Learn how to use the past continuous tense and some common weather expressions
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| Beginner Season 1 Lesson 5 -The Danish Weather is Predictably Unpredictable! |
| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DanishClass101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 5 - The Danish Weather is Predictably Unpredictable! Eric here. |
| Anna: Hej! I'm Anna. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use past continuous tense and some typical weather expressions. The conversation takes place at the station. |
| Anna: It's between Camille and Benedikte. |
| Eric: The speakers are family members. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Camille: Lad os skynde os indenfor. |
| Benedikte: Sikke et regnvejr! |
| Camille: Ja, himlen var blå og skyfri, og solen skinnede for lidt siden. |
| Benedikte: Det kan hurtigt skifte om vinteren. |
| Camille: Jeg ville ønske, det ikke var så koldt. |
| Benedikte: Eller at det ville sne i stedet for at regne. |
| Camille: Ja, men ikke for meget. Ellers stopper togene måske med at køre. |
| Benedikte: Nårh, ja. Det er rigtigt. |
| Camille: Hey, nu hagler det! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Camille: Lad os skynde os indenfor. |
| Benedikte: Sikke et regnvejr! |
| Camille: Ja, himlen var blå og skyfri, og solen skinnede for lidt siden. |
| Benedikte: Det kan hurtigt skifte om vinteren. |
| Camille: Jeg ville ønske, det ikke var så koldt. |
| Benedikte: Eller at det ville sne i stedet for at regne. |
| Camille: Ja, men ikke for meget. Ellers stopper togene måske med at køre. |
| Benedikte: Nårh, ja. Det er rigtigt. |
| Camille: Hey, nu hagler det! |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Camille: Lad os skynde os indenfor. |
| Camille: Let's hurry inside. |
| Benedikte: Sikke et regnvejr! |
| Benedikte: What rainy weather! |
| Camille: Ja, himlen var blå og skyfri, og solen skinnede for lidt siden. |
| Camille: Yes, the sky was blue and cloudless and the sun was shining a little while ago. |
| Benedikte: Det kan hurtigt skifte om vinteren. |
| Benedikte: It can change quickly during the winter. |
| Camille: Jeg ville ønske, det ikke var så koldt. |
| Camille: I wish it wasn’t so cold. |
| Benedikte: Eller at det ville sne i stedet for at regne. |
| Benedikte: Or that it would snow instead of rain. |
| Camille: Ja, men ikke for meget. Ellers stopper togene måske med at køre. |
| Camille: Yes, but not too much. Otherwise, the trains might stop running. |
| Benedikte: Nårh, ja. Det er rigtigt. |
| Benedikte: Oh, yeah. That's right. |
| Camille: Hey, nu hagler det! |
| Camille: Hey, it's hailing now! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Anna, I guess Denmark has all four seasons, like any other country in Europe. |
| Anna: Right. The winter spans from December to February, the spring from March to May, summer includes the months of June, July, and August, and autumn goes from September to November. |
| Eric: And what about the weather in Denmark? |
| Anna: It’s very unpredictable. Snow can fall as late in the year as April or May, it can be hot even in October, and sometimes it rains all through the winter. |
| Eric: Some scientists say that many countries are experiencing seasonal shifts due to global warming. Do you think this is happening in Denmark? |
| Anna: Maybe. Or maybe it’s just the Danish weather doing what it does best - being unpredictable. |
| Eric: Okay. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Anna: regnvejr [natural native speed] |
| Eric: rainy weather |
| Anna: regnvejr [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: regnvejr [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: himmel [natural native speed] |
| Eric: sky, heaven |
| Anna: himmel [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: himmel [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: skyfri [natural native speed] |
| Eric: cloudless |
| Anna: skyfri [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: skyfri [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: sol [natural native speed] |
| Eric: sun |
| Anna: sol [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: sol [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at skinne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to shine |
| Anna: at skinne [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at skinne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at skifte [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to change, to switch |
| Anna: at skifte [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at skifte [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at sne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to snow |
| Anna: at sne [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at sne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at regne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to rain |
| Anna: at regne [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at regne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: ellers [natural native speed] |
| Eric: or, or else, otherwise |
| Anna: ellers [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: ellers [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Anna: at hagle [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to hail |
| Anna: at hagle [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at hagle [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Anna: himmel |
| Eric: which means “sky,” or “heaven.” |
| Anna: Himmel is often used in reference to the weather or the sky's appearance at different times of the day. |
| Eric: If you want to refer to “heaven” or “paradise,” remember to always use the definite singular form, |
| Anna: himlen. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Anna: Sure. For example, you can say.. Himmelen ligner et flammehav. |
| Eric: ..which means “The sky looks like a sea of flames.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Anna: skyfri |
| Eric: which means “cloudless.” |
| Anna: Skyfri consists of the noun sky, meaning “cloud,” and the adjective fri which means “free.” |
| Eric: You can use this adjective to describe the weather when the sky is clear and sunny. |
| Anna: A less common usage of skyfri is a figurative use of the word, in reference to a person's facial expression or carefree and sorrowless life. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Anna: Sure. For example, you can say.. Endelig en skyfri dag! |
| Eric: .. which means “Finally a cloudless day!” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Anna: ellers |
| Eric: which means “or, or else, otherwise.” It can also be used as the equivalent of “in addition” or “in addition to this.” |
| Anna: Another way to use the word ellers is to emphasize a statement, equivalent to the English expressions “indeed,” or “certainly.” If you want to decline an offer politely, you can say ellers tak, which literally means “otherwise thanks.” |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Anna: Sure. For example, you can say.. Den nye chef virker ellers flink. |
| Eric: .. which means “The new boss seems nice otherwise.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the past continuous tense and typical weather expressions. |
| Anna: Ok, let’s start with the past continuous tense. |
| Eric: The past continuous tense is used to describe an ongoing action in the past, or something that was taking place when something else happened. |
| Anna: Note, however, that in Danish, the past continuous tense is only used when you want to emphasize the process that was happening in the past. |
| Eric: Right. and to do this, we can choose between three different phrases - |
| Anna: være i færd med, være i gang med, and være ved at |
| Eric: All of these three phrases are equivalent to the verb “be” plus the second verb in -ing form. Here we have an example - |
| Anna: Using the first pattern - Jeg var i færd med at spise. |
| Eric: “I was eating.” |
| Anna: Jeg is the pronoun “I,” var is the verb at være, “to be” in past tense meaning “was,” and spise means “eat.” I færd med is used to create the progressive tense of the verb, equivalent to adding the ing-form in English. So it can’t be translated on its own. |
| Eric: Now let’s use the second pattern. |
| Anna: Jeg var i gang med at spise |
| Eric: Which has the same meaning - “I was eating.” |
| Anna: Right, and using the third pattern we have - Jeg var ved at spise. |
| Eric: Again, “I was eating.” |
| Anna: You can also use the verb lave, meaning “to do” or “to make,” to form the past continuous tense. |
| Eric: Listeners, you can find out how to conjugate this verb and more examples in the Lesson Notes. |
| Anna: Ok, let’s move on to our next grammar point - typical weather expressions. |
| Eric: No matter what the language, this subject will always come in handy when you are starting a conversation. |
| Anna: Exactly! Listeners, there is a conjugated chart with common weather-related verbs in the Lesson Notes, so be sure to check them out. |
| Eric: Now let’s move on to talk about how to form weather-related nouns in Danish. |
| Anna: This is really simple – you can form weather-related nouns by adding the suffix -vejr to a general noun. |
| Eric: Does this suffix have a meaning by itself? |
| Anna: Yes, it does. The neuter gender noun vejr by itself means “weather.” |
| Eric: And as a suffix, it is used to create weather-related nouns, or is used to describe what kind of weather is happening at a given time. |
| Anna: The noun remains exactly the same, we just add -vejr at the end. |
| Eric: You can turn any noun into a new one that describes the current type of weather. For example - |
| Anna: regn, |
| Eric: meaning “rain,” |
| Anna: Plus vejr becomes regnvejr |
| Eric: meaning “rainy weather.” |
| Anna: Note that the nouns ending with -vejr are all neuter gender nouns, because vejr is a neuter gender noun by itself. |
| Eric: Anna, when we’re creating nouns like this, do we need to add or remove any letters? |
| Anna: Generally no, but of course there are some exceptions. |
| Eric: Okay, now before we go, can you give us a couple more examples? |
| Anna: Sure! For example, tordenvejr |
| Eric: “thunderstorm” |
| Anna: snevejr |
| Eric: “snowy weather” |
| Eric: Ok, let’s use those in sample sentences. |
| Anna: Good idea. Sikke et tordenvejr i går! |
| Eric: “What a thunderstorm yesterday!” |
| Anna: Kør ikke ud i snevejret! |
| Eric: “Do not drive out into the snowy weather!” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Anna: Vi ses! |
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