#danishwithemi
Check out this lesson at danishwithemi.com
Not long ago I was asked about advice on how to learn Danish. I figured that getting started or figuring out how to get started can sometimes be hard. Either there’s too many options to pick from (usually when it comes to textbooks) or there’s too little. This guide is supposed to help you figure out the best way for you to learn Danish.
1. Old School Textbook Cool
You could start out by getting a hold of a textbook. There’s a bunch on Amazon if you search “learn Danish”. Or you could read my free lessons at https://danishwithemi.tumblr.com/orhttps://danishwithemi.com/. Either options are a great way to learn the grammar.
2. App: Duolingo
A lot of people love Duolingo and it has a Danish course. What’s nice about Duolingo is that it’s not too text-heavy, so it’s easy to get started and built a good habit. And it has gamification, if you enjoy that!
3. Talking about habits..
.. building a habit is key! Set yourself up to success by creating an environment where it’s easy to get started on studying like:
- having a textbook/notebook out on your table or carry it around with you
- have study apps on your homescreen, so you see them whenever you unlock your phone
- always have a website open when on your computer so that you can easily click on the tab and start studying. Even if it’s just one word!
- set a time during the day where you want to study. Mornings before school/work/university works for me
4. App: HelloTalk
The app “HelloTalk” is great for exchanging languages. When creating a profile you pick your native language and your target language (e.g. Danish). Then you get “paired” with native people of your target language who wants to learn your native language. You can also write posts with text and/or pictures that people can comments on and/or correct. It’s essentially a social media centered around language learning. This is a great way to practice the language, learn about culture and get new friends.
A similar app is “Tandem”.
5. Read a book
Pick a book you find interesting (or have read before) in Danish and read it. Go through each sentence and translate every word and every piece of grammar you don’t know. Then move on once you’ve learned that sentence. You could start with mining through a paragraph or page a day. Then, once you’ve studied that paragraph or page, you reread it. As you progress further, you should notice that you look up less words and less grammar points.
6. Sentence mining
Sentence mining is when you add a bunch of sentences to a spaced repetition system (SRS) like Anki (Anki). It’s essentially a flash card system where you can have a Danish sentence on the front and the English translation on the back. What’s genius about SRS is that after you’ve tried to memorize a flash card you determine whether it was “easy” or “hard” to memorize. Based on this feedback, Anki will then display the flash card again after x amount of time. Here’s a demo if it all sounded confusing: Anki Demo
Anki pairs well with the previous point of reading a book. You can add all of your unknown sentences to Anki and study them there.
7. Immersion
Immerse yourself in the language. Immersion is great for building a good intuition of a language. I have personally experienced learning words and phrases by only listening to my target language. Immersion is also a great way to practice your listening ability so that you can eventually pick words apart from each other. All you have to do is listen. Your brain will do the rest of the work.
To immerse you can:
- change your phone/computer language to Danish
- talk to Danish friends in Danish
- watch Danish series and movies
- watch Danish youtubers
- read Danish books (tip: pick a book you’ve already read so that you know the context and story. This should give you an easier time understanding what’s going on)
- listen to Danish audio books
- listen to Danish podcasts
- travel to Denmark
8. Live classes
Sign up for live classes! This could either be in your neighbourhood, online (e.g. italki.com) or even in Denmark.
9. Have fun
Make sure you are having fun! So pick a method that works for you. This should help you stay in the loop and keep you enganged. You like reading? Go read! You hate reading? Don’t read! Watch videos instead. Whatever floats your boat.
I hope you find something useful here! Happy studying :)
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter where I post updates and more!
If you have any questions or feedback feel free to submit a question/feedback at danishwithemi.tumblr.com/ask and I will answer as soon as possible.
Check out this lesson at danishwithemi.com
What is this? What is that? It’s your first question word: what!
Question words are essential in any language! So in this lesson I am going to teach you your first question word: what. These lessons on question words will be short and therefore (hopefully) easy to comprehend. After each lesson I want you to go and ask yourself (or your Danish friend/Danish language partner) a bunch of questions and answer them!
Question word
- What = hvad
Example sentences
- What is it? = Hvad er det?
- It’s a pillow = Det er en pude
- What is that? = Hvad er det? (note: the context is when an item away from you)
- It’s a toothbrush = Det er en tandbørste
- What is this? = What er det her? (note: the context is when you are holding an item)
- It’s a magnet = Det er en magnet
- What time is it? = Hvad er klokken?
- It’s half past three = Den er halv fire
- What are you doing? = Hvad laver du?
- I am studying Danish = Jeg studerer dansk
- What do you think? = Hvad synes du? (note: the context is when asking about an opinion)
- I think it is a good idea = Jeg synes at det er en god idé
- What are you thinking about? = Hvad tænker du på? (note: in Danish you are not thinking ABOUT something. Instead you are thinking ON something. On = på)
- I am thinking about you = Jeg tænker på dig
Fun fact: English question words start with “wh”, where Danish question words start with “hv”. Reversed, almost!
Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter where I post updates and more!
If you have any questions or feedback feel free to submit a question/feedback at danishwithemi.tumblr.com/ask and I will answer as soon as possible.
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Hello everyone! Goddag!
I just wanted to let you know that I am still active. I’ve just been really busy lately. But I am here and ready to help you! Hopefully, I will write and release a new lesson very soon.
Let me know if you have any requests on lessons, vocabulary, etc.
Happy studying and god arbejdslyst!
Check out this lesson at danishwithemi.com
In this lesson you will learn how to say what you like and what you dislike. In English you have the verbs “to like” and “to dislike”. In Danish it’s different. Grammatically, liking something in Danish is something you can do (to be able to = at kunne). To show you what I mean I will give you an English translation, but with the Danish grammar applied: “I can like candy”. In Danish the sentence is: “Jeg kan lide slik”. It sounds odd (in English), but it is correct in Danish.
Fun fact: the Danish verb “at lide” means “to suffer”, so it’s important to remember to say “kan lide”!
To like/dislike a thing
If you like/dislike a thing the structure is as follows:
Jeg kan lide [noun] = I like [noun]
Jeg kan ikke lide [noun] = I dislike [noun] / I don’t like [noun]
Example sentences:
Jeg kan lide katte = I like cats
Jeg kan lide sodavand = I like soda
Jeg kan ikke lide lakrids = I dislike/don’t like liquorice
Jeg kan ikke lide musik = I dislike/don’t like music
To like/dislike someone
If you like/dislike someone the structure is as follows:
Jeg kan lide [pronoun/name] = I like [pronoun/name]
Jeg kan ikke lide [pronoun/name] = I dislike/don’t like [pronoun/name]
Example sentences:
Jeg kan lide hende = I like her
Jeg kan lide Mikkel = I like Mikkel
Jeg kan ikke lide dig = I dislike/don’t like you
Jeg kan ikke lide Anna = I dislike/don’t like Anna
To like/dislike an activity
If you like/dislike an activity the structure is as follows:
Jeg kan lide at [activity] = I like to [activity]
Jeg kan ikke lide at [activity] = I dislike/don’t like to [activity]
Example sentences:
Jeg kan lide at danse = I like to dance
Jeg kan lide at spise = I like to eat
Jeg kan ikke lide at synge = I dislike/don’t like to sing
Jeg kan ikke lide at spille fodbold = I dislike/don’t like to play football
To love/hate
If you really like or really dislike something you can, just as in English, say that you love or hate something. The verbs are:
At elske = To love
At hade = To hate
The verb “at elske” (to love) is just a regular verb. Unlike “kan lide” and “kan ikke lide”, you don’t say “kan elske” or “kan hade” unless you specificallytalk about being able to love or hate something/someone.
Example sentences:
Jeg elsker sport = I love sport
Jeg elsker min familie = I love my family
Jeg hader dårlig mad = I hate bad food
Jeg hader skumfiduser = I hate marshmallows
If you have any questions or feedback feel free to submit a question/feedback at danishwithemi.tumblr.com/ask and I will answer as soon as possible.
Check out this lesson at danishwithemi.com
There’s been quite a lot of lessons so far, so it’s about time to look into adjectives. We do use them every day after all. There are certain rules for adjectives in Danish and they depend on whether a noun is in its indefinite or definite form and whether it’s an en-noun or an et-noun. Let’s jump right into it.
Indefinite (a/an)
There are three different endings for the adjective used to describe a noun in its indefinite form. The ending is either none, -t or -e and it depends whether it’s an en-noun, an et-noun or plural. As a reminder, nouns in its indefinite form is when you talk about any noun (e.g. an apple, a cat).
En-noun: En god sang = A good song
Adjectives that describes an en-noun in indefinite form has no ending.
Et-noun: Et godt æble = A good apple
Adjectives that describes an et-noun in indefinite form has -t endings.
Plural: Gode sange = Good songs
Gode æbler = Good apples
Adjectives that describes noun in plural in indefinite form form has -e endings.
Definite (the, my, his, hers, etc)
There is only one ending for adjectives used to describe a noun in its definite form. The ending is -e. As a reminder, nouns in its definite form is when you talk about a specific noun (e.g. the apple, my cat, his shirt, etc).
En-noun: Den gode sang = The good song
Adjectives that describes an en-noun in definite form has -e endings.
Et-noun: Det gode æble = The good apple
Adjectives that describes an et-noun in definite form has -e endings.
Plural: De gode sange = The good songs
De gode æbler = The good apples
Adjectives that describes noun in plural in definite form has -e endings.
Summary table
Below is a summary table of all of the above examples.
Example sentences
Det er en god sang = It is a good song
Jeg køber tre røde æbler = I am buying three red apples
Drej til højre efter det gule hus = Turn right after the yellow house
Det er et sødt billede = It is a cute picture
Han er en hurtig fodboldspiller = He is a fast football/soccer player
Min mors hvide bil = My moms white car
Vil du have et hvidt stykke chokolade? = Do you want a white piece of chocolate?
De tre små killinger = The three small kittens
Der er mange forskellige mennesker = There are many different people
Du bagte nogle dårlige småkager = You baked some bad cookies
Final note: There are some adjectives that does not follow the rules stated above. To avoid leaving you feeling overwhelmed, these exceptions will be covered in another lesson.
If you have any questions or feedback feel free to submit a question/feedback at danishwithemi.tumblr.com/ask and I will answer as soon as possible.
Check out this lesson at danishwithemi.com
Is it mine? Is it yours? Is it Marie’s? Let’s extend on our knowledge about possessions and possessive pronouns in Danish. First, a quick recap of the possessive pronouns that we saw in Lesson 6:
What’s the difference between “min/mit/mine”, “din/dit/dine” and “dens/dets” you might wonder. Let’s look at the difference:
Min/mit/mine
Min is used when the object you are talking about is an en-noun (e.g. “en kat”).
- Example sentence: Det er min kat = It is my cat
Mit is used when the object you are talking about is an et-noun (e.g. “et fjernsyn”).
- Example sentence: Det er mit fjernsyn = It is my television
Mine is used when the object you are talking about is in plural (e.g. “bøger”)
- Example sentence: Det er mine bøger = It is my books
Din/dit/dine
Din is used when the object you are talking about is an en-noun (e.g. “en kat”).
- Example sentence: Det er din kat = It is your cat
Dit is used when the object you are talking about is an et-noun (e.g. “et fjernsyn”).
- Example sentence: Det er dit fjernsyn = It is your television
Dine is used when the object you are talking about is in plural (e.g. “bøger”)
- Example sentence: Det er dine bøger = It is your books
Dens/dets
Dens is used when the owner of an object is an en-noun. Let’s say that the object is a toy and that the owner is a cat. You could then say: “It is the cat’s toy”. But you could also replace the word “cat’s” with “its” and the sentence then becomes: “It is its toy”. Since a cat in Danish is an en-noun (en kat), the word “its” translates to “dens” (and not “dets”) in Danish. The sentence in Danish is then:
- Det er dens legetøj = It is its toy
Dets is used when the owner of an object is an et-noun. Let’s say that the object is a garage and that the owner of the garage is a house (yes, this example is weird). You could then say: “It is the house’s garage”. But you could also replace the word “house’s” with “its” and the sentence then becomes: “It is its garage”. Since a house in Danish is an et-noun (et hus), the word “its” translates to “dets” (and not “dens”) in Danish. The sentence in Danish is then:
- Det er dets garage = It is its garage
‘s
To show possession in English ‘s is used. For example: “It’s my mom’s car”. The concept of adding an s at the end of the word is the same in Danish. However, the apostrophe is omitted. The sentence in Danish would then be: “Det er min mors bil”
- Example sentence: Det er Marias hun = It is Maria’s dog
Sin/sit/sine
Sin/sit/sine wasn’t part of the table above because they are quite special. Their grammatical purpose was already covered in Lesson 6, but for good measure I will leave the same explanation here:
In English there’s no difference between the pronoun used when the subject of a sentence is owning the object of a sentence versus when the subject of a sentence is not owning the object of a sentence. This sounds like gibberish, but let’s look at an example sentence:
- He eats his burger.
In this example sentence you can’t tell whether he is eating his OWN burger or some other guy’s burger. This is something you will have to know from context of the sentence.
In Danish there’s a clear distinction between whether (as in this example) he is eating his own burger or someone else’s. Let’s look at the same example but in Danish:
- Han spiser sin burger. (since the pronoun “sin” is used we can tell that he is eating his own burger)
- Han spiser hans burger. (since the pronoun “hans” is used we can tell that he is eating someone else’s burger)
Sin is used when the object of the sentence is an en-noun (e.g. “en far”).
- Example sentence: Hun besøger sin far = She visits her dad
Sit is used when the object of the sentence is an et-noun (e.g. “et æble”).
- Example sentence : Hun spiser sit æble = She eats her apple
Sine is used when the object of the sentence is in plural (e.g. “katte”)
- Example sentence: Hun kæler for sine katte = She pets her cats
If you have any questions or feedback feel free to submit a question/feedback at danishwithemi.tumblr.com/ask and I will answer as soon as possible.
Check out this lesson at danishwithemi.com
In this lesson we will learn about the days of the week, the dates of the month and the months. This lesson is mostly focused on vocabulary. Let’s start with the months:
Months
Notice how similar the months in Danish are to the months in English!
Weekdays
Now for the weekdays:
Fun fact: Some of the weekdays are named after the Norse Mythology in Danish. Here’s a list:
- Mandag - named after the word ‘måne’ which means ‘moon’ in English
- Tirsdag - named after the Norse god Tyr
- Onsdag - named after the Norse god Odin
- Torsdag - named after the Norse god Thor
- Fredag - named after the Norse goddess Frigg
- Lørdag - Derived from the Old Norse word laugardagr with laug meaning ‘bad’ (which translates to ‘shower’ in English) and dagr meaning ‘dag’ (which translates to ‘day’ in English). The day originally meant ‘badedag’ or ‘vaskedag’ (which literally translates to ‘washing day’ in English).
- Søndag - named after the word ‘sol’ which means ‘sun’ in English
Dates
In the following table, each date is written out in words in the Danish translation instead of a number.
The dates are not usually written out like in the table above. Instead it’s usually written with the number, followed by a dot, like in the following examples:
Den 25. februar
Den 1. januar
Example sentences
Min fødselsdag er den 3. august = My birthday is the 3rd of August
Skal vi mødes på mandag? = Should we meet on Monday?
Du har en aftale søndag den 12. maj = You have an agreement on Sunday the 12th of May
Oktober kommer før november = October comes before November
Den 24. december er det juleaften = December 24th is Christmas Eve
Det er nytårsaften den 31. december = It is New Year’s Eve on December 31st
Kan jeg booke en tid på torsdag? = Can I book an appointment on Thursday?
Jeg har ferie i Juli = I have a holiday in July
If you have any questions or feedback feel free to submit a question/feedback at danishwithemi.tumblr.com/ask and I will answer as soon as possible.
