The Focus of this Lesson is Asking Someone Their Name

To ask someone their name, just ask, Hvad er dit navn? This means, "What is your name?"

The first word, hvad, is a pronoun that means "what."

The next word, er, means "is," followed by dit, which is the second person possessive pronoun "your / yours" in Danish.

The last word navn means "name."

All together, we have: Hvad er dit navn?

The answer is Mit navn er plus your name, which literally means, "My name is ..."

For example:

1. Mit navn er Maria.
   "My name is Maria."

Please note that there is another common way of asking someone's name in Danish, which is Hvad hedder du? This literally means, "What are you called/named?" But it is equivalent to, "What is your name?" Accordingly, the answer is Jeg hedder plus your name, which literally means, "I'm called / named ..." and is equivalent to, "My name is ..." Both phrases can be used, but Danish people tend to say Jeg hedder... when introducing themselves because it is shorter than Mit navn er ... and also sounds less formal. So basically, it is up to you to decide which one you prefer using.

At være means "to be" in Danish, and luckily, whether you want to say "am," "are, or "is," this verb is always er in the present tense, no matter which pronoun or noun in the singular or plural you put in front of it. Therefore, it is as easy to tell someone your name as it is to ask someone their name in Danish.

For example:

1. Mit navn er Peter.
   "My name is Peter."
2. Hvad er deres navne?
   "What are their names?"

Notice how er remains in both sentences. Besides being easy to remember, er is one of the most important words to know in Danish, as it is often used like "to be" in any other language.

Mit and dit are the equivalents of "my"/mine" and "your"/"yours." They are the first and second person possessive pronouns used when referring to a noun that belongs to the neuter gender class, like in the first example above, in which the noun navn ("name") is used. Like in English, mit and dit can also stand alone in a sentence without the actual noun being mentioned.

For example:

1. Er det mit?
   "Is this mine?"
2. Er det dit?
   "Is this yours?"

Simply make sure that you know the gender of the noun that det ("this") has replaced. In the examples above, det refers to nouns that belong to the neuter gender class, but if you are referring to a noun of the common gender class, det should be changed to den ("this"), even though the meaning obviously does not change. This also counts for mit and dit, which should be changed to min ("my"/"mine") and din ("your"/"yours") when referring to nouns that belong to the common gender class. When referring to nouns in the plural though, gender does not matter: it is mine ("my"/"mine") and dine ("your"/"yours").

For example:

1. Er skoene dine?
   "Are the shoes yours?"
2. Skoene er mine.
   "The shoes are mine."

Finally, the phrase i lige måde is equivalent to both "likewise" and "you too," and it is used the same way in Danish as it is in English. Danish people mostly use it when someone has thanked you for something and you want to thank them too.

For example:

A: Tak for godt samarbejde. - "Thanks for good cooperation."
B: Tak, i lige måde. - "Thanks, likewise/you too."

A: Tak for i aften. - "Thanks for tonight/this evening."
B: Tak, i lige måde. - "Thanks, likewise/you too."

I lige måde can also be used when someone wishes you good luck or something pleasant and you want to return the compliment.

For example:

A: Hav en god weekend. - "Have a nice / good weekend."
B: Tak, i lige måde. - "Thanks, likewise / you too."

Incentives for Having Children

In 2012 Denmark had 57,916 newborns. The country of Denmark officially needs a birth rate of 2.3 babies per woman, but combined with the increasing age of first timers and the economy, this has been rather hard to achieve. Many incentives to bear more children have been made over the past thirty years. One of the biggest new incentives was the Schlüter checken act from 1987, under which a check is sent to every child under the age of eighteen, regardless of their parents' income. Also almost half of daycare and kindergarten is subsidized, and the more children you have, the bigger the discount.

Currently, the most popular girls and boys names in Denmark are: