Danish/Lesson 1

^ Lektion 2: Familie ^ Lektion 3: Tal og Farver ^

A note on pronunciation

Danish words are rather difficult for English-speakers to pronounce correctly when given only the written form. Even after hearing the words being spoken, the sounds can be frustrating to reproduce. The pronunciation guide is an attempt to explain how the words should be spoken, but these rules are quite hard to follow when confronted with a word like Smørrebrødsjomfru (refers to a woman making something called "Smørrebrød", which is a slice of dark bread with butter and a lot of fillings on top, like salad, fish, "remoulade" etc.).

Here's a very incomplete list of tips for the simple greetings in this lesson:

Hej ("Hi") = almost like the English Hi. Sound sample Media:Hej.ogg
Dav = say Dau. Sound sample Media:Dav.ogg
Goddag ("Goodday") = the last g is silent. Sound sample Media:Goddag.ogg
Godmorgen ("Goodmorning") = "go-moarn". The r is pronounced in the back of the throat, nearly silent. Sound sample Media:Godmorgen.ogg

Hellos and Goodbyes in Danish

Hellos:

Hello!                Hej!
                      Hejsa!
                      Dav!
                      Goddag!
Good morning!         Godmorgen!
Good evening!         Godaften!
What's up!            Hvad så!

Goodbyes:

Goodbye/Farewell      Farvel!
Bye!                  Hej hej!
See you later!        Vi ses senere!
See you!(Shortened)   Vi ses!
Good night!           Godnat!

Samtale 1 ~ Conversation 1

Sofie and Louise are friends. They meet and talk about their day.

Louise: Hej Sofie, hvordan går det?
Sofie: Det går godt, tak. Hvad med dig?
Louise: Jeg har det fint.
Sofie: Hvad så?
Louise: Ikke noget særligt
Sofie: Hej hej, Louise.
Louise: Vi ses.

Ordforklaringer ~ Vocabulary

Hej	=	Hi, hello
Hvordan går det? / Hvordan har du det?	=	How's it going? / How are you (Literally: "How goes it?" / "How (do) you have it?")
Det går godt / Jeg har det fint	=	Well / I'm fine (Literally: "It goes good." / "I have it fine.")
Tak	=	Thanks
Hvad med dig?	=	How about you? (Literally: "What with you?)
Hvad så?	=	What's up? (Literally: "What then?")
Ikke noget særligt	=	Nothing in particular (Literally: "Not anything particular")

You can probably figure out the rest, with the help of the Hellos and Goodbyes table.

Samtale 2

Take a look at this short formal conversation to see how Danes address each other formally.

Hr. Nilsen: Goddag! Hvordan har De det?
Hr. Klaaborg: Goddag! Jeg har det fint, tak.
Hr. Nilsen: Godt, Farvel!
Hr. Klaaborg: Farvel!

Voice sample (one voice)

Ordforklaringer

Hr.	=	Mister (mr.)
Frk., Frøken	=	Ms., Miss
Fr., Fru	=	Mrs., Missis

You may have noticed that hr. Nilsen referred to hr. Klaaborg as De. This is the polite form for you, as opposed to the casual du, which Sofie and Louise used. This is rarely used in Danish today though, but can still be seen when people demand great respect, like, for example, the nobility.

Flere ordforklaringer ~ More vocabulary

besøge                    visit
bro                       bridge
ven, venner               friend, friends
samtale, samtaler         conversation, conversations
grammatik                 grammar
lektie                    homework
lektion                   lesson
gade, vej                 street, road
ordforklaringer           word explanations, vocabulary

at gå                     to go/walk
med                       with
at være                   to be

at møde                   to meet
at besøge                 to visit
at forstå                 to understand

men                       but, however
også                      also, too, as well
tak                       thank you; thanks
det                       it (pronoun)
nej                       no
ja                        yes
korrekt                   correct
allerede                  already
smuk                      beautiful
meget                     very
og                        and

Pronominer ~ Pronouns

The Danish pronouns shouldn't be too hard to memorize, as they are most of the time close to their English equivalents. vi = we and os = us, for example.

	Subject (nominative)		Object (accusative)
	Danish	English	Danish	English
1st Person Singular	jeg	I	mig	me
2nd Person Singular	du	you	dig	you
3rd Person Singular	han hun den/det	he she it	ham hende den/det	him her it

1st Person Plural	vi	we	os	us
2nd Person Plural	I	you	jer	you
3rd Person Plural/ Polite 2nd Person Singular	de	they	dem	them

^ Lektion 2: Familie ^ Lektion 3: Tal og Farver ^