Learn how to ask "Where?" in Danish and how to answer
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Gina: Hello and welcome back to DanishClass101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, season 1, lesson 13 - Looking for a Bathroom in Denmark. I’m Gina. |
| Anna: Hej! And I’m Anna. |
| Gina: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask “where?” in Danish and how to answer. |
| Anna: It’s always convenient to be able to ask where something or someone is in the local language in a foreign country. |
| Gina: So let’s get started! |
| Anna: The conversation takes place in an apartment and is between Peter and Emma. |
| Gina: The speakers are friends, and they’ll be speaking standard Danish. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Let's listen to the conversation. |
| Peter: Hvor er toilettet? |
| Emma: Badeværelset er derhenne. |
| Peter: Derhenne? Tak. |
| Emma: Det var så lidt. |
| Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Peter: Hvor er toilettet? |
| Emma: Badeværelset er derhenne. |
| Peter: Derhenne? Tak. |
| Emma: Det var så lidt. |
| Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| Peter: Hvor er toilettet? |
| Peter: Where is the toilet? |
| Emma: Badeværelset er derhenne. |
| Emma: The bathroom is over there. |
| Peter: Derhenne? Tak. |
| Peter: Over there? Thanks. |
| Emma: Det var så lidt. |
| Emma: You are welcome. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gina: Okay, so now we’ve heard how to ask about the toilet in Danish. |
| Anna: In Denmark, however, public toilets are quite easy to spot and recognize. |
| Gina: Oh, yeah? How so...? |
| Anna: Well, they're usually black and have a booth-like shape. |
| Gina: You mean like a phone booth? |
| Anna: No, no…! Much bigger. You can fit a wheelchair in there. |
| Gina: I see. So, are they free for everyone to use? |
| Anna: Being a public toilet, yes. BUT you have to pay two kroner to get in. Some only allow you to be inside for a limited time. |
| Gina: That’s… Convenient, but also a bit scary. |
| Anna: If you're afraid of being umm…interrupted, you can always use the customer lavatories in shopping malls and larger supermarkets. These usually don’t charge you either. |
| Gina: Good advice! |
| VOCAB |
| Gina: Now let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is |
| Anna: hvor |
| Gina: where |
| Anna: (SLOW) hvor, hvor |
| Next: |
| Anna: være |
| Gina: be |
| Anna: (SLOW) være, være |
| Next: |
| Anna: toilet |
| Gina: toilet, lavatory |
| Anna: (SLOW) toilet, toilet |
| Next: |
| Anna: badeværelse |
| Gina: bathroom |
| Anna: (SLOW) badeværelse, badeværelse |
| Next: |
| Anna: derhenne |
| Gina: over there |
| Anna: (SLOW) derhenne, derhenne |
| Next: |
| Anna: tak |
| Gina: thank you, thanks |
| Anna: (SLOW) tak, tak |
| Next: |
| Anna: det var så lidt |
| Gina: you're welcome |
| Anna: (SLOW) det var så lidt, det var så lidt |
| Next: |
| Anna: lidt |
| Gina: a little, a bit |
| Anna: (SLOW) lidt, lidt |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gina: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Anna: The first word is toilet [pause] Toilet. |
| Gina: This means “toilet” or “lavatory” in English. |
| Anna: Yes, and it's a neuter gender noun. |
| Gina: This means that in Danish “a toilet” is… |
| Anna: Et toilet [pause] Et toilet. |
| Gina: And “the toilet” is… |
| Anna: Toilettet [pause] Toilettet. The definite article -et has been added to the end of the word. |
| Gina: The word can not only be used to refer to an actual toilet, but it can also be used to refer to the restroom or a more accessible public toilet. |
| Anna: That’s right! |
| Gina: What’s our next word? |
| Anna: Badeværelse. |
| Gina: This means “bathroom.” |
| Anna: Badeværelse. |
| Gina: This word is also a neuter gender noun. |
| Anna: Yes, and it's used in the same way as it is in English, just like toilet by the way. |
| Gina: So it’s very straightforward and easy to learn. Let’s hear both again. |
| Anna: Toilet and badeværelse. |
| Gina: Great! What do we have next? |
| Anna: Next we have the phrase Det var så lidt. |
| Gina: Now we've heard this phrase in a previous lesson, isn’t that right, Anna? |
| Anna: That’s right! Det var så lidt means “You're welcome” or “It was nothing” and is what you'd say if someone has thanked you for something. |
| Gina: It literally means “It was so little.” |
| Anna: Yes. The first word det is the pronoun “it,” the second word var is the verb “be” in past tense form, and the third word så can mean several things, but in this case it means “so.” |
| Gina: And the last word…? |
| Anna: The last word lidt can be translated here as “little.” |
| Gina: So that gives us… |
| Anna: Det var så lidt [pause] Det var så lidt. |
| Gina: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Gina: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask “where?” in Danish and how to answer. |
| Anna: In Danish, “where” is hvor [pause] Hvor. It's an adverb and used the same way as it is in English. |
| Gina: Can you give us an example? |
| Anna: Sure. Let’s try asking where the police station is. “Police station” in Danish is politistation and is a common gender noun. |
| Gina: So “Where is the police station?” is… |
| Anna: Hvor er politistationen? [pause] Hvor er politistationen? Hvor means “where,” er is the verb “be” in present tense, and politistationen means “the police station.” |
| Gina: The definite article -en has been added to the end of the word, because it's a common gender noun. |
| Anna: Had we used a neuter gender noun, we would've added the definite article -et to the end of the noun. |
| Gina: So when you want to ask where something or someone is, the sentence structure is similar to English, right? |
| Anna: It sure is. You simply start with hvor, then er, and follow this by a noun in definite form or the name of a person, place, or street. |
| Gina: So how do you answer where something or someone is? |
| Anna: There are several ways of answering. For example, you can say Politistationen er derhenne, which literally means “The police station is over there.” Politistationen er derhenne. |
| Gina: How do you say “It's over there”? |
| Anna: Den er derhenne. Den is the pronoun “it” that refers to a common gender noun—in this case politistationen or “the police station.” Er means “is,” and derhenne means “over there.” |
| Gina: Right! Just like we learned in the vocabulary section! |
| Anna: Exactly! |
| Gina: But hey… Can you also answer by only saying “Over there”? |
| Anna: Yes, you can. If you choose to answer Derhenne, make sure to point in the direction you are referring to. |
| Gina: Great. Now, I’ve heard there’s another verb you can use to ask where something is in Danish. |
| Anna: Yes, you can use the verb ligge, which means “be,” “lie,” “be situated,” or “stand.” |
| Gina: This can't be used to ask where people are—only places. |
| Anna: For example, Hvor ligger Det Kongelige Teater? |
| Gina: This means “Where is The Royal Theater?,” and as you can hear, the sentence structure is the same as before. |
Outro |
|---|
| Gina: Okay, listeners, that’s all for this lesson. |
| Anna: Please make sure to check out the lesson notes for more examples and info on the grammar! |
| Gina: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time! |
| Anna: Vi ses! |
Comments
Hide