Learn how to use the phrase "Do you speak English?"
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| Hej, jeg hedder [name]. Hi everybody! I’m [name]. |
| Welcome to DanishClass101.com’s “Dansk på 3 minutter”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Danish. |
| In the last lesson, you learned the most common forms of greetings in Danish. Do you remember them? |
| In this lesson you’re going to learn a very useful phrase - “Do you speak English?” |
| If you find yourself in a situation where you need assistance in English, this phrase can be a lifesaver. And because you’re asking it in Danish, you can be sure that everyone will understand what you’re saying, even if their answer is no. |
| Here's the most common way to say it. |
| Taler du engelsk? |
| [slowly] Taler du engelsk? |
| Danish is a pretty straightforward language. We conjugate verbs based on time, which means we have past, present, and infinitive. The question taler du engelsk? translates as “are you speaking English?” In Danish present tense, “speaking” is taler. |
| The second word in the sentence du simply means “you”. And you probably recognize “engelsk” to be “English.” |
| Taler du engelsk? |
| To learn how to properly conjugate verbs like taler, please check out our Absolute Beginner series on DanishClass101.com. You can find very detailed grammar lessons and resources there! |
| Like English, there are many ways to ask this question. Let’s look at another one thar is also pretty similar to English. It’s literally the equivalent of “can you speak English?” |
| Kan du tale engelsk? |
| [slowly]Kan du tale engelsk? |
| Adding undskyld, "excuse me", to the sentence would make it... |
| Undskyld, kan du tale engelsk? |
| [slowly] Undskyld, kan du tale engelsk? |
| The responses you will receive could be one of these three- |
| Ja. meaning "Yes." |
| [slowly] Ja. |
| Lidt. meaning "A little." |
| [slowly] Lidt. |
| And Nej, jeg kan ikke tale engelsk. meaning "No, I don’t speak English." |
| [slowly] Nej, jeg kan ikke tale engelsk. |
| Since this last one is a negative statement, we need to say ikke before the verb, tale. Notice also that the verb, tale, is slightly different than taler. Remember, the verb changes depending on the time it is in. We are now talking about the infinitive, since it is coupled with kan, which means “can.” |
| Now it’s time for [name]’s Insights. |
| For those of you who don’t just speak English, you can obviously use this question with any language you need. Danish people study other European languages at school, so maybe you will get lucky! Just substitute engelsk with… |
| Italiensk for ”Italian”. |
| Fransk for “French”. |
| Spansk for “Spanish”. |
| Tysk for “German”. |
| In this lesson we mentioned the expression undskyld. But did you know that this could also be used as an apology? In the next lesson you will learn this and other ways to apologize in Danish. It’s never too late to show your good manners with Danish people! |
| I'll see you in our next Dansk på 3 minutter lesson. |
| På gensyn! |
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