Planning a Café Meet-Up | Learn Danish in English

Danish lesson set in a contemporary Copenhagen everyday setting: At a cafe, two friends plan to meet in a quiet place, bring a book, and read for a while..

EN → DA / Level: A1

About This Lesson

Use Planning a Café Meet-Up to practice Danish conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.

Dialogue

A

Har du lyst til at mødes på en café?

HAHR doo LUHST təl uh MUH-thus poh en ka-FAY? Would you like to meet at a cafe?
B

Det lyder afslappende.

deh LEW-thuh AHF-SLAB-nuh. That sounds relaxing.
A

Hvilken café kan du lide?

VEL-gun ka-FAY kan doo LEE-thuh? Which cafe do you like?
B

Jeg kan lide den stille café nær parken.

yai kan LEE-thuh den STEL-uh ka-FAY nair PAR-gun. I like the quiet one near the park.
A

Lad os mødes der og nyde roen.

LETH ohs MUH-thus dair oh NEW-thuh ROH-un. Let's meet there and enjoy the quiet.
B

Jeg kan tage en bog med.

yai kan TAY uh BOH meth. I can bring a book.
A

Vi kan læse der et stykke tid.

vee kan LAY-suh dair et STUH-guh TEETH. We can read there for a while.
B

Det ville være en god pause.

deh VEL-uh VAIR en GOH POW-suh. That would be a nice break.

Word by Word

Har In “Har du lyst til at mødes på en café?”, Har is part of the expression “Har du lyst til” meaning “would you like to”. It introduces a question about someone’s desire to do something.
du In “Har du lyst til at mødes på en café?”, du means “you”, the person being asked about meeting. It is used as the subject before the rest of the question.
lyst In “Har du lyst til at mødes på en café?”, lyst means desire or inclination. The pattern “have lyst til at” is used to ask or say that someone feels like doing something.
til Here til is part of “Har du lyst til at mødes”, connecting the desire with the action that follows. In this pattern, it comes before at and the action.
at Here at marks the action mødes in the pattern “lyst til at mødes”. It introduces the verb phrase that says what someone would like to do.
mødes In “Har du lyst til at mødes på en café?”, mødes means to meet each other. The form is used after at and refers to the two people meeting.
på In “på en café”, på means “at” and identifies the place where the meeting happens. It is used here before a place such as en café.
en In “på en café”, en means “a” and introduces one unspecified café. It comes directly before the noun café.
café Café means “café” in “en café”. It names the place where the speakers would like to meet.
Det In “Det lyder afslappende”, Det refers to the suggested meeting and means “that” or “it”. It is used at the start of the reply about how the suggestion sounds.
lyder In “Det lyder afslappende”, lyder means “sounds”. It is used with Det to give an impression or evaluation of a suggestion.
afslappende In “Det lyder afslappende”, afslappende describes the suggested plan as relaxing. It follows lyder to say what impression the plan gives.
Hvilken In “Hvilken café kan du lide?”, Hvilken means “which” and asks the listener to choose one café. It comes directly before café.
kan In “Hvilken café kan du lide?”, kan is part of “kan lide”, the expression used for liking something. It comes before lide in this question.
lide In “Hvilken café kan du lide?”, lide completes “kan lide”, meaning “like”. The object of this expression is the café being asked about.
Jeg In “Jeg kan lide den stille café nær parken”, Jeg means “I”. It is the subject identifying who likes the café.
den In “den stille café”, den is the definite article meaning “the”. It comes before the adjective stille and the noun café.
stille In “den stille café”, stille means “quiet” and describes the café. It is placed before the noun it describes.
nær In “nær parken”, nær means “near” and gives the café’s location. It is followed here by the place parken.
parken In “nær parken”, parken means “the park”. It is the place used to locate the café; the related noun form is park.
Lad In “Lad os mødes der”, Lad helps make a suggestion meaning “let’s meet there”. It is used at the beginning of the suggestion before os.
os In “Lad os mødes der”, os means “us” and refers to the speakers together. It follows Lad in the suggestion pattern “Lad os ...”.
der In “Lad os mødes der”, der means “there” and points to the café already being discussed. It tells where the speakers should meet.
og In “mødes der og nyde roen”, og means “and”. It links the suggested actions mødes and nyde.
nyde In “nyde roen”, nyde means “enjoy”. It is the second action in the suggestion “Lad os mødes der og nyde roen”.
roen In “nyde roen”, roen means “the quiet” or “the calm”. It is the thing the speakers plan to enjoy; the related noun form is ro.
tage In “tage en bog med”, tage means to take or bring something along. The object en bog comes after tage, with med completing the idea of bringing it along.
bog In “en bog”, bog means “book”. It is the object of tage in “tage en bog med”.
med In “tage en bog med”, med means “along” and completes the expression for bringing something with you. The object appears between tage and med in this dialogue.
Vi In “Vi kan læse der et stykke tid”, Vi means “we”. It refers to both speakers as the people who can read there.
læse In “Vi kan læse der et stykke tid”, læse means “read”. It follows kan and names the activity the speakers can do.
et In “et stykke tid”, et is the indefinite article “a”. It introduces stykke as part of the time expression meaning “for a while”.
stykke In “et stykke tid”, stykke literally means “piece”, but together with et and tid it forms the expression “for a while”. Keep it with tid when reusing this time expression.
tid In “et stykke tid”, tid means “time”. Together with et stykke, it expresses a period lasting for a while.
ville In “Det ville være en god pause”, ville gives the idea of “would”. It presents the break as a possible or imagined result of the plan.
være In “Det ville være en god pause”, være means “be”. It follows ville in the pattern “ville være” meaning “would be”.
god In “en god pause”, god means “good” or “nice” and describes the pause positively. It comes before the noun pause.
pause In “en god pause”, pause means “break”. It names the relaxing period the speakers think their café plan would provide.

Grammar Points

have lyst til + infinitiv

have lyst til at læse

HAH-vuh LUHST təl uh LAY-suh

would like to read

Use have lyst til before at + infinitive to express a desire or wish to do something.

Lad os + infinitiv

Lad os nyde roen

LETH ohs NEW-thuh ROH-un

Let's enjoy the quiet

Use Lad os followed by an infinitive to suggest doing something together.

Danish Vocabulary

afslappende adj
AHF-SLAB-nuh relaxing
have lyst til phrase
HAH-vuh LUHST təl would like to

Har du lyst til at mødes på en café?

hvilken det
VEL-gun which
Gender
common
Lad os phrase
LETH ohs let's

Lad os mødes der og nyde roen.

lide verb
LEE-thuh like
lyder verb
LEW-thuh sounds
lyst noun
LUHST desire
mødes verb
MUH-thus meet
nær prep
NAIR near
parken noun
PAR-gun the park
på prep
POH at; on
stille adj
STEL-uh quiet

Quiz

Word Order

Arrange the words in the correct order.

That sounds relaxing.

Show AnswerDet lyder afslappende.

Which cafe do you like?

Show AnswerHvilken café kan du lide?

I can bring a book.

Show AnswerJeg kan tage en bog med.

Spelling

Tap the letters to spell the word.

sounds

Show Answerlyder

which

Show Answerhvilken

meet

Show Answermødes

like

Show Answerlide