(Image by Sabine Dirksen from Pixabay; no copyright.)

Hej! Hvordan har du det? Jeg håber du har det godt… (Hi, how are you doing? I hope you’re doing fine…) Learning any language takes a lot of time and work. Sometimes it gets a little too technical with all the details you need to remember: Grammar, udtale (pronunciation) and what not. Below is a small collection of phrases that might be useful. (I’m sure some of them have been mentioned before in this blog, but not in the same post!)

Velkommen til. (Welcome.)

Hvad hedder du? (What’s your name?)

Vi er på ferie i Danmark. (We’re on holiday in Denmark.)

Må jeg sidde her? (Can I sit here?)

Hvor bor I henne? (Where do you guys live?)

Hvor ligger hotellet? (Where is the hotel?)

Gå til højre/til venstre/ligeud. (Walk right/left/straight ahead.)

Mange tak. (Thanks a lot.)

Det var så lidt. (You’re welcome.)

Undskyld! (Sorry!)

Det beklager jeg! (Sorry about that!)

Børnene kan lide at svømme. (The children like to swim.)

Kan du hjælpe mig? (Can you help me?)

Jeg har brug for et kram. (I need a hug.)

Jeg er sulten/tørstig. (I’m hungry/thirsty.)

Hvad koster et stykke kage? (How much does a piece of cake cost?)

Fryser du? (Are you cold?)

Hvad er klokken? (What time is it?)

Det er sent. (It’s late.)

Det var rigtigt hyggeligt, men vi er nødt til at gå nu. (It was very nice, but we have to leace now.)

Solen skinner og fuglene synger. (The sun is shining and the birds are singing.)

Dejligt vejr! (Nice weather!)

Du er smuk. (You’re beautiful.)

I lige måde. (You too./Likewise.)

Jeg elsker dig. (I love you.)

Skål! (Cheers!)

Tillykke med fødselsdagen! (Happy birthday!)

Sjovt! (Funny!)

God rejse! (Have a nice trip!)

God påske! (Happy Easter!)

Vi ses! (See you!)

Hav det godt! (Take care!)

And now a little notice for you all… As I wrote last month, my blogging for Transparent Language is coming to an end. It’s been some interesting years, and I’ve been learning a lot from communicating with my readers. Thank you for being there and for all your feedback! However, I also want to write other things than blog posts, and to explore other areas than language teaching. And as you know if you’ve been following this blog for a while, the frequency of posts has been going down as Transparent Language is increasing its focus on other ways to teach languages. (Which means there might not come a new blogger here in the foreseeable future.) So, this will be my last post for this blog. I know some of you will feel let down, but nobody can please everybody. I hope you’ll keep learning Danish! Tak for selskabet! Held og lykke videre! (Thank you for the company! Good luck in the future!)

     

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(Image courtesy of Katie Walker from Pixabay; no copyright.)

Since you read this blog last month, a horrible krig [kreey] (war) has broken out in the midst of Europa. Let’s all hope and wish it will end as soon and as peacefully as humanly possible. Verden har brug for fred. (The world needs peace.) And we need to be able to communicate respectfully and try to understand each other, even if we don’t always agree – isn’t that why we’re language learners, after all?

Learning, however, isn’t easy when your mind is full of frygt (fear). Focusing on nice and even nerdy things is, I think, the way forward. With that in mind, here are some things I like about Danish:

• Danish has even more vowels than English! Even if that makes the pronunciation quite hard to master, the many shades of slightly different sounds also give the language its own, weird, blurred beauty. Like watercolour. Y. Æ. Ø. Å. Isn’t that just pure poetry?

• Danish is a gold mine of delightful expressions and idioms, such as der er ingen ko på isen (there’s no cow on the ice) to express that everything is fine.

• Danish has many words other than hygge that can’t be translated directly into English. A døgn [doyn] means ”day and night”, while dejlig [dylee] is a kind of mix between ”nice”, ”pleasant” and ”great”. Ae means ”to stroke” or ”caress”, like when a child is carefully patting a horse.

• In Danish, verbs have a passive ending in -s, which allows for really compact phrases: Huset males (the house is being painted). Branden slukkes (the fire is being put out).

What do you like about dansk? Feel free to share with the other readers in the comments section.

BTW, you might get a new blogger soon. As much as I’ve enjoyed writing for this blog, I also feel I’ve reached a point where I have to rehash a lot of ideas. So let’s see, and take care! Thanks for reading.

     

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(Photo courtesy of Michael Hiemstra at Flickr, CC Licence, no copyright.)

Kommaer er underlige. (Commas are strange.) Man skriver dem, men man kan ikke høre dem. (You write them, but you can’t hear them.) Well, sometimes you do hear them, as little pause/r (breaks) when people talk. In Denmark, people have been discussing the correct use of commas for ages, and most people are fed up with kommakrigen (the comma war). The current rules are, however, not very difficult. Let’s take a look!¹

As in English, you use commas in order to avoid having multiple ”ands” in lists. Instead of ”boller og smør og syltetøj og kakao og flødeskum” (buns and butter and jam and hot chocolate and whipped cream) you replace every og, except for the last one, with a comma:

boller, smør, syltetøj, kakao og flødeskum

Please note that it’s one separator or the other – ”Jylland, Fyn, og Sjælland” is wrong in Danish.² It should be: Jylland, Fyn og Sjælland.

A less whispery alternative to brackets, commas are also used to insert extra explanations or comments in phrases:

Hanne kommer også. (Hanne will also come.) > Hanne, min nabo, kommer også. (Hanne, my neighbour, will also come.)

Familien elsker strandture. (The family loves beach strolls.) > Familien elsker strandture, især om morgenen. (The family loves beach strolls, especially in the morning.)

You can also use a comma – combined with a conjunction such as og – to join two sentences that would otherwise be separated by a full stop:

Det blæser. Cyklerne vælter. (It is windy. The bikes fall over.) > Det blæser, og cyklerne vælter.

Det er koldt. Vi hygger os. > Det er koldt, men vi hygger os. (It’s cold but we’re having a good time.)

Some sentences can’t stand on their own – they’re dependent on another sentence in order to make sense. If you stay is a full sentence (with a subject and a noun), but it calls for the help of another sentence (such as we’ll be very happy). Another example of a ledsætning (subordinate clause): …that it’s bad for your health.

Once you get what a ledsætning is, the comma rules are easy in Danish:

• If the ledsætning comes before the main clause, it’s followed by a comma: Når solen skinner, nyder vi vejret. (When the sun is shining, we enjoy the weather.)

• If the main clause comes first, YOU CHOOSE: Vi nyder vejret når solen skinner. OR: Vi nyder vejret, når solen skinner.

The optional comma in front of ledsætninger is the most contentious issue in the Danish spelling wars. Skipping this comma may seem a bit progressive:³ De siger at du gerne må vælge den is du ønsker. (They say you’re allowed to pick the icecream you want.)

Most newspapers etc. stick to tradition, which says that every optional comma should be written:⁴ De siger, at du gerne må vælge den is, du ønsker.

     

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(Photo by Sofus Rose from Pixabay; no copyright.)

Hurra, så er det jul! (Hooray, then it’s Christmas!) For billions of people, that means glæde (joy) and spending time with familien (the family). But what is special about the højtid (feast, literally ’high time’) in Denmark?

Jul [yool] is a very old tradition in Danmark – in fact, even the Vikings had a party this time of year! They called it jól [yohl], and it was a celebration of vintersolhverv (winter solstice): From now on, the days would get longer. After the Viking Age, the ancient jul was replaced by a kristen fest (Christian festival) celebrating¹ the birth of Jesus. But the name stuck!

Nisser also survive from ancient times. The little ”hobgoblins” with røde huer (red caps) appear in Christmas decorations everywhere in Denmark. And some children put on nissehuer and become like nisser themselves. Julemanden, the Danish version of Santa Claus, is like a big version of a nisse. Julemanden brings en sæk med gaver (a sack full of gifts), saying things like: ”Ho, ho, er der nogen søde børn her?” (Ho, ho, are there any kind children here?)

Most of the presents, however, are placed under juletræet (below the Xmas tree) on juleaften – Dec. 24th. This is the big day of julen (the Xmas), where people eat julemad (Xmas food/dinner) and unwrap their gifts to hinanden (each other) later in the evening. The dinner typically consists of a main dish – gås, and, kalkun eller flæskesteg (goose, duck, turkey or pork) – served with for example rødkål (red cabbage) and brunede kartofler (caramelled potatoes). If you’ve never tried risalamande [reesalamang] it’s hard to explain what the dessert is – the dictionary says ”Danish rice pudding with almonds”. And mandler (almonds) it certainly contains, including one hel mandel (whole almond). The lucky person who finds it in her/his bowl, will receive a little mandelgave (”almond gift”).

Before getting to the presents, most Danes also går rundt om juletræet (walk around the Xmas tree) while singing traditional julesange (Xmas carols). The tree is lavishly decorated – often with levende lys (lit candles, literally ”living lights”) and hand-made julepynt (Xmas decorations). A Danish favourite is det flettede julehjerte (the ”braided” Christmas heart), said to have been invented by the famous writer H. C. Andersen in the 1850s.

Må alle dine ønsker gå i opfyldelse! (May all your wishes come true!)

Glædelig jul og godt nytår!

(Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!)

      

(Photo by Szabolcs Molnar from Pixabay; no copyright.)

Danes just can’t stay away from vandet (the water) – even with temperatures approaching frysepunktet (the freezing point), they jump into havet (the sea)…

Vil du med ud at vinterbade? (Wanna go ”winter-bathing”?) The last few years, the Danes’ interest in vinterbadning (winter bathing) has just exploded. For example, there were 25.000 organised vinterbadere (winter bathers) in 2011. Today there’s more than 60.000! And that’s just klubmedlemmer (members of a klub) – in my experience, lots of people take the icy plunge without being in a club…

Why would anybody want at nedsænke kroppen i iskoldt vand (to submerge their body in icy cold water)? Well, for most people it’s only a matter of seconds. Then you rush up again from the sea, with dripping hair and gåsehud (gooseflesh), and speed into the sauna [saoo-nah]. And you’re really happy the Finns invented such a dejligt varmt rum (deliciously warm room)!

(Picture by S. B. from Pixabay; no copyright.)

”Ved du hvem jeg mødte i vinterbadet?” (Do you know who I met in the winter bath?) For thousands of Danes, vinterbadning is not only about cleansing the pores of your skin – it’s a way to meet venner (friends) and have det sjovt (have fun). After your shared kuldechok [KULLehshok] (cold shock), conversations flow quite naturally in the sauna.

Nøgenbadning (nude bathing): No, you don’t have to swim nøgen (naked) – there are clubs both for skinny-dippers and for those who feel more comfortable wearing badetøj (swimwear). But yes, in Denmark people generally seem to be less afraid of nudity than in countries such as the U.S., and you can certainly find Danish saunas where kvinder og mænd i alle aldre (women and men of all ages) couldn’t care less that nobody is clothed.

I don’t know a lot about the health aspect, but it seems like people who regularly vinterbader (go winter-bathing) are less syge (ill). Og man bliver i godt humør (and you’re put in a good mood) – which is essential to get through the dark Danish winter. Spring ahoy!

     

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Krølle-r-ne på hale-r-ne på gris-e-ne… (The curls on the tails on the pig[let]s…) Endings are an essential part of the Danish language. (Illustrative photo by Gerhard G. from Pixabay; no copyright.)

The main challenge is knowing which word takes which ending.

• Plurals of many Danish nouns (by, træ, kvinde, system – city, tree, woman, system) are made with -er, while many other nouns (hund, kat, ost, hus – dog, cat, cheese, house) take the ending -e, or, in the case of just a few words (år, sværd – year[s], sword[s]), no ending. (And yes, the plurals of some words imported into Danish from other languages² even end in -s.)

• Singular the varies according to the noun’s gender – you have to know whether the word you’re about to use has the common (the = -en) or neuter (-et) gender.

Once you know a noun’s endings (-er/-e/-/-s; -en or -et), you simply add one:

træ–er, hund–e, ost–en, hus–et. But what if a word already ends in -e – do you really write kvinde–er? Naturally, you just remove the -e, then add the ending – kvinder.

Easy, right?

The plural the is -ne³ – you simply attach it to the regular plural:

kvinder–ne, huse–ne, byer–ne (the women, the houses, the cities)

If the preceding word ends in a consonant, you insert an extra -e-⁴:

mænd–e–ne, år–e–ne, drinks–e–ne (the men, the years, the drinks)

NB1! Some words already end in -er in the singular. Very often, these nouns denote persons – such as bager (baker) or svensker (Swede). Even though they do have -e plurals (bager–e, svensker–e), the -ne is added to their basic form: bager–ne, svensker–ne.

NB2! A few short words end in -p, -t or -k. This letter is always doubled before endings:

top > toppen (the top), flot karakter > flotte karakterer (nice grades), tak > jeg takker jer (I thank you!)

     

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(Picture by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay; no copyright. This is just to illustrate the article. Click here for an idea of how Margrete may have looked.)

Did you know Danmark, Norge (Norway) and even Sverige (Sweden) were once united – and ruled by a kvinde (woman)? This month, Margrete den Første (Margrete the First), a film starring the Danish ”movie queen” Trine Dyrholm, is making its rounds in danske biografer (Danish cinemas). Let’s take a look at this important historisk skikkelse (historical figure).¹ And yes, you guessed it – she’s the reason the current queen is called Margrethe II.

In the year 1397, all of Skandinavien was united in Kalmarunionen (the Kalmar Union, after a Swedish town). As someone with family in all three countries, I always thought this was an excellent idea! But alas, the union wasn’t born out of some romantic idea of Nordic brotherhood. It was all about family ties and magtspil (power play) – and Margrete was pulling the strings.

A daughter of the legendary Danish king Valdemar Atterdag (literally: Vladimir Another-Day), 10-year-old Margrete was strategically married in 1363 to the Norwegian king, who was twelve years her senior. This was a very clever move, as her brand-new husband Håkon Magnusson also was in the line-up for the Swedish throne – a claim the Swedes, however, didn’t fully recognize while Håkon was alive.

Margrete had to leave her dad and her mother Helvig behind as she went to live in the Norwegian castle of Akershus outside Oslo. Here she gave birth to her only child Oluf in 1370. At a time when women had few options, her male child was to play an important role in her karriere (career):

• when her dad died, little Oluf became king of Denmark – but Margrete was the real ruler (this happened in 1375)
• when her husband died, Oluf became king of Norway – but again Margrete was the one in charge (in 1380)
• when her son died while still a teenager in 1387, she was officially proclaimed fuldmægtig frue og husbond (”principal lady and husband”) of both Denmark and Norway
• the next year even the Swedes, due to her late husband’s royal ties, accepted Margrete as their queen

Of course there’s much more to the story than just names and numbers – that’s what the movie is for! Men er det ikke spændende at den første Margrete herskede over hele Norden? (But isn’t it exciting that the first of the Margrethes ruled all the Nordic countries?) Kalmarunionen went all the way from Grønland to Finland. When Margrete herself died in 1412, she had created a powerful empire (along with her adoptive son Erik af Pommern).

Ever wondered why Danish and Norwegian look so similar?

In 1464, Sweden² dropped out of the union, but Norway and Denmark remained tied together until 1814 – and Danish was used as an official written language in Norway for a long time. So, if you’re learning Danish and find yourself understanding Norwegian, you might thank (or blame!) Margrete.

     

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