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| Ulven | Friday 04th of March 2005 03:49:33 PM |
| DANISH GRAMMAR - I'm a beginner, so I welcome any help and corrections I can get, and I'll edit my posts accordingly. Tak skal du have:). ([i]lit.[/i] thanks shall you have) In English, actions are denoted by a different word (verb form) for each person committing that action. eg. I [i]am[/i], you [i]are[/i], he [i]is[/i], they [i]are[/i]. This is not so in Danish. In Danish, the pattern is much simpler; I [i]is[/i], you [i]is[/i], he [i]is[/i], they [i]is[/i]. The same goes not merely for present tense, but all tenses.; I [i]was[/i], you [i]was[/i], he [i]was[/i], they [i]was[/i]. Very convenient and leisurely for a learner indeed:). *Pronunciation of all Danish used in this post is listed at the bottom. --------------------present tense [b]VÆRE[/b] - to be [b]jeg er[/b] - I am [b]du er[/b] - you are [b]han/hun er[/b] - he/she is [b]det/den er[/b] - it is* [b]vi er[/b] - we are [b]I er[/b]- you are (plural) [b]de er[/b] - they are (*[i]den[/i] and [i]det[/i] are both 'it', but are different gender and are used in different grammatical circumstances. Example usages; [b]Jeg [i]er[/i] fra Australien[/b]- I am from Australia (fra=from) [b][i]Er[/i] vi venner?[/b]- Are we friends? (ven=friend, venner=friends) [b]Hun er min søster[/b]- She is my sister Notice here that this second sentence was a question, so the word order changed exactly the same way as in English. Even though there are subtle differences in word order between English and Danish, they are the same in the most fundamental sense. Example; [b]Hunden er sulten[/b]- The dogs are hungry (hunden=the dog, er=are, sulten=hungry) Most of this sentence is in the same order as English. But, there's one single exception... ------------[i]The word 'the' in Danish[/i] The placement of the word 'the'. The word for dog is [i}hund[/i]. To transform Danish words into the...(this), the...(that), the 'the' is [i]glued to the end[/i] of a word. And, the two main endings meaning 'the' in Danish are [i]en[/i] and [i]et[/i]. For [i]hund[/i], the ending is [i]en[/i]. So, hund=dog, hund[i]en[/i]=[i]the[/i] dog. Like if English was to write '[i]the dog[/i]' as 'dog[i]the[/i]'. ------------[i]The word 'a/an' in Danish[/i] But if the sentence was to be "[i]A[/i] dog is hungry", the word order remains as in English. As, 'a/an...(this)', 'a/an...(that)' does not pull the same stunt;) as it does with the word 'the'. So... A dog is hungry- [i]En[/i] hund er sulten The dog is hungry- Hund[i]en[/i] er sulten -------------------past tense [b]VÆRE[/b]- to be [b]jeg var[/b] - I was [b]du var[/b] - you were [b]han/hun var[/b] - he/she was [b]den/det var[/b] - it was [b]vi var[/b] - we were [b]I var[/b] - you were (plural) [b]de var[/b] - they were Examples; [b]Var du der i vinters?[/b] - Were you there in the winter? (der=there, i=in). [b]Hvor var de i går?[/b] - Where were they yesterday? (hvor= where, i går=yesterday) --------------------future tense [b]VÆRE[/b] - to be [b]jeg vil være[/b] - I will be [b]du vil være[/b] - you will be [b]han/hun vil være[/b] - he/she will be [b]den/det vil være[/b] - it will be [b]I vil være[/b] - you will be (plural) [b]de vil være[/b] - they will be Examples; [b]Vi vil være stærke[/b] - We will be strong [b]Det vil blive lykkeligt i sit nye hjem[/b] - It (talking about an animal) will be happy at its new home (lykkelig=happy, sit= its, nye=new, hjem=home) [b]Sommeren vil blive smuk, tror du ikke?[/b] - The summer will be beauitiful, you think? (smuk=beautiful, tror=believe) [b]Jeg vil ikke [i]være[/i] trist[/b] - I don't want [i]to be[/i] sad (vil=want/will, ikke=not.) *The word 'vil' in Danish can mean either [i]will[/i] or [i]want[/i]. In this sentence, it meant [i]want[/i]. This is a word that experience with the language will clear up. The word 'skal' is a common substitute for 'vil' to mean [i]shall/will[/i]. -----------[i]PRONUNCIATION[/i] Here is the pronunciation of all Danish in this post. Some points to note- 'eye' is not a phonetic transcription, it is the sound of the English word [i]eye[/i]. 'e' is like the word 'air' without the 'r'. 'u' is like 'oo' in [i]book[/i], not 'u' in [i]nun[/i]. And 'uh' is like the 'ir' in [i]bird[/i]. [b]Tak skal du have![/b] - tak ska du he [b]VÆRE[/b] - ver [b]jeg er[/b] - y-eye e [b]du er[/b] - du e [b]han/hun er[/b] - hen/hun e [b]det/den er[/b] - dei/din e [b]vi er[/b] - vi e [b]I er[/b]- i e [b]de er[/b] - di e [b]Jeg er fra Australien[/b]- y-eye e fra austrelien [b]Er vi venner?[/b] - e vi venor [b]Hun er min søster[/b] - hun e min suhstor [b]Hunden er sulten[/b] - hunen e sulden [b]En hund er sulten[/b] - in hun e sulden [b]jeg var[/b] - y-eye [b]du var[/b] - du va [b]han/hun var[/b] - hen/hun va [b]det/den var[/b] - dei/din va [b]vi var[/b] - vi va [b]I var[/b] - i va [b]de var[/b] - di va [b]Var du der i vinters?[/b] - va du der i vintors [b]Hvor var de i går?[/b] - vor va di i go [b]jeg vil være[/b] - y-eye vil ver [b]du vil være[/b] - du vil var [b]han/hun vil være[/b] - hen/hun vil ver [b]den/det vil være[/b] - din/dei vil ver [b]I vil være[/b] - i vil ver [b]de vil være[/b] - di vil ver [b]Vi vil være stærke[/b] - vi vil ver sterge [b]Det vil blive lykkeligt i sit nye hjem[/b] - dei vil bli'er lewkelit i sit newe y-eim [b]Sommeren vil blive smuk, tror du ikke?[/b] - somorn vil bli'er smuk, tror du ige [b]Jeg vil ikke være trist[/b] - y-eye vil ige ver trist Enhver dansker, der laver rettelser her, tusind tak skal [b]I[/b] have! *[i]Notice the use of [b]I[/b] form of 'you' here, because this comment is directed at 'any' Danes, not 'one' particular Dane[/i] -Any Danes who make corrections here, many thanks to you!:) | |
| Stine | Sunday 13th of March 2005 04:39:15 AM |
| Corrections - "She" is called "hun" "Var du der i vinteren?" I think I would say "Var du der i vinters?" It has something to with the case symstem Danish once had. "I" and "til" took genitive. Ex: bord - gå til bords; sø - til søs; morgen - i morges. "Vi vil være stærk" Here it should be "stærke" because "vi" is plural "Det vil være lykkelij på dens nu hjem" First, it's called "lykkeligt". Not "at" it's new home, but "in" it's new home. "Nu" means "now". It should be "dets". "Det vil være lykkeligt i dets nye hjem" "Sommeren vil være smuk, tror du?" This should be "Sommeren vil blive smuk, tror du ikke?" "Jeg vil gerne ikke være trist" "Jeg vil ikke være trist" "Nogle dansker her vem gør nogle rettelse, tusind tak skal du ha" "Enhver dansker, der laver rettelser her, tusind tak skal I have!" Det var så lidt! :) | |
| Stine | Sunday 13th of March 2005 03:28:02 PM |
| - I must have been very tired yesterday, hehe :p "Det vil blive lykkeligt i dets nye hjem" I think we should say "sit nye hjem" instead of "dets nye hjem". When you say "dets", the animal we're talking about will be happy in another animal's home. "Sit, sin, dets, dens" all mean "its" (Plural of "sit, sin" is "sine") | |
| Stine | Sunday 13th of March 2005 05:06:54 PM |
| - I var - you were (Again, plural. And, too formal for common converstaion) "I" is not formal. "De" (speaking to one person) is formal. | |
| Leto_Atreides | Sunday 10th of July 2005 01:26:22 AM |
| Danish students - I have noticed that there is not much interest for the danish grammar. However, I am interested in the grammar, that's why I ask you if you know any sites about the Danish grammar. Maybe people should advertise for the Danish language:) | |
| Stine | Saturday 20th of August 2005 01:16:50 AM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by Ulven[/i] [b]VÆRE[/b] - ver [b]jeg er[/b] - y-eye e [b]du er[/b] - du e [b]han/hun er[/b] - hen/hun e [b]det/den er[/b] - dei/din e [b]vi er[/b] - vi e [b]I er[/b]- i e [b]de er[/b] - di e [/quote] In the past you usually said Jeg er Du [b]est[/b] [i](Must be some influence from German, the [b]-st[/b])[/i] I, de, vi [b]ere[/b] | |
| VikingSue | Friday 02nd of September 2005 10:48:20 PM |
| - I have a question regarding Ulven's post and the danish sentence "Hunden er sulten" (The dog is hungry). Since it "the dog" is written "dog the" in the danish word hunden, I would like to know how the word hunden is understood in danish? To clarify my question, I mean when you say the word hunden in danish is it understood the same as saying "the dog" or is it understood as saying "dog the"? Thankyou!! | |
| Stine | Friday 02nd of September 2005 10:55:48 PM |
| - Hehe, good question! :D I have never really thought about that, but I would say it's the same as the English "the dog". I really have problems answering this question, haha :p "Dog the" of course sounds wrong - even to me - but I can't really imagine saying something else in Danish. Hunden.. In a way you can say that the Danish word is a compound word, the -en being some kind of a suffix. Ah. I don't know what I'm saying :D | |
| VikingSue | Friday 02nd of September 2005 11:10:50 PM |
| - Thanks for your answer Freja! I have a program for my computer by eurotalk interactive called Learn Danish Talk Now beginners, it is a good program to learn basic words. I wear a headset and listen to the words and then it will record my voice as I try to say them and I can listen back to see how horrible I sound! lol! I also have my danish cousin write to me a few sentences in dansk so I can try to translate it, then he corrects me if I am not understanding. But the main thing that I have noticed is that it seems to me the sentences written in dansk are formed differently than sentences in english. Am I correct in thinking that? Or is it just words like "hunden" (the dog) that is making me think that? Are danish sentences written in a different order than in english? Thanks! I'm loving this site!! | |
| Stine | Friday 02nd of September 2005 11:19:42 PM |
| - Det var så lidt! ..and great to have you here! Good, usually the Eurotalk interactive beginners programs are useful. Well, some things in Danish are formed differently and also the word order can differ from English. There's a post called [i]ordstilling (word order)[/i]. Here I tried to explain when to say what. If you want to practise your Danish, you could write a sentence in the game [i]Hvad sagde han?[/i]. It's not difficult - you choose your own sentence, but only if you want! Ingen tvang :) If more questions, ask :D Hehe, it helps me too. It makes me think about things in Danish I usually don't.. and that's great! | |
| VikingSue | Friday 02nd of September 2005 11:44:51 PM |
| - thanks for your welcome here! I will look at the forum you suggested but I have a question for you now (again, lol!), I tried to translate your sentence Det var så lidt, and let me tell you this is not the first time that I get totally confused looking up words in my english/dansk dictionary! The first problem I have is that there are so many meanings for each word it seems, how do I know which one it is?!! LOL!! This is what I got for your sentence... Det can be it/she/he/they/that/the var is become aware of/perceive/see så is so (ah an easy one!) lidt is a little/a bit of. She perceive so little? or She perceive a bit of? As you can tell, I am a complete beginner at dansk, and I do appreciate your help! You maybe sorry that you have been nice to me because I will follow you around the website like a sulten hund wanting to learn more from you!! LOL!! ;) | |
| Stine | Saturday 03rd of September 2005 12:00:56 AM |
| - Haha, just follow me! If I can help you, I'm glad :D Ah, sorry! [i]Det var så lidt[/i] should be translated as a whole sentence. You can't divide it into single words. In English you would say something like "you're welcome". The literal sense of the words would be something like [it was so little]. Yes, Danish has a lot of words which are spelled the same way, but not necessarily pronounced the same. Right now I can come up with 4 different English words for [i]så[/i]: [i]so[/i], [i]then[/i], [i]saw[/i] and [i]sow[/i]. We have a lot of them ;) | |
| VikingSue | Saturday 03rd of September 2005 12:23:47 AM |
| - Maybe I need a better dictionary, I tried to type the phrase as a complete sentence into my dictionary and it would not come up. I am using a dictionary that one of my danish cousins postal mailed to me for my computer called Glydendals Røde Ordbøger dansk/english english/dansk dictionary. I better go now and get some cleaning done before my boys get home from school today, it was fun talking to you today! I will be back to learn more, farvel og goddag!! | |
| Stine | Saturday 03rd of September 2005 12:31:37 AM |
| - Gyldendals Røde Ordbøger are great. Maybe you won't find a better dictionary. I don't think you can type it as a whole sentence, but well. Next time you can ask me ;) Thank you! Also fun talking to you. I'll see you sometime soon. Hav det godt! [i][Have it well!][/i] ;) | |
| ulven | Monday 05th of September 2005 10:22:36 PM |
| - Hej, Viking Sue. The multiple definitions yu're getting from the dictionary (for example, for [b]det[/b]) are often just illustrating possible English equivalents in only certain contexts. [b]Det[/b] is best defined as "it". It may be best to use the first definition given, most of the time. The other definitions can be highly specific. An example in English- [b]dog[/b] - four legged animal. That's the obvious one. But a possible definition which is incredibly specific would be "bother". eg. "He's dogging me to come with him" -"He's begging/harrassing me to come with him". For this reason, a simple dictionary may be good. That online dictionary you use is great, but sometimes a paper dictionary is easier to use and understand which definition to go by. For beginners, I definitely recommend Berlitz Traveller's Dictionary. It hasn't alot of words, but it offers two things that even expensive one hardly ever do- 1. gender of the noun. Meaning whether the noun's 'the' is formed with [b]-en[/b] or [b]-et[/b]. And 2. pronunciation guide. It's not good enough to replace audio. No way. But it will tell you whether certain letters are silent or not. And it will tell you some pronunciations that are very improtant to know when it comes to words that don't sound as you'd expect (which pretty much describes all Danish words, when you're beginning :)lol). It's the cheapest dictionary there is but of good quality for the beginner. And as Freja said, when speaking danish, no you don't feel like you're saying 'dog[i]the[/i]'. I just used that example to show its pattern and hopefully make it easier to remember and picture how the 'the' is placed with nouns;). | |
| Stine | Monday 05th of September 2005 10:30:01 PM |
| - Jamen, Ulveven! Godt at have dig her :D Hvem skulle ellers forklare alle disse ting? Tak for det. Det går ikke altid for godt, når jeg skal forklare ;) | |
| Morrighan | Friday 04th of November 2005 10:29:53 PM |
| Can someone help me? - Hej everybody! Can someone please explain to me the difference between [i]kun[/i] og [i]bare[/i]? :) Thanks in advance. Morrighan | |
| Stine | Saturday 05th of November 2005 05:52:59 AM |
| - Hej Morrighan! Endelig er der lidt liv igen! Hmm, I can try :D Well, first [i]kun[/i] is an adverb and [i]bare[/i] is both an adverb and a conjunction [i]kun - (only, just, merely)[/i] Jeg gjorde det kun for sjov - I only/just did it for fun Hun har kun få venner - She has only a few friends De har kun få penge tilbage - They have only a little money left [i]bare - (only, just, merely, simply) [/i] Jeg gjorde det bare for sjov - I just did it for fun Hun har bare få venner - She has only a few friends Hun ville ringe til ham, hvis bare hun kendte hans nummer - She would call him, if only she knew his number Han har bare en hund, og det har du ikke! - He has a dog and you don't! (here [i]bare[/i] is used to increase and.. hmm, gloat) Det er kun mig - It's only me (nobody is with me..) Det er bare mig - It's just me (don't worry..) Hmm, I don't know how much sense that made, but well. It's late :p | |
| Morrighan | Thursday 10th of November 2005 09:17:20 PM |
| - Mange tak, Freja! :) Så er det bedre at sige "Hvis jeg bare havde penge skulle jeg kobe en bil" end "Hvis jeg kun havde penge skulle jeg kobe en bil"? Does the first sentence mean "If only I had money..." (dvs I wish I had them) and the other "Only if I had money..." (dvs under no other circumstances)? Morrighan :D | |
| Stine | Thursday 10th of November 2005 11:23:41 PM |
| - Det var så lidt :) Du kan ikke sige, det er bedre at sige det første, for de to sætninger betyder noget forskelligt Hvis jeg bare havde penge, ville jeg købe en bil - If only I had money, I would buy a car Hvis jeg kun havde penge, ville jeg købe en bil - If I only had money (and nothing besides money!), I would buy a car Kun, hvis jeg havde penge, ville jeg købe en bil - Only if I had money, I would buy a car Håber, det giver mening! :D | |
| Morrighan | Friday 11th of November 2005 07:16:08 PM |
| - :) Nu forstår jeg :p | |
| Stine | Friday 11th of November 2005 10:44:02 PM |
| - Det var godt! :D | |
| morrighan | Saturday 04th of March 2006 05:23:09 PM |
| Et spørgsmÃ¥l - Hende, med det røde hår, er min søster. Hun, med det røde hår, er min søster. Hvilken er rigtig og hvorfor? | |
| Stine | Tuesday 28th of March 2006 09:00:26 PM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by morrighan[/i] Hende, med det røde hår, er min søster. Hun, med det røde hår, er min søster. Hvilken er rigtig og hvorfor?[/quote] Den rigtige er [i][b]Hende[/b] med det røde hår er min søster[/i] Jeg kan ikke helt sige hvorfor, men måske har det noget med forholdsordet at gøre. Logisk set skulle det vel stå i grundfald, men det gør det ikke. At sige [i]hun med det røde hår er min søster[/i] lyder fuldstændig forkert, og det er vel også i og for sig :D | |
| Mathieu | Wednesday 29th of March 2006 02:33:37 AM |
| - Hmm alting er på dansk her.. så burde jeg nok også prøve at forklare det på dansk.. okej, lad os se.. :p Jamen, det er fordi den 'default case' i dansk er akkusativ (åbenbart :p). Det betyder, at når der ikke er noget som kan give stedordet noget kasus (altså, når der ikke er et udsagnsord eller et forholdsord som har noget at gøre med det), så får det hverken nominativ eller akkusativ, det kommer så an på hvilket sprog det er. Lad os se på et sjovt eksempel: Dansk: Stakkels mig(akk.)! Engelsk: Poor me(akk.)!* Nederlandsk: Arme ik(nom.)! Svensk: Stackars jag(nom.)! (og hvis nederlansk også hade været akkusativ, så skulle det hade været \"Haar met dat rode haar\" i dit eksempel, som nok lyder mindst så underligt som det danske med \"hun\" tror jeg ;)) *Engelsk er et underligt sprog, fordi man også godt kan bruge nominativ till tider, jeg kan ikke rigtigt forklare hvorfor (ikke på dansk i hvert fald :D) - men det er bare Engelsk, alla andre er logiske, nemlig altid nominativ eller altid akkusativ :) Mja, okej.. og hvad er nu moralen av denne historie? Når man ikke er sikker, så skal man gætte på akkusitiv, hvis det er dansk ;) Men det var faktiskt allerede tydeligt :p Så, håber at det giver noget mening.. hvis ikke, så skal jeg prøve igen på engelsk :p | |
| Stine | Thursday 30th of March 2006 03:40:29 AM |
| - Ja, alting er på dansk her. Hvad ellers? :p Tak for din forklaring. Det gav jo helt mening, men jeg kom til at tænke på noget andet. Kan du så forklare, hvorfor man både kan sige [i]Det er [b]jeg/du/han/hun[/b][/i] og [i]Det er [b]mig/dig/ham/hende[/b][/i] på dansk - dog med to forskellige betydninger. Men du ved, princippet i det ;) | |
| Mathieu | Thursday 30th of March 2006 05:20:26 PM |
| - Hmm godt spørgsmål.. Især hvis jeg kan forklare det eller ikke :p Det eneste det falder mig ind lige nu er at et av de to måske kan være en [i]topicalisation[/i] - til eksempel, \"Jeg ser det\" kan laves om til \"Det ser jeg\". Og så er det muligt at der findes både \"Det ser [b]jeg/du/han/hun[/b]\" og \"Det ser [b]mig/dig/ham/hende[/b]\", vilket naturligvis betyder helt forskellige ting, men med \"at være\" er forskellen jo ikke så stor (hvis A er B, er B sædvanligvis også A ;)). Men... jeg tror, at denne forklaring er helt forkert :p \"At være\" er ikke et rigtigt udsagnsord - sædvanligvis står i \"A er B\" både A og B i nominativ (på gammelnorsk er det nemt at se til eksempel), og så skulle det ikke forandre noget hvis man topikaliserer det :) Men.. jeg tror, at det alligevel er muligt at have A eller B akkusitiv - på engelsk kan man godt sige \"he is me\", altså måske er der stadig håb for min første forklaring.. Det samme findes på engelsk faktiskt - \"It is I\" (som betragtes som 'korrekt', fordi det er ældre) og \"It is me\". Det er muligt, at der er noget forskel i betydning mellem de danske, fordi den ene egentlig er ældre eller kommer fra en dialekt (og betydningen er skiftet lidt over tiden); eller det er fordi den ene er en topikalition; eller der er nogen anden forklaring (som ikke skulle undre ;)). Jeg ved det ikke.. (jeg ved jo også ikke hvad den betydningsforskel faktiskt er :p) Men ja, det er også ikke mig(/jeg :p) som plejer forklare tingerne i denne forum :p | |
| morrighan | Friday 07th of April 2006 01:55:15 AM |
| - Mange tak!!!! :) | |
| marciapw | Friday 05th of May 2006 12:39:59 AM |
| - Kan en eller ander vise mig hvordan jeg identificere køn? I have a big problem with genders a little help in being able to identify the genders would be great. I know my sentences need some work to, but I want to figure this gender stuff out first. Someone please help me? | |
| Stine | Friday 05th of May 2006 02:06:40 AM |
| - Hej marciapw! So sorry for always being absent - hmm, who said the absent are always at fault? :p I will explain as good as I can sometime tomorrow. I\'m in a hurry right now :D | |
| Stine | Friday 05th of May 2006 02:50:14 AM |
| - Tja, since time doesn\'t exist I\'m back :D [quote]Kan en eller ander vise mig hvordan jeg identificere køn?[/quote] Kan en eller ande[b]n[/b] vise mig, hvordan [b]man[/b] identificere[b]r[/b] køn? The origin of this division has its historic explanation. The Danish common gender is so called because it encompasses a former feminine as well as a former masculine gender. So your question: How can I tell or know if a noun is common or neuter gender? My answer: You don\'t because you can\'t :) - but I\'d say, you should never learn a noun without learning its gender too. Well, certain rules for some groups of words may be given, but too many rules are sometimes worse than none, but I\'ll give three: - There are many more common gender words than neuter words. If you have to guess, make it common gender - Most humans and animals are common gender (but by the irony of fate it\'s called [i][b]et[/b] menneske (a human being/person)[/i] and [b][i]et[/b] dyr (an animal)[/i] - Most words of recent origin are common gender | |
| marciapw | Friday 05th of May 2006 03:24:16 AM |
| - Tak, At least now I hve something to go on. | |
| Stine | Friday 05th of May 2006 01:25:41 PM |
| - Det var så lidt. Bare spørg :) | |
| Morrighan | Saturday 06th of May 2006 02:12:55 AM |
| - et menneske - kan man erstatte det med \"hun\"? På svensk kan man gøre det (somme tider), men på dansk? | |
| Stine | Tuesday 09th of May 2006 02:35:50 AM |
| - Nej, det kan man ikke på dansk :) | |
| lilyrain | Wednesday 05th of July 2006 01:10:04 PM |
| - This is very helpful, Thanks a lot, will you ocntinue? | |
| Morrighan | Friday 07th of July 2006 12:52:27 AM |
| - Well, do you have some particular question, or...? ;) | |
