Kan De se, om bagepapiret passer til den her bageplade, eller skal jeg tage det større?

De is the formal/polite word for you in Danish. It is traditionally capitalized to show respect.

So Kan De se ... is a polite way of saying Can you tell / can you see ... to a customer, stranger, or someone you want to address formally.

In modern spoken Danish, this is much less common than du, and it can sound quite formal, old-fashioned, or very polite depending on the situation.

This is a very common polite way to ask for someone's judgment or opinion.

Literally, Kan De se, om ... means Can you see whether/if ..., but in natural English it often corresponds to something like:

• Can you tell if ...
• Could you check whether ...
• Do you think ...

So here it softens the request and makes it sound more polite than a direct question.

Here om means if or whether.

In this sentence, it introduces an indirect yes/no question:

• om bagepapiret passer til den her bageplade
• whether the baking paper fits this baking tray

This is different from the Danish hvis, which is used for conditional if:

• Hvis det passer, køber jeg det = If it fits, I’ll buy it

So:

• om = whether/if in indirect questions
• hvis = if in conditions

Bagepapiret means the baking paper.

Danish often adds the definite article as an ending:

• et bagepapir = a piece of baking paper / baking paper
• bagepapiret = the baking paper

So the -et ending is the definite form of a neuter noun.

The speaker is referring to a specific piece or package of baking paper, not baking paper in general.

At passe til means to fit, to suit, or to be the right match for something.

So:

• bagepapiret passer til den her bageplade
• the baking paper fits this baking tray

The preposition til is important here. You usually learn this as a set expression:

• passe til noget = fit/suit something

Without til, passer can have other meanings depending on context, such as takes care of or fits in another sense, so it is best to learn passe til as a chunk.

Both are possible, but den her bageplade is more common in everyday spoken Danish.

They both mean this baking tray:

• den her bageplade = everyday spoken style
• denne bageplade = a bit more formal or written

So den her is a very common way to say this before a common-gender noun.

Because bageplade is a common gender noun, it takes den her.
If it were a neuter noun, you would get det her.

Because when Danish uses a demonstrative like den her, the noun usually stays in the indefinite form.

Compare:

• bagepladen = the baking tray
• den her bageplade = this baking tray

You generally do not say den her bagepladen.

So with den her / det her / denne / dette, the noun is normally not marked with the usual definite ending.

This means something like or should I take the bigger one?

A few things are going on here:

• skal jeg = should I
• tage = take
• det større = the bigger one / the larger one

The noun is left out because it is understood from context. Danish often does this, just like English says the bigger one instead of repeating the noun.

So this is short for something like:

• skal jeg tage det større bagepapir
• should I take the bigger baking paper

or possibly the larger size, depending on context.

This can be confusing.

Here det is not necessarily referring to the gender of bagepapir in a simple one-to-one way. In expressions like this, det + adjective can act like the ... one.

So det større means the bigger one.

Also, bagepapir is a neuter noun (et bagepapir), so if the omitted noun is bagepapir, then det matches that as well.

In practice, the learner should understand det større here as an elliptical phrase meaning the larger one / the bigger one.

Større is the comparative form of stor:

• stor = big/large
• større = bigger/larger

So the speaker is comparing two options, probably two sizes of baking paper:

• this one
• a larger one

That is why the comparative is needed.

Because this part is a direct question:

• eller skal jeg tage det større?
• or should I take the bigger one?

In Danish main-clause questions, the verb normally comes before the subject:

• Jeg skal tage det større. = statement
• Skal jeg tage det større? = question

Even after eller, it is still an independent question, so the normal question word order stays.

Yes, the sentence is natural, especially in a customer-service situation where someone is checking whether a product is the right size.

The only thing that stands out a bit is De, which is formal. In modern everyday Danish, many people would instead say du:

• Kan du se, om bagepapiret passer til den her bageplade, eller skal jeg tage det større?

That would sound more casual and modern.

So the sentence is natural, but the level of formality depends mainly on De.