ARTICLES
There are 2 articles in Danish: common and neuter
1. Indefinite Articles:
|
Common |
Neuter |
Singular |
en |
et |
Usage: as in English: en bil (a car), et hus (a house)
Note: 1. The indefinite article is not used before a noun denoting a profession, nationality, religion:
han er lćge (he is a doctor) hun er lćrer (she is a teacher)
jeg er dansker (I am a Dane) du er amerikaner (you are an american)
2. The indefinite article is used before an adjective:
han er en god lćge (he is a good doctor) hun er en dygtig lćrer (she is a clever teacher)
jeg er en hřj dansker (I am a tall Dane)
3. The indefinite article is used when a relative clause follows the noun:
han er en lćge, som jeg kender (he is a doctor whom I know)
hun er en dansker, der bor i Tyskland (she is a Dane who lives in Germany)
2. Definite Articles:
|
Common |
Neuter |
Singular |
den, -n/-en |
det, -t/-et |
Plural |
de, -ne/-ene |
de, -ne/-ene |
Note: a consonant is doubled after a short vowel: bus, bussen; hotel, hotellet
Usage: 1. The definite articles are normally added to a singular or plural noun:
bilen (the car) huset (the house)
bilerne (the cars) husene (the houses)
bilen er rřd (the car is red)
bilerne er rřde (the cars are red)
husene er hvide (the houses are white)
2. The definite articles are placed before an adjective, as in English:
den rřde bil (the red car),
det store hus (the big house)
de rřde biler (the red cars),
de store huse (the big houses)
Note: The definite article is often used before an abstract noun:
livet er kort (life is short) tilbage til naturen (back to nature)
SUBSTANTIVES (NOUNS)
1. Genders: there are 2 genders in Danish:
a. common (n-words) representing both masculine and feminine nouns
b. neuter (t-words)
2. Plural: are formed by adding suffixes to the singular form of the noun:
1. -e (some words ending in a consonant): dag/dage (day/days)
2. -r (words ending in -e): uge/uger (week/weeks)
3. -er (other words ending in a consonant): mĺned/mĺneder (month/months)
4. the same: ĺr (year/years)
5. irregular: barn/břrn (child/children)
3. Cases: nouns are only inflected in the genitive:
1. genitive: -s (is added to the last ending of the word):
en bils dřr (the door of a car)
bilens dřr (the door of the car),
bilers dřre (doors of cars)
bilernes dřre (the doors of the cars)
mandens (the man's)
bilens farve er rřd (the colour of the car is red)
mandens hat er sort (the man's hat is black)
2. genitive: the english "of-construction" is not used very often:
dřren af bilen (the door of the car)
Better: dřren pĺ bilen or bilens dřr
4. Order of the added suffixes:
noun |
plural |
article |
genitive |
English |
dreng |
|
|
s |
boy's |
dreng |
|
en |
s |
the boy's |
dreng |
e |
ne |
s |
the boys' |
hus |
|
et |
s |
of the house |
hus |
e |
ne |
s |
of the houses |
mĺned |
er |
ne |
s |
of the months |
ADJECTIVES
1. Word Order: an attributive adjective is placed before the noun as in English (see also Articles):
en rřd bil (a red car)
2. Inflection: A. Attributive adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify:
a. indef. article -. adjective + t - noun (t-word):
et stort hus (a big house)
et rřdt tag (a red roof)
b. indef. article - adjective (base form) - noun (n-word):
en stor mand (a big man)
en rřd bog (a red book)
c. def. article - adjective + e - noun (sing./plural):
det store hus (the big house)
den rřde bil (the red car)
de store huse (the big houses)
de rřde biler the red cars)
B. Predicative adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify:
a. indef. article - noun (t-word) - verb - adjective + t:
et hus er stort (a house is big)
et tag er rřdt (a roof is red)
b. indef. article - noun (n-word) - verb - adjective (base form):
en bil er rřd (a car is red)
en mand er stor (a man is big)
c. noun (t-word)+ def.article - verb - adjective + t:
huset er stort (the house is big)
taget er rřdt (the roof is red)
d. noun (n-word)+ def.article - verb - adjective (base form):
bilen er rřd (the car is red)
manden er stor (the man is big)
e. noun (plural) (+ def.article) - verb - adjective + e:
husene er store (the houses are big)
bilerne er rřde (the cars are red)
huse og biler er dyre (houses and cars are expensive)
C. Irregular:
lille (small/little, singular):
the same in all forms in singular:
et/det lille hus (a/the small house)
en/den lille bil (a/the small car)
smĺ (small/little, plural):
the same in all forms in plural:
smĺ huse (small houses)
de smĺ huse (the small houses)
de smĺ biler (the small cars)
Note: 1. If -e is added to an adjective ending in -en or -el the first -e- dissapears:
gammel (old):
han er gammel (he is old)
den gamle mand (the old man)
de er gamle (they are old)
sulten (hungry):
han er sulten (he is hungry)
det sultne barn (the hungry child)
de er sultne (they are hungry)
2. Adjectives ending in -e never change:
et lille barn (a small child)
det stille barn (the quiet child)
3. Adjectives ending in -sk never add -t:
en rask dreng (a healthy boy)
et rask barn (a healthy child)
de raske břrn (the healthy children)
4. An adjective can also be used as a noun (without a supporting word):
en hvid hest og 2 sorte (a white horse and 2 black ones)
3. Comparison: a. Regular forms add -ere, -est to the adjective:
comparative: -ere: varm/varmere (warm/warmer)
superlative: -est: varm/varmest (warm/warmest)
b. Regular forms with mere, mest are used as in English:
comparative: mere: han er mere mere venlig (he is more kind)
superlative: mest: han er den mest venlige (he is the most kind)
c. Irregular forms with less irregularities:
lang/lćngere/lćngst (long/longer/longest)
stor/střrre/střrst (big/bigger/biggest)
d. Quite irregular forms:
lille - mindre - mindst (small/smaller/smallest)
god - bedre - bedst (good/better/best)
Usage: The superlative is used in Danish when 2 things are compared:
kaffe eller te, hvad kan du bedst lide? (coffee or the, which do you like better?)
WORD ORDER
1. Normal Word Order (subject + verb)
a. In a main clause beginning with the subject:
jeg kan se en bil pĺ gaden (I can see a car in the street)
b. In a main clause beginning with a conjuncion og/men:
men jeg kan ikke se ham (but I cannot see him)
c. Always in subordinate clauses:
jeg vidste, at han ville komme (I knew that he would come)
2. Inversion (verb + subject or finite verb + subject + infinite verb)
only occurs in main clauses
Main rule: If the subject is not the first word in a main clause,
there will be an inversion
a. In questions:
kommer du i morgen? (will you come tomorrow?)
b. If an adverb/phrase, object or conjunction claus precedes the subject:
an adverb precedes the subject:
nu kommer jeg (now I am coming)
but: jeg kommer nu (now I am coming) adverb after subject
an adverb phrase precedes the subject:
i morges stod jeg tidligt op (this morning I got up early)
an object (for emphasising) precedes the subject:
drengen kender jeg ikke (I don't know the boy)
but: jeg kender ikke drengen (I don't know the boy)
if a subordinate clause comes before the main clause:
hvis jeg havde penge, ville jeg křbe en bil (if I had money, I would buy a car)
(jeg ville křbe en bil, hvis jeg havde penge)
NUMERALS
1. Cardinal Numbers
Numbers from 1 to 20
1 |
en, et |
[e'n], [et] |
|
11 |
elleve |
[ćlvć] |
2 |
to |
[to'] |
|
12 |
tolv |
[tĺl'] |
3 |
tre |
[trai'] |
|
13 |
tretten |
[tradn] |
4 |
fire |
[fiˇa] |
|
14 |
fjorten |
[fioadn] |
5 |
fem |
[fćm'] |
|
15 |
femten |
[fćmdn] |
6 |
seks |
[sćx] |
|
16 |
seksten |
[saisdn] |
7 |
syv |
[süu'] |
|
17 |
sytten |
[sřdn] |
8 |
otte |
[ĺˇtć] |
|
18 |
atten |
[ädn] |
9 |
ni |
[ni'] |
|
19 |
nitten |
[nedn] |
10 |
ti |
[ti'] |
|
20 |
tyve |
[tüˇvć] |
Se the Pronunciation Guide how to pronounce [ü], [ć], [ř], [ĺ], [ö], [']
Numbers from 21 to 1000
21 |
enogtyve |
[e'nĺtüˇvć] |
|
101 |
hundrede og en |
[hunađ ĺ e'n] |
22 |
toogtyve |
[to'ĺtüˇvć] |
|
102 |
hundrede og to |
[hunađ ĺ to'] |
23 |
treogtyve |
[trai'ĺtüˇvć] |
|
200 |
to hundrede |
|
30 |
tredive |
[trađvć] |
|
300 |
tre hundrede |
|
40 |
fyrre |
[föˇa] |
|
400 |
fire hundrede |
|
50 |
halvtreds |
[hältrćs] |
|
500 |
fem hundrede |
|
60 |
tres |
[trćs] |
|
600 |
seks hundrede |
|
70 |
halvfjerds |
[halfićrs] |
|
700 |
syv hundrede |
|
80 |
firs |
[fi'as] |
|
800 |
otte hundrede |
|
90 |
halvfems |
[halfćm's] |
|
900 |
ni hundrede |
|
100 |
hundrede |
[hunađ] |
|
1000 |
tusind(e) |
[tusn] |
The year 1998 is written:
nitten hundrede otteoghalvfems
The year 2001 is written:
to tusind(e) og et
2. Ordinal Numbers
1st |
fřrste |
[föastć] |
2nd |
anden |
[änˇn] |
3rd |
tredie |
[trćđć] |
4th |
fjerde |
[fićˇa] |
5th |
femte |
[fćmdć] |
6th |
sjette |
[sićˇdć] |
7th |
syvende |
[süu'nć] |
8th |
ottende |
[ĺdnć] |
9th |
niende |
[ni'nć] |
10th |
tiende |
[ti'nć] |