Danish I Tutorial: Basic Phrases, Vocabulary and Grammar
Written by and mp3s recorded by Anders
| God morgen | Hej / Goddag |
| Goodmorning | Hello / Good day |
| God aften | Godnat |
| Good Evening | Good Night |
| Farvel | Bede om / Vær sød (depending on the context) |
| Goodbye | Please |
| (Mange) Tak | Det var så lidt / Selv tak |
| Thank you (very much) | Don't mention it / You're welcome |
| Ja/Nej | Herre (Hr.) / Fru / Frøken (Frk.) |
| Yes/No | Mister / Misses / Miss |
| Hvordan går det? | Hvordan har du det? |
| How are you? | How are you? (How are you feeling?) |
| Godt / Fint | Ikke så godt |
| Good / Fine | Not so good |
| Hvad hedder du? | Jeg hedder… |
| What's your name? | I am called… |
| Mit navn er… | Hyggeligt at møde dig! |
| My name is… | Pleased to meet you! |
| Velkommen | |
| Welcome | |
| Hvor er du fra? | Jeg er fra… |
| Where are you from? | I'm from… |
| Hvor bor du? | Jeg bor i… |
| Where do you live? | I live in… |
| Hvor gammel er du? | Jeg er __ år (gammel) |
| How old are you? | I am __ years old |
| Taler du dansk? | Jeg taler (ikke) engelsk |
| Do you speak Danish? | I don't speak English |
| svensk, norsk, fransk, italiensk, spansk, tysk, hollandsk, russisk, japansk | |
| Swedish, Norwegian, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Russian, Japanese | |
| Ja, en lille smule | Nej, slet ikke |
| Yes, a little bit | No, not at all |
| Jeg forstår (ikke) | Jeg ved det (ikke) |
| I (don't) understand | I (don't) know |
| Undskyld | Ha' det godt! |
| Excuse me / Pardon me | Take care! |
| Vi ses senere / snart | Hej / Hej hej |
| See you later / soon | Hi / Bye |
| Jeg elsker dig | Jeg savner dig |
| I love you | I miss you |
| c | s after e, i, y |
| c | k after a, u, o |
| d | d at the beginning of a word, soft l or th after a vowel, silent if following or followed by a consonant |
| g | g at the beginning of a word, i after an e, prolongs preceding vowel sound if followed by e, silent at the end of a word |
| ng | ng |
| h | h, silent before a consonant |
| j | y |
| r | r at the beginning of a word, |
| v | v at the beginning of a word, u after a vowel, w after a consonant |
| w | v |
| z | s |
| a | ay | k | ko | u | ooh |
| b | bey | l | el | v | vey |
| c | cey | m | em | x | eks |
| d | dey | n | en | y | ew |
| e | ey | o | oh | z | set |
| f | ef | p | pey | æ | eh |
| g | gey | q | koo | ø | er |
| h | ho | r | air | å | o |
| i | ee | s | ess | ||
| j | yolh | t | tey |
Nouns in Danish have two genders, common and neuter, which adjectives must agree with when modifying nouns. These genders are signified by the indefinite articles: en and et. In the vocabulary lists, a noun followed by (n) means that it is a neuter noun and it takes the indefinite article et. The majority of nouns in Danish are common gender, so they take the indefinite article en.
The only case of nouns that is used in Danish is the genitive (showing possession), and it is easily formed by adding an -s to the noun. This is comparable to adding -'s in English to show possession. However, if the noun already ends in -s, then you add nothing (unlike English where we add -' or -'s). Anders bok = Anders's book
There are two indefinite articles (corresponding to a and an) in
Danish: en and et. En is used with most of the nouns (words
denoting people almost always use en), but you will just have to learn which
article goes with which noun. The definite article (the) is not a separate word
like in most other languages. It is simply a form of the indefinite article
attached to the end of the noun. Note that en words ending in a vowel retain
that vowel and add an -n instead of adding -en. And et words ending in -e just
add a -t.
| En words (common) | Et words (neuter) | |||||||||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |||||||
| en banan | a banana | bananen | the banana | et bord | a table | bordet | the table | |||
| en stol | a chair | stolen | the chair | et køkken | a kitchen | køkkenet | the kitchen | |||
| en gade | a street | gaden | the street | et æble | an apple | æblet | the apple | |||
This, that, these and those are expressed in Danish by using denne (EN words), dette (ET words) or disse (plural). The noun is always in the indefinite form after these demonstratives, except for when these / disse (plural) is used, in which case an er is added (unless the words already ends in an r) after the indefinite demonstrative. (This banana = denne banan, That table = dette bord, These streets = disse gader / These apples = disse æbler)
| jeg | I | mig | me |
| du | you (singular) | dig | you |
| han | he | ham | him |
| hun | she | hende | her |
| den | it (with en words) | den | it |
| det | it (with et words) | det | it |
| man | one | en | one |
| vi | we | os | us |
| I | you (plural) | jer | you |
| de | they | dem | them |
Man can be translated as one, we, they or the people in general. When referring to nouns as it, you use den for en nouns, and det for ett nouns. Formerly, du was the informal you and De was the formal, but these distinctions are rarely used anymore.
The present and past tenses of verbs in Danish are very simple to conjugate.
All the forms are the same for each personal pronoun. The infinitive of the
verb to be is være, and the conjugated present tense
form is er and the past tense is var. The infinitive of the
verb to have is have, and the conjugated present tense form is har
and the past tense is havde.
|
at være - to be |
at have - to have |
||||||
| I am | jeg er | I was | jeg var | I have | jag har | I had | jeg havde |
| you are | du er | you were | du var | you have | du har | you had | du havde |
| he is | han er | he was | han var | he has | han har | he had | han havde |
| she is | hun er | she was | hun var | she has | hon har | she had | hun havde |
| it is | den er | it was | den var | it has | den har | it had | den havde |
| it is | det er | it was | det var | it has | det har | it had | det havde |
| one is | man er | one was | man var | one has | man har | one had | man havde |
| we are | vi er | we were | vi var | we have | vi har | we had | vi havde |
| you are | De er | you were | De var | you have | ni har | you had | De havde |
| they are | de er | they were | de var | they have | de har | they had | de havde |
To form the future tense of verbs, just add vil before the infinitive. Jeg vil være= I will be; hun vil have = she will have; etc. However, the present tense can often be used with adverbs of time to indicate the future. The word skal can also be used in place of vil, but this implies a promise rather than a general future condition.
| sometimes | nogle gange | already | allerede |
| always | altid | perhaps | måske |
| never | aldrig | both | begge |
| often | ofte | some | nogle |
| usually | oftest/plejer | again | igen |
| now | nu | between | imellem |
| and | og | a lot, many | mange |
| but | men | of course | selvfølgelig/naturligvis |
| or | eller | a little | en lille smule |
| very | meget | not at all | slet ikke |
| here | her | almost | næsten |
| there | der | really? | virkelig? |
| with | med | it is | det er |
| each other | hinanden | there is/are | der er |
| who | hvem | whose | hvis |
| what | hvad | which | hvilken, hvilket, hvilke |
| why | hvorfor | where to | hvor til |
| when | hvornår | where from | hvor fra |
| where | hvor | how | hvordan |
Which has three different forms depending on the gender and number of the noun that follows it. Hvilken is used with en words, hvilket is used with et words and hvilke is used with plural words.
10. Cardinal & Ordinal Numbers 
| 0 | nul | ||
| 1 | en | 1st | første |
| 2 | to | 2nd | anden |
| 3 | tre | 3rd | tredje |
| 4 | fire | 4th | fjerde |
| 5 | fem | 5th | femte |
| 6 | seks | 6th | sjette |
| 7 | syv | 7th | syvende |
| 8 | otte | 8th | ottende |
| 9 | nitten | 9th | niende |
| 10 | ti | 10th | tiende |
| 11 | elleve | 11th | elvte |
| 12 | tolv | 12th | tolvte |
| 13 | tretten | 13th | trettende |
| 14 | fjorten | 14th | fjortende |
| 15 | femten | 15th | femtende |
| 16 | sejsten | 16th | sejstende |
| 17 | sytten | 17th | syttende |
| 18 | atten | 18th | attende |
| 19 | nitten | 19th | nittende |
| 20 | tyve | 20th | tyvende |
| 21 | enogtyve | 21st | enogtyvende |
| 22 | toogtyve | 22nd | toogtyvende |
| 30 | tredive | 30th | tredivte |
| 40 | fyrre | 40th | fyrretyvende |
| 50 | halvtreds | 50th | halvtredsenstyvende |
| 60 | treds | 60th | tredsenstyvende |
| 70 | halvfjerds | 70th | halvfjerdsenstyvende |
| 80 | firs | 80th | firsenstyvende |
| 90 | halvfems | 90th | halvfemsenstyvende |
| 100 | hundrede | 100th | hundrededel |
| 1,000 | tusind | 1,000th | tusindedel |
| million | million | ||
| billion | milliard | ||
| trillion | billion |
11. Days of the Week / ugens dage
| Monday | mandag |
| Tuesday | tirsdag |
| Wednesday | onsdag |
| Thursday | torsdag |
| Friday | fredag |
| Saturday | lørdag |
| Sunday | søndag |
| day | dag |
| morning | morgen |
| afternoon | eftermiddag |
| evening | aften |
| night | nat |
| today | i dag |
| tomorrow | i morgen |
| day after tomorrow | i over morgen |
| tonight | i aften |
| yesterday | i går |
| day before yesterday | forgårs |
| last night | i går aftes |
| week | uge |
| weekend | weekend |
| daily | daglig |
| weekly | ugentlig |
To say "on" a certain day, use på before the day.
12. Months of the Year / Årets mÅneder
| January | januar |
| February | februar |
| March | marts |
| April | april |
| May | maj |
| June | juni |
| July | juli |
| August | august |
| September | september |
| October | oktober |
| November | november |
| December | december |
| month | måned |
| year | år |
| monthly | månedlig |
| yearly | årlig |
To say "in" a certain month, use i before the month.
| winter | vinter | in (the) winter | om vinteren |
| spring | forår | in (the) spring | om foråret |
| summer | sommer | in (the) summer | om sommeren |
| fall | efterår | in (the) fall | om efteråret |
| north | nord | northeast | nordøst |
| south | syd | northwest | nordvest |
| east | øst | southeast | sydøst |
| west | vest | southwest | sydvest |
| left | venstre | ||
| right | højre | ||
| straight ahead | lige ud |
| orange | orange |
| pink | pink, lyserød/lyserødt/lyserøde |
| purple | lilla |
| blue | blå/blåt |
| yellow | gul/gult/gule |
| red | rød/rødt/røde |
| black | sort/sorte |
| brown | brun/brunt/brune |
| gray | grå/gråt |
| white | hvid/hvidt/hvide |
| green | grøn/grønt/grønne |
Since colors are adjectives, most of them agree with the noun they describe. The first word is used with en words, the second with et words and the third with plural words. Some words remain the same for all three (such as lilla.)
| What time is it? | Hvad er klokken? |
| It is 2 AM | klokken er to om natten |
| 6:20 | tyve over seks |
| half past 3 | halv fire |
| quarter past 4 | kvart over fire |
| quarter to 5 | kvart i fem |
| 10 past 11 | ti over elleve |
| 20 to 7 | tyve i syv |
| noon | middag |
| midnight | midnat |
| in the morning | om morgenen |
| in the evening | om aftenen |
| It's exactly... | den er præcis |
| About/around 8. | omkring otte |
| At 8. | klokken otte |
| early | tidlig/tidligt |
| late(r) | senere |
Sweden uses the 24 hour clock for official times such as train schedules.
| How's the weather today? | hvordan er vejret i dag? |
| It's cold | det er koldt |
| beautiful | smukt |
| hot | varmt |
| clear | klart |
| icy | iset |
| warm | lunt |
| windy | blæsende |
| cloudy | skyet |
| hazy | diset |
| muggy | råt |
| humid | fugtigt |
| foggy | tåget |
| It's snowing | det sner |
| It's raining | det regner |
| It's freezing | det er koldt |
| Parents | forældre |
| Mother | mor |
| Father | far |
| Son | søn |
| Daughter | datter |
| Brother | bror |
| Sister | søster |
| Grandfather | Morfar (on mothers side) / Farfar (on fathers side) |
| Grandmother | Mormor (on mothers side) / Farmor (on fathers side) |
| Grandson | barnebarn |
| Granddaughter | barnebarn |
| Niece | niece |
| Nephew | nevø |
| Cousin | fætter (m) / kusine (f) |
| Uncle | onkel |
| Aunt | tante/moster |
| Boy | dreng |
| Girl | pige |
| Child / Baby | barn/baby |
| Adult | voksen |
| Man | mand |
| Woman | kvinde |
| Friend (m) | ven |
| Friend (f) | veninde |
| kende - to know people | vide - to know facts | |
| present (know, knows) | kender | ved |
| past (knew) | kendte | vidste |
| future (will know) | vil kende | vil vide |
| en nat - nætter | night/nights | en bonde - bønder | farmer/farmers |
| en hånd - hænder | hand/hands | en ko - køer | cow/cows |
| en tand - tænder | tooth/teeth | en fod - fødder | foot/feet |
| en and - ænder | duck/ducks | en rod - rødder | root/roots |
| en gås - gæs | goose/geese | en bog - bøger | book/books |
| en tå - tæer | toe/toes | en mand - mænd | man/men |
