Learn how to talk about animate and inanimate objects
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gina: Hello and welcome back to DanishClass101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, season 1, lesson 20, Make Sure You Don’t Run Out of Popcorn in Denmark! I’m Gina. |
| Anna: Hej, And I’m Anna. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about animate and inanimate objects using the verb være. |
| Gina: This is probably the most important verb of all the Danish verbs! So let’s get started! |
| Anna: The conversation takes place at the movies, and it’s between Emma, William, and Peter. |
| Gina: The speakers are friends, and they’re speaking standard Danish. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Emma: Er der popcorn? |
| William: Ja, det er der. |
| Peter: Jeg er sulten. Er der nok til alle? |
| Emma: Jeg tror, der er rigeligt. |
| William: Er du sikker? |
| Peter: Jeg er ikke sikker. |
| Emma: Men det er jeg! |
| Gina: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Emma: Er der popcorn? |
| William: Ja, det er der. |
| Peter: Jeg er sulten. Er der nok til alle? |
| Emma: Jeg tror, der er rigeligt. |
| William: Er du sikker? |
| Peter: Jeg er ikke sikker. |
| Emma: Men det er jeg! |
| Gina: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Emma: Er der popcorn? |
| Gina: Is there popcorn? |
| William: Ja, det er der. |
| Gina: Yes, there is. |
| Peter: Jeg er sulten. Er der nok til alle? |
| Gina: I'm hungry. Is there enough for everyone? |
| Emma: Jeg tror, der er rigeligt. |
| Gina: I think there's plenty. |
| William: Er du sikker? |
| Gina: Are you sure? |
| Peter: Jeg er ikke sikker. |
| Gina: I'm not sure. |
| Emma: Men det er jeg! |
| Gina: But I am! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gina: So our characters are at the movies. Let’s talk about Danish cinemas. |
| Anna: Sure! You can either book your ticket from home or buy it at the cinema counter. |
| Gina: Can you book tickets online? |
| Anna: Yes, and pay right away. You can also see the available seats and choose where you want to sit. |
| Gina: So the rows and seats are numbered, right? |
| Anna: Yes, they are. |
| Gina: How much is a ticket? |
| Anna: The price ranges from 85 to 90 crowns, but 3D pictures and movies that are longer than average usually cost more. |
| Gina: Please remember, though, that you'll be charged a small fee for your transaction if you book and buy your ticket online. That’s very important information! |
| Anna: People with student cards can also get a discount. |
| Gina: Good to know! Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gina: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Anna: være [natural native speed] |
| Gina: be |
| Anna: være [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: være [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Anna: popcorn [natural native speed] |
| Gina: popcorn |
| Anna: popcorn [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: popcorn [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Anna: jeg [natural native speed] |
| Gina: I |
| Anna: jeg [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: jeg [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Anna: sulten [natural native speed] |
| Gina: hungry |
| Anna: sulten [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: sulten [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Anna: nok [natural native speed] |
| Gina: enough, probably |
| Anna: nok [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: nok [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Anna: alle [natural native speed] |
| Gina: all, everybody, everyone |
| Anna: alle [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: alle [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Anna: tro [natural native speed] |
| Gina: believe, think |
| Anna: tro [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: tro [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Anna: rigelig [natural native speed] |
| Gina: ample, plentiful, plenty of |
| Anna: rigelig [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: rigelig [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| Anna: sikker [natural native speed] |
| Gina: sure, certain, positive, safe, steady |
| Anna: sikker [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: sikker [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gina: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What’s first? |
| Anna: Nok. [pause] Nok. |
| Gina: As an adjective, this means “enough” and is used like in English. |
| Anna: As an adverb, nok means “probably,” but unlike the English “probably,” it can’t stand alone. |
| Gina: So it must be part of a sentence? |
| Anna: Yes. For example, Vi vinder nok ikke means “We'll probably not win.” Vi vinder nok ikke. |
| Gina: Vi means “we,” vinder is the verb “win” in present tense, nok means “probably,” and ikke means “not.” This gives us… |
| Anna: Vi vinder nok ikke. |
| Gina: What’s next? |
| Anna: Tro. [pause] Tro. |
| Gina: This verb means “believe” or “think,” and it’s used like in English. |
| Anna: For example, Jeg tror på skæbnen. |
| Gina: This means “I believe in destiny.” |
| Anna: Jeg means “I,” tror is the verb “believe” in present tense, på means “in” when following the verb tro, and skæbnen is the definite form of the common gender noun “destiny.” |
| Gina: This gives us… |
| Anna: Jeg tror på skæbnen. |
| Gina: Can you give us an example with the verb meaning “think”? |
| Anna: Sure. De tror, det er en dum idé. [pause] De tror, det er en dum idé. |
| Gina: Word-for-word this means “They think it is a dumb idea.” |
| Anna: Next we have the adjective sikker. [pause] Sikker. |
| Gina: This is most commonly used to express certainty, and it means “sure,” “certain,” or “positive.” |
| Anna: For example, “He's very sure of himself” is Han er meget sikker på sig selv. [pause] Han er meget sikker på sig selv. |
| Gina: Han means “he,” er means “is,” meget means “very,” sikker means “sure,” and på sig selv means “of himself.” |
| Anna: Sikker can also mean “safe” or “steady.” |
| Gina: And then it’s used like in English, right? |
| Anna: Exactly! |
| Gina: Great! Okay, now let’s move on to the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Anna: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about animate and inanimate objects using the verb være. |
| Gina: We have heard this verb several times in previous lessons, so you probably know by now that it means “be.” Unlike verbs in English, Danish verbs don’t change according to person or number. |
| Anna: That’s right. They only change according to the tense. |
| Gina: So, Anna, what is the present tense of this word? |
| Anna: Er. [pause] Er. |
| Gina: And the past tense? |
| Anna: Var. [pause] Var. |
| Gina: In Danish, you use the verb have, which means “have,” in present tense as an auxiliary verb before the past participle. This gives us... |
| Anna: Har været. [pause] Har været. |
| Gina: Which means “have been” or “has been.” |
| Anna: You also use have in past tense as an auxiliary verb with være in past perfect, which is the same form of være in the past participle. So this becomes havde været. [pause] Havde været. |
| Gina: Which means “had been.” Phew, I’m so glad that Danish verbs only change according to tense! |
| Anna: Yes. And you use the same verb with both animate and inanimate objects to say “be.” |
| Gina: What else can you tell us about this verb? |
| Anna: Være in present tense and past tense can also be used as an auxiliary verb before other verbs in past participle or past perfect. |
| Gina: Can you give us an example? |
| Anna: Toget er stoppet. [pause] Toget er stoppet. |
| Gina: This means “The train has stopped.” |
| Anna: As you can hear, in this case være is used as “have” in English. Toget means “the train, and stoppet is the verb “stop” in past participle. |
| Gina: What about in past perfect? |
| Anna: In Danish, “They had already gone home,” for example, is De var allerede taget hjem. Again, the verb være is used as “have” in English. |
| Gina: And the compound verb following it is in past perfect and means “gone home.” |
| Anna: Yes. Taget hjem means “gone home.” Before that, we had the adverb allerede, which means “already.” |
| Gina: Can you repeat the sentence? |
| Anna: De var allerede taget hjem. |
| Gina: Great. So være means both “be” and “have,” but most often “be.” |
| Anna: That’s right! |
| Gina: And like we heard in the dialogue, it can also be used with a formal subject. |
| Anna: Yes, the formal subject used in the dialogue is der, which means “there” and neither refers to an animate or inanimate object. |
| Gina: How do you say “there is” and “there are”? |
| Anna: Der er. [pause] Der er. |
| Gina: And in past tense? |
| Anna: Der var. [pause] Der var. |
| Gina: Which means “there was” and “there were.” |
| Anna: That’s right! |
Outro |
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| Gina: Alright, listeners, we’ve made it to the end of this lesson! |
| Anna: Please check out the lesson note for more examples and info! |
| Gina: Until then, thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Anna: Hej hej! |
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