

• en moden banan
• et modent æble = a ripe apple
• modne bananer = ripe bananas

So moden is the correct form because banan is an en-word.

Because only the banana is being described as ripe.

So:

• en agurk og en moden banan = a cucumber and a ripe banana

This does not mean the cucumber is ripe too.

If both nouns had the same adjective, you would normally need to show that more clearly, for example:

• en moden agurk og en moden banan

or possibly restructure the sentence.

Til frokost means for lunch or sometimes at lunch.

It is a very common fixed expression in Danish:

• til morgenmad = for breakfast
• til frokost = for lunch
• til aftensmad = for dinner

So:

• en agurk og en moden banan til frokost = a cucumber and a ripe banana for lunch

You do not need an article here. Danish normally says til frokost, not til en frokost.

Here og is simply and.

It joins the two objects of skærer:

• en agurk
• en moden banan

So the sentence says the speaker will cut:

• a cucumber and a ripe banana

Nothing unusual is happening grammatically with og here.

Yes, possibly. Grammatically the sentence is fine, but the food combination may sound unusual depending on context.

A learner should know that language examples are often built to teach grammar or vocabulary, not to reflect the most typical meal. So even if cucumber and a ripe banana for lunch sounds a little unusual, the Danish structure is still natural enough for learning purposes.

A useful way to see it is:

• Hvis der ikke er tomat i køleskabet,
  subordinate clause
• skærer jeg bare en agurk og en moden banan til frokost.
  main clause

Inside the subordinate clause:

• Hvis = if
• der = existential there
• ikke = not
• er = is/are
• tomat i køleskabet = tomato in the fridge

Inside the main clause:

• skærer = cut / am cutting / will cut
• jeg = I
• bare = just
• en agurk og en moden banan = a cucumber and a ripe banana
• til frokost = for lunch

So the two big things to notice are:

1. subordinate clause: ikke before the verb
2. main clause after fronting: verb before subject (skærer jeg)