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| Freja | Saturday 18th of June 2005 04:36:30 PM |
| Navneord - Danish nouns are either common [i](fælleskøn)[/i] or neuter [i](intetkøn)[/i] gender. Once Danish had 3 genders like e.g. German, Latin: the masculine, feminine and neuter gender. However, times are changing and the masculine and feminine gender melted together and became one gender: common
Before the reform of orthography in 1948 all nouns were written with a capital letter like the Germans do and also adjectives which work as a noun are written with a capital letter [i]In Danish there are two indefinite articles: [b]et[/b] and [b]en[/b] ehich work as suffixes -en, -et, -(e)ne. and three definite articles: [b]*det, den,[/b] and [b]de[/b] (plural). *det, den and de are used when you have an adjective or more before the noun - den pæne pige (the pretty girl) - det røde hus (the red house) - de grønne enge (the green meadows[/i] [i]Indefinite common gender:[/i] Singular: En dreng [i]a boy[/i] - En pige [i]a girl[/i] - En time [i]an hour[/i] Plural: drenge [i]boys[/i] - piger [i]girls[/i] - timer [i]hours[/i] [i]Definite common gender:[/i] Singular: drengen [i]the boy[/i] - pigen [i]the girl[/i] - timen [i]the hour[/i] Plural: drengene [i]the boys[/i] - pigerne [i]the girls[/i] - timerne [i]the hours[/i] Some nouns can be both common and neuter gender, but they have different meanings [i]En øre - øren - øre - øre(r)ne[/i] - This means øre as in money [i]Et øre - øret - ører - ørerne (Outdated: øren)[/i] - This means ear as an organ [i]En plan - planen - planer - planerne[/i] - This means plan as plan or scheme [i]Et plan - planet - planer or plan - plane(r)ne[/i] - This means plan as a level, niveau [i]This one has 2 plural forms with different meanings[/i] [i]En skat - skatten - [u]skatte[/u] - skattene[/i] - This means skat as in treasure [i]En skat - skatten - [u]skatter[/u] - skatterne[/i] - This means skat as in tax [i]Some nouns change vocal in plural[/i] [i]duck[/i] - En and - anden - ænder - ænderne [i]man[/i] - En mand - manden - mænd - mændene [i]claw[/i] - En klo - kloen - kløer - kløerne [i]night[/i] - En nat - natten - nætter - nætterne [i]goose[/i] - En gås - gåsen - gæs - gæssene [i]daughter[/i]- En datter - datteren - døtre - døtrene* [i]child[/i] - Et barn - barnet - børn - børnene [i]*This one is understandable because "datter" in the past was "dotter/dottir. Why plural of "barn" is "børn", I don't know[/i] [i]Some foregin words have irregular plural[/i] [i]account[/i] - En konto - konti (kontoer) [i]museum[/i] - Et museum - museer [i]fact[/i] - Et faktum - fakta [i]risk[/i] - En risiko - risici (risikoer) [i][u]All[/u] nouns ending with -er only add -e in plural[/i] [i]fisherman[/i] - En fisker - fisker[b]e[/b] [i]teacher[/i] - En lærer - lærer[b]e[/b] [i]workman[/i] - En arbejder - arbejder[b]e[/b] [i]All nouns with more than one syllable ending with -or add stressed -orer in plural (but are not always pronounced that way)[/i] [i]motor[/i] - En motor - motorer [i]lift[/i] - En elevator - elevatorer [i]sponsor[/i] - En sponsor - sponsorer [i]Some nouns can only be found in singular, but they describe a group[/i] [i]cattle[/i] - kvæg [i]welfare[/i] - velfærd [i]traffic[/i] - trafik [i]Other nouns can also only be found in singular, but they describe things which can't be counted[/i] [i]meat[/i] - kød [i]gold[/i] - guld [i]butter[/i] - smør [i]beer[/i] - øl* *you can hear people say øller for plural and that's correct, but then the meaning changes to bottles of beer [i]Some nouns can only be found in plural[/i] [i]money[/i] - penge [i]fun[/i] - løjer [i]bowels[/i] - indvolde [i]Most abstract nouns don't have plural, but some do[/i] [i]pain[/i] - En smerte - smerter [i]lie[/i] - En løgn - løgne [i]dream[/i] - En drøm - drømme [i]message[/i] - En besked - beskeder | |
