Det tager kun to minutter at købe boller, når der ikke er nogen kø.

to be

Breakdown of Det tager kun to minutter at købe boller, når der ikke er nogen kø.

• når: when
• købe: to buy
• der: there

Questions & Answers about Det tager kun to minutter at købe boller, når der ikke er nogen kø.

Why does the sentence start with det? What does det tager mean here?

Det is an impersonal subject here. Danish often uses det in expressions where English uses it, even though det does not refer to a specific thing.

So det tager ... means it takes ...

Examples:

• Det tager en time. = It takes an hour.
• Det tager kun to minutter. = It only takes two minutes.

In this sentence, det is not standing for a noun like the trip or the task. It is just the normal way to form this kind of expression in Danish.

Why is it tager and not something like tage?

Tager is the present tense of tage.

• tage = to take
• tager = takes / is taking

Because the sentence is stating a general fact, Danish uses the present tense:

• Det tager kun to minutter ... = It takes only two minutes ...

If you used tage, that would be the infinitive form, which would not work as the main verb here.

Why is kun placed before to minutter?