The Focus of this Lesson is Discussing Skills and Desires
Jeg er dårlig til matematik, men god til sport.
"I am bad at math, but good at sports."

In this lesson, we will learn how to:

1. Talk about what you are good or bad at
2. Talk about what you would like to do, using the phrase at gerne ville
3. Use the modal verb at kunne

1. Talking about what you are good or bad at

Let's take a look at three of the most common sentence structures to talk about your own skills, focusing on the first person singular. The first one is:

Jeg er god til [noun].

This means "I am good at [noun]." Jeg is the pronoun "I," er is the noun at være in present tense meaning "is," god is the adjective "good," and til is the preposition "at." Simply add a noun indicating what you are good at.

For example: Jeg er god til fodbold.

This means "I am good at soccer." The noun fodbold, which means "soccer" or "football," has been added to complete the sentence.

The second most common sentence structure is:

Jeg er ikke god til [noun].

This means "I am not good at [noun]." Basically, the adverb ikke, which means "no" or "not," has been added between the verb er and the adjective god, so the sentence becomes negative. Let's complete the sentence with a different verb this time:

Jeg er ikke god til madlavning.

This means "I am not good at cooking." The noun madlavning, which means "cooking," has been added to complete the sentence.

The third most common sentence structure is:

Jeg er dårlig til [noun].

This means "I am bad at [noun]." The adjective god has been replaced with dårlig, which means "bad." Other than that, the sentence pattern is identical to the previous two. So if you are bad at chess, the sentence becomes:

Jeg er dårlig til skak.

This means "I am bad at chess." The noun skak is the Danish word for "chess."

Let's take a look at the sentence structures when using a verb instead of a noun.

Jeg er god til at [verb].

This means "I am good at [verb]." The meaning is more or less the same, except we have added the infinitive marker at, meaning "to." Then simply add a verb in the infinitive form that indicates what it is you are good at.

For example: Jeg er god til at læse.

This means "I am good at reading." The verb læse, which means "read," has been added to complete the sentence.

The second sentence structure becomes:

Jeg er ikke god til at [verb].

This means "I am not good at [verb]." Again the adverb ikke, which means "no" or "not," has been added between the verb er and the adjective god, so the sentence becomes negative. Let's try a different verb this time:

Jeg er ikke god til at stave.

This means "I am not good at spelling." The verb stave is the infinitive form of "spell." Of course, you can always add further details about what it is you are not good at.

For example: Jeg er ikke god til at stave lange ord.

This means "I am not good at spelling long words." Lange is the adjective "long" modifying the noun ord in plural form, meaning "words."

And the third sentence structure becomes:

Jeg er dårlig til at [verb].

This means "I am bad at [verb]." The adjective god has once again been replaced with dårlig, which means "bad." So if you are bad at singing, the sentence goes:

Jeg er dårlig til at synge.

This means "I am bad at singing." The verb synge in its infinitive form, which means "sing," has been added to complete the sentence.

2. Talking about what you would like to do, using the phrase at gerne ville

The phrase at gerne ville is the most common way to express what you would like to do. It consists of the adverb gerne, which means "with pleasure," "gladly," or "willingly," and the verb ville, which means "will" or "shall." So put together we have gerne ville which means "would like to." Let's take a closer look at the sentence pattern, focusing on the first person singular:

Jeg vil gerne [verb]. ("I would like to [verb].")

Jeg is the pronoun "I" and vil gerne is the phrase at gerne ville in present tense. Please note that gerne should be placed after ville whenever the verb is not in infinitive form. Then simply add a verb in the infinitive form that indicates what it is you would like to do.

For example: Jeg vil gerne sove.

This means "I would like to sleep." Sove is the infinitive form of the verb at sove, which means "to sleep." Of course, you can also modify the sentence even further by adding more details about what you would like to do.

For example: Jeg vil gerne sove på sofaen.

This means "I would like to sleep on the couch." På is the preposition "on" and sofaen is the common gender noun sofa in definite form meaning "the couch" or "the sofa."

3. Using the modal verb at kunne

The modal verb at kunne is used in the sentence Fedt! Kan du hjælpe mig? which means "Cool! Can you help me?" Fedt is slang for "cool," kan is at kunne "to be able to" in present tense, du is the pronoun "you," hjælpe is the verb "help" in the infinitive form, and mig is the pronoun "me." At kunne is most commonly used to express ability, like in the sentence from the dialogue, but the verb has several other usages.

In this case, it is used to ask someone if they are able to help with something. Kan is usually followed by a verb in infinitive form that indicates what it is someone can or is able to do. Here that verb is at hjælpe, meaning "to help." So put together we have kan hjælpe which means "can help." At kunne does not change according to person and is conjugated in the chart below:

Let's take a look at some examples:

Jeg kan spille klaver.

This means "I can play the piano." Jeg is the pronoun "I," kan is at kunne in the present tense, spille is the verb "play" in infinitive form, and klaver is the neuter gender noun "piano."

Han kunne fløjte.

This means "He could whistle." Han is the pronoun "he," kunne is at kunne in the past tense, and fløjte is the verb "whistle" in infinitive form.

Hun har kunnet forstå dansk.

This means "She has been able to understand Danish." Hun is the pronoun "she," har is the auxiliary verb "have" used to form the past participle together with the modal verb, forstå is the verb "understand" in the infinitive form, and dansk is the noun "Danish" used when referring to the Danish language.

Examples from the dialogue:

1. Idræt! Jeg er dårlig til matematik, men god til sport.
   "Sport! I'm bad at math, but good at sports."
2. Ja, jeg skyndte mig. Jeg vil gerne have mere tid til mit valgfag.
   "Yes, I hurried. I would like to have more time for my elective."

Sample Sentences

1. Drengen er rigtig god til at spille skak.
   "The boy is really good at playing chess."
2. Pigen er dårlig til dansk.
   "The girl is bad at Danish."
3. Forældrene vil gerne være alene.
   "The parents would like to be alone."

selvfølgelig "of course," "naturally," "certainly," "obvious"

Selvfølgelig as an adverb means "of course," "naturally," or "certainly."

Selvfølgelig as an adjective means "obvious."

As an adverb, this is used to express that you think something is obvious, completely normal, or expected. It is also used to express a faint confession before saying something contradicting. When emphasizing that you are fully aware of the certain way something stands, you can also use selvfølgelig. Finally, you can use selvfølgelig to express that something stands as expected, even though you had hoped something else.

As an adjective, it is used to describe when something is completely natural, expected, or in other words, obvious. When using selvfølgelig as an adjective to describe neuter gender nouns or verbs, remember to add a -t so it becomes selvfølgeligt.

For example:

1. Selvfølgelig må du komme med.
   "Of course you may come along."

sådan da "sort of," "more or less"

Sådan is an adjective and means "such" or "like that." Da as an adverb means "then" or "at that time." As a conjunction, it means "when," "as," "since," or "then."

Sådan da is used to express when something is fairly good or within reasonable boundaries. Some people might find sådan da too vague when describing a status or condition. They might prefer the adjective nogenlunde, which means "fairly good." Both are equally casual, but sådan da has a more negative sound to it. So if someone asks you whether or not you have recovered from an illness, you might want to use nogenlunde instead if you want to indicate that you are on your way to recovery.

For example:

1. Vi er snart færdige - sådan da.
   "We'll be done soon—more or less."

derimod "on the other hand, against it"

Der as a formal subject means "there" or "it." As a pronoun, it can mean "who," "which," or "that." And finally, as an adverb, it means "there." Imod as an adverb means "against," and as a preposition it means "towards."

Derimod is used when something is contrary to or goes against what was just mentioned. You will often find derimod used in formal situations to mean something or someone is opposed to what was just mentioned. For example, it might come up  in a political or judicial context when some people might be against what is being stated or proposed.

Other synonyms for derimod that you can use in both formal and informal situations are tværtimod or til gengæld. Tværtimod is an adverb which means "on the contrary" and til gengæld is a phrase which means "in return."

For example:

1. Derimod kan katte ikke flyve.
   "On the contrary, cats cannot fly."

Electives in the Danish School System

From the 7th grade students can choose between one and three electives. Some university courses also feature electives or supplementary subjects. Today, students can choose between foreign languages, art, home economics, shop, music, sports, math, psychology, science, and many more electives. Taking specific electives is often necessary in order to be admitted to your desired university course.