Learn how to use interjections as a natural response in a conversation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gina: Hello and welcome back to DanishClass101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, season 1, lesson 16, Wow! Using Danish Interjections Makes You Sound Like a Natural! I’m Gina. |
| Anna: Hej! And I’m Anna. |
| Gina: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use interjections as natural responses in a conversation. |
| Anna: This will definitely get you some cred. |
| Gina: So let’s get started! |
| Anna: The conversation takes place at William’s parents’ home, and it’s between William and Louise. |
| Gina: The speakers are siblings, and they’re speaking standard Danish. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Let's listen to the conversation. |
| William: Øh, har du set mine nøgler? |
| Louise: Tja... Måske. |
| William: Ej, kom nu. |
| Louise: Næh. Find dem selv. |
| William: Nå... Så gør jeg det. |
| Louise: Ta-da! Her er de! |
| Let's hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| William: Øh, har du set mine nøgler? |
| Louise: Tja... Måske. |
| William: Ej, kom nu. |
| Louise: Næh. Find dem selv. |
| William: Nå... Så gør jeg det. |
| Louise: Ta-da! Her er de! |
| Now let's hear it with the English translation. |
| William: Øh, har du set mine nøgler? |
| William: Uhm, have you seen my keys? |
| Louise: Tja... Måske. |
| Louise: Well...Maybe. |
| William: Ej, kom nu. |
| William: Oh, come on. |
| Louise: Næh. Find dem selv. |
| Louise: Nah. Find them yourself. |
| William: Nå... Så gør jeg det. |
| William: Oh...I will do that then. |
| Louise: Ta-da! Her er de! |
| Louise: Ta-da! Here they are! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gina: Hey! It’s time for some Danish slang words. |
| Anna: Like in any other culture, the younger generation in Denmark tend to use a lot of slang when they’re talking. |
| Gina: Can you teach our listeners some of the most commonly used slang words? |
| Anna: Sure. You’ve already used one actually. Many young Danes say hey instead of hej, when they’re greeting each other, like we learned in a previous lesson. |
| Gina: What else can you teach us? |
| Anna: You can say something is skod instead of “bad.” The word literally means “cigarette butt.” |
| Gina: (laughs) So something must indeed be bad, when it’s skod. Let’s have another slang word. |
| Anna: Many people use the word herre instead of “very.” |
| Gina: If you want to say “It’s very funny,” you say... |
| Anna: Det er herre grineren. The last word grineren is actually slang for “funny.” |
| Gina: Those are some good suggestions. |
| VOCAB |
| Gina: Now let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is |
| Anna: have |
| Gina: have, have got, own, possess |
| Anna: (SLOW) have, have |
| Next: |
| Anna: se |
| Gina: see, look, watch |
| Anna: (SLOW) se, se |
| Next: |
| Anna: mine |
| Gina: my, mine |
| Anna: (SLOW) mine, mine |
| Next: |
| Anna: nøgle |
| Gina: key |
| Anna: (SLOW) nøgle, nøgle |
| Next: |
| Anna: måske |
| Gina: maybe, perhaps, possibly |
| Anna: (SLOW) måske, måske |
| Next: |
| Anna: kom nu |
| Gina: come on (lit. come now) |
| Anna: (SLOW) kom nu, kom nu |
| Next: |
| Anna: finde |
| Gina: find |
| Anna: (SLOW) finde, finde |
| Next: |
| Anna: selv |
| Gina: -self, -selves, even |
| Anna: (SLOW) selv, selv |
| Next: |
| Anna: gøre |
| Gina: do, make |
| Anna: (SLOW) gøre, gøre |
| Next: |
| Anna: de |
| Gina: they, those, the |
| Anna: (SLOW) de, de |
| 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, what’s first? |
| Anna: Måske [pause] Måske. |
| Gina: This means “maybe,” “perhaps,” or “possibly.” |
| Anna: It’s very easy to learn, because it’s used in the same way as in English. |
| Gina: Great. What’s next? |
| Anna: Kom nu [pause] Kom nu. This phrase is composed of the word kom, which is the verb “come” in imperative form, and nu which means “now.” |
| Gina: So the phrase literally means “come now,” but is equivalent to “come on” in English. And it's often used to express impatience with someone who’s taking too long to do something. So, for example, if someone’s on the phone, and you have to be somewhere else soon, you can say it to that person. |
| Anna: Kom nu [pause] Kom nu. |
| Gina: Great. What’s next? |
| Anna: Selv [pause] Selv. |
| Gina: As a pronoun, it means “self” or “selves” and is used to indicate the words “myself,” “yourself,” “himself,” “herself,” “itself,” and “oneself. And “ourselves,” “yourselves,” and “themselves.” |
| Anna: Exactly. For example, in Danish, “I went by myself” is Jeg tog selv afsted. |
| Gina: The first word is the pronoun “I,” the second word means “went,” the third word means “myself,” and the last word means “off,” but it's not included in the English translation. |
| Anna: Jeg tog selv afsted. |
| Gina: As an adverb, selv means “even.” |
| Anna: Yes, and it’s used in the same way as in English. |
| Gina: Can you give us an example? |
| Anna: Selv dengang kunne de ikke enes. |
| Gina: This means “Even then they could not get along.” |
| Anna: Breaking it down, selv means “even,” dengang means “then,” de means “they,” kunne means “could,” ikke means “not,” and enes means “get along” or “agree.” |
| Gina: So that gives us… |
| Anna: Selv dengang kunne de ikke enes. |
| Gina: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Gina: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to respond naturally using interjections in a conversation. |
| Anna: Yes, and you have already heard some of the most common ones in the dialogue. |
| Gina: First we had... |
| Anna: Øh, which is equivalent to the English “umm” and is used to express hesitation, doubt, or perplexity. |
| Gina: Yes, and it's also used to fill in that pause you make while thinking about what to say next. Let’s hear it again. |
| Anna: Øh [pause] Øh. |
| Gina: The next interjection we heard was… |
| Anna: Tja [pause] Tja. |
| Gina: This is equivalent to the English “well” and is used to express hesitation or doubt. |
| Anna: Yes, for example, if you have to answer a difficult question, you can use tja to express your uncertainty. But it’s also used to tease people when withholding information. |
| Gina: For example if your brother is looking for his keys and you know where they are but you don’t want to tell him. |
| Anna: Yeah that’s right. |
| Gina: What else did we hear in the dialogue? |
| Anna: Ej [pause] Ej. |
| Gina: Depending on your tone, this interjection can be used to express annoyance and irritation, regret, reproach, surprise, and other feelings. |
| Anna: Yes, for example, dislike, disagreement, or discontent, as a reaction to something. |
| Gina: In English, it means something like “oh” or “wow.” |
| Anna: Yes, but ej can’t really be translated directly. It depends on the tone and context. |
| Gina: So what does it sound like if you’re annoyed? |
| Anna: Ej [annoyed tone] x2 |
| Gina: And if you want to express regret? |
| Anna: Ej [regrettable tone] x2 |
| Gina: How about surprise? |
| Anna: Ej [surprised tone] x2 |
| Gina: Great. Next we heard… |
| Anna: Næh [pause] Næh. This is another way of saying nej, which means “no” and is equivalent to the English “nah.” |
| Gina: Therefore, it’s used to express denial, which is often influenced by hesitation or uncertainty. For example, if you look sad, but still say “Nah, I’m fine.” |
| Anna: In Danish, it becomes Næh, jeg har det fint [pause] Næh, jeg har det fint. |
| Gina: Word-for-word, it literally means “Nah, I have it fine,” but in regular English it’s “Nah, I’m fine.” |
| Anna: Næh can also be used to express admiration or surprise, if you use the right tone. |
| Gina: How does that sound? |
| Anna: Næh [admiring/surprised tone] x2 |
| Gina: Finally, we heard the interjection… |
| Anna: Nå [pause] Nå. |
| Gina: Depending on the tone and the length of the vowel sound, this interjection can be used in seven main ways. |
| Anna: Yes, and some of these even contain additional options. |
| Gina: One thing is for sure though, nå usually appears at the beginning of a sentence. So, what’s the first way of using this interjection? |
| Anna: As a matter-of-fact declaratory reply – Nå can be used to express interest or lack of interest, understanding or realization, or skepticism. |
| Gina: If you think about nå as equivalent to “oh…,” “oh…!” and “huh…,” you have an idea of what the different tones should be like. What’s the second way of using this interjection? |
| Anna: As an opening to a statement – it can be used to summarize or end a conversation, or simply to change the topic. |
| Gina: In this case, it's equivalent to “well…” in English. What’s the third way of using nå? |
| Anna: As an expression of hesitation or doubt – it can be used when replying to unexpected questions. |
| Gina: Here, nå is equivalent to the English “oh.” What’s the fourth way of using this interjection? |
| Anna: As an expression of surprise – Nå can be used in situations where you discover that something wasn’t as you thought or expected. |
| Gina: In this case, it's also equivalent to the English “oh.” What’s the fifth way of using nå? |
| Anna: As an expression of impatience – It can be used in situations where you’ve been waiting for someone or for something to happen. |
| Gina: Once again, nå is equivalent to the English “ugh.” What’s the sixth way of using this interjection? |
| Anna: As an expression of threat – Nå can be used as a reaction to an action or a statement. |
| Gina: And finally, the seventh way of using nå is… |
| Anna: As a reaction to something or someone who’s cute or adorable. Or, as an expression of comfort. For example nå |
| Gina: When used this way, the vowel sound is particularly long. |
| Anna: Yes, because here, nå is equivalent to the English “aw,” and often used with children or animals. |
Outro |
|---|
| Gina: Phew! Are you still with us, listeners? You’ve made it through to the end! |
| Anna: The interjections in this lesson make the Danish language come alive, so remember to check out the lesson notes for more examples and more info. |
| Gina: And leave us a comment at DanishClass101.com if you have any questions! In the mean time, thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Anna: Vi ses! |
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