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After completing this lesson you will be able to:

• Order something to drink at the café 
• Order food at a café
• Ask for the bill

Danes drink more coffee than almost all other countries in the world. On average, a Dane drinks 13 kg of coffee a year, which corresponds to about four cups a day. Danes meet for a cup of coffee, have coffee breaks and like to fill the thermos before the work day begins.

When ordering at a café or restaurant, it is polite to say jeg vil gerne bede om, followed by your actual order:

At a café you usually order and pay at the counter, although there are some places that have dinner at the table.

Restaurants always have table service. Note that it is rude to shout or snatch the waiter. You can wave discreetly after a waiter or say sorry when the waiter comes by. Try to be patient and discreet when you need help.

Some people leave tips at restaurants, but not at a café.

In this section we look more closely at the articles en and et.

Danish has two indefinite articles, en and et. 

Whether to use en or et depends on the gender of the noun. In Danish nouns are either fælleskøn (common gender) or intetkøn (neuter gender):

Fælleskøn uses the article en: en kop

Intetkøn uses the article et: et glas

Approximately 75% of the Danish nouns use fælleskøn. So, when you do not know the gender of a noun, you should guess fælleskøn and use the article en.

In order to use the definite article, you use en in front of the noun or attach it to the rear of the noun:

When you ask for the bill at a restaurant, you can use the same sentence as when ordering:: Jeg vil gerne bede om...

When you give someone something, you say:

When you get something from someone, you say: