Learn how to use the past perfect and various adjectives
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| Beginner Season 1 Lesson 8 - Has Your Danish Friend had a Makeover? |
| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DanishClass101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 8 - Has Your Danish Friend had a Makeover? Eric here. |
| Anna: Hej! I'm Anna. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to describe people in Danish. The conversation takes place at a reunion party. |
| Anna: It's between Niklas and Alexander. |
| Eric: The speakers are acquaintances. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Niklas: Wow, så du Niels?! |
| Alexander: Ja, han var ikke til at genkende. |
| Niklas: Han lignede én, der havde trænet meget. |
| Alexander: Han så godt ud. Han havde også fået ny stil, ikke? |
| Niklas: Jo, for det gamle tøj var vel blevet for stort. |
| Alexander: Jakken så dyr ud. |
| Niklas: Og det gjorde skjorten også. |
| Alexander: Det er sikkert konens værk. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Niklas: Wow, så du Niels?! |
| Alexander: Ja, han var ikke til at genkende. |
| Niklas: Han lignede én, der havde trænet meget. |
| Alexander: Han så godt ud. Han havde også fået ny stil, ikke? |
| Niklas: Jo, for det gamle tøj var vel blevet for stort. |
| Alexander: Jakken så dyr ud. |
| Niklas: Og det gjorde skjorten også. |
| Alexander: Det er sikkert konens værk. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Niklas: Wow, så du Niels?! |
| Nicholas: Wow, did you see Niels?! |
| Alexander: Ja, han var ikke til at genkende. |
| Alexander: Yes, he was unrecognizable. |
| Niklas: Han lignede én, der havde trænet meget. |
| Nicholas: He looked like someone who’s been working out a lot. |
| Alexander: Han så godt ud. Han havde også fået ny stil, ikke? |
| Alexander: He looked great. He’s also got a new style, right? |
| Niklas: Jo, for det gamle tøj var vel blevet for stort. |
| Nicholas: Yes, because his old clothes must have become too big. |
| Alexander: Jakken så dyr ud. |
| Alexander: The jacket looked expensive. |
| Niklas: Og det gjorde skjorten også. |
| Nicholas: And so did the shirt. |
| Alexander: Det er sikkert konens værk. |
| Alexander: It’s probably his wife's doing. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Anna, is there something we should know when giving compliments to Danes? |
| Anna: Well, if you're going to compliment a Dane, make sure to do it in an elegant manner and to never overwhelm the person with compliments. Also, remember that Danes can be very sarcastic or ironic, so if someone compliments you on something, it may mean the exact opposite of what is said. |
| Eric: Though this is unlikely to happen unless the person thinks you can handle the joke right? |
| Anna: Of course. In general, Danish men are bad at complimenting women, and neither Danish men nor women are very good at receiving compliments, either. Both tend to brush off well-meant compliments, perhaps because they are too self-critical or simply because they are uncomfortable being at the center of attention. |
| Eric: Okay. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Anna: wow [natural native speed] |
| Eric: wow |
| Anna: wow [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: wow [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at se [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to see, to look, to watch |
| Anna: at se [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at se [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: ikke [natural native speed] |
| Eric: not |
| Anna: ikke [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: ikke [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at genkende [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to recognize |
| Anna: at genkende [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at genkende [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at ligne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to look like, to resemble |
| Anna: at ligne [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at ligne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at træne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to work out, to train, to exercise |
| Anna: at træne [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at træne [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at se ud [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to look |
| Anna: at se ud [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at se ud [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: jo [natural native speed] |
| Eric: yes |
| Anna: jo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: jo [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: sikkert [natural native speed] |
| Eric: probably, surely |
| Anna: sikkert [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: sikkert [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Anna: kone [natural native speed] |
| Eric: wife |
| Anna: kone [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: kone [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: jo |
| Eric: which is an interjection, meaning “yes.” |
| Anna: It's mostly used as a confirming answer to a question that contains a negation. |
| Eric: Or to express disagreement, followed by the reason. |
| Anna: Some people might use jo ironically as an exclamation to express that their negative expectations have been met. |
| Eric: If you want to make sure that you’re clearly saying “yes” to something, it’s better to use another interjection. |
| Anna: Right. Use ja, |
| Eric: which can be used to express both confirmation and agreement. |
| Anna: Here we have an example, using jo - Jo, hunden spiser også tre måltider om dagen. |
| Eric: “Yes, the dog also eats three meals a day.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Anna: sikkert |
| Eric: which means “probably,” or “surely.” |
| Anna: Sikkert is mostly used to express probability. |
| Eric: For example, you can say… |
| Anna: Du har sikkert ret |
| Eric: which means “You are probably right.” |
| Anna: You can also use sikkert to say “sure” or “surely” by adding the adverb helt, so the phrase becomes helt sikkert. |
| Eric: This literally means “completely sure,” but is the equivalent of the English “sure.” |
| Anna: Listeners, be aware that some people might also use sikkert sarcastically when they don't believe you. |
| Eric: If you want to emphasize your certainty about something rather than only expressing probability, you can use the adjective… |
| Anna: garanteret instead of sikkert. Garanteret means “guaranteed.” |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Anna: Sure. For example, you can say.. Vi har sikkert glemt noget alligevel. |
| Eric: “We have probably forgotten something anyway.” |
| Anna: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to describe people in Danish, practicing the past perfect tense. |
| Anna: When you want to express that someone or something looks similar to someone or something else, a common phrase is |
| Eric: “You look like…” In Danish, this is |
| Anna: Du ligner. |
| Eric: This is then followed by a pronoun or a noun, so the sentence structure is… |
| Anna: Du ligner plus pronoun or noun. The pronoun du, |
| Eric: meaning “you,” can be replaced with any other pronoun or a noun. Let’s take a look at the first example. |
| Anna: Hun ligner søsteren. |
| Eric: This means “She looks like the sister.” Let’s break down this phrase to see the meaning of each word. |
| Anna: Hun is the pronoun “she,” ligner is the verb “looks like” in present tense, and søsteren is the common gender noun meaning “the sister.” Hun ligner søsteren. |
| Eric: “She looks like the sister.” Another example is… |
| Anna: Drengen ligner ham. |
| Eric: “The boy looks like him.” Ok, now let's move on to another grammar structure. When wanting to give someone a compliment, a common phrase to start with is “You look…”, which in Danish is… |
| Anna: Du ser. Du ser is followed by an adjective, which is then followed by the adverb ud, meaning “out.” |
| Eric: So the sentence structure looks like this- |
| Anna: Du ser adjective ud. |
| Eric: Of course, you can replace |
| Anna: du |
| Eric: with a different pronoun or noun if you want to compliment someone or something other than the person you are talking to. For example - |
| Anna: Hun ser smuk ud. |
| Eric: “She looks beautiful.” |
| Anna: Hun means “she,” ser is the verb “to look,” conjugated in present tense, smuk is the adjective beautiful, and ud is the adverb “out.” Hun ser smuk ud. |
| Eric: “She looks beautiful.” We can also talk about how someone looked in the past by conjugating the verb |
| Anna: at se |
| Eric: in past tense |
| Anna: så - |
| Eric: meaning “saw,” or “looked.” For example… |
| Anna: Manden så flot ud. |
| Eric: “The man looked handsome.” Okay, now let’s review our second grammar point, |
| Anna: forming the past perfect tense. |
| Eric: The past perfect tense is used to express that a relevant event, action, or a condition was finished or began before a certain time in the past. In Danish, the past perfect tense can be formed using the verbs “to have” or “to be” in past tense - |
| Anna: at have - “to have,” in past tense is havde. At være - “to be” in past tense is - var. |
| Eric: Then add the past participle of the second verb. |
| Anna: The majority of verbs form past perfect tense with the auxiliary verb havde. |
| Eric: The past participle is made up of the base form of the verb, plus the ending |
| Anna: -et or -t |
| Eric: So, the basic sentence structure is - |
| Anna: havde, plus past participle |
| Eric: or |
| Anna: var, plus past participle |
| Eric: Listeners, make sure to check out the Lesson Notes to see a conjugation chart, as well as more examples. |
| Anna: We also included some basic typical Danish phrases for giving compliments. |
| Eric: Before we leave, Anna, can you give us one sample sentence using the past perfect tense? |
| Anna: Sure, how about - Han havde fået en pæn frisure. |
| Eric: “He had gotten a nice haircut.” |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Anna: Farvel! |
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