Learn about formal Danish
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Intro |
|---|
| Antoni: How does formal Danish work? |
| Anna Juul: And when is it used? |
| Antoni: At DanishClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Silas Skou, a high school student, comes across one of his neighbors, Karen Lee. He says, "Mrs. Lee, how are you?" |
| Silas: Mrs. Lee, hvordan går det? |
| Dialogue |
| Silas: Fr. Lee, hvordan går det? |
| Karen: Godt, tak. Hvordan går det med dig? |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Silas: Fr. Lee, hvordan går det? |
| Antoni: "Mrs. Lee, how are you?" |
| Karen: Godt, tak. Hvordan går det med dig? |
| Antoni: "Fine, thanks. How are you?" |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: In this lesson, we will be discussing formal Danish. We will look at how it works and when it is used. To begin with, we’d like to emphasize that Danes are egalitarian and casual and often address each other on a first name basis. However, there are circumstances where they would use honorifics like |
| Anna Juul: Hr. |
| Antoni: or "Mr.," and |
| Anna Juul: Fr. |
| Antoni: or "Mrs." Compared with other cultures, Danish can be a bit straightforward. Unlike in languages like German or French where a specific pronoun is used to convey formality or politeness, in Danish, everyone uses the word |
| Anna Juul: du |
| Antoni: or "you." If you notice in the dialogue, both Torbjoern and Karen greet one another in a casual tone. While Torbjoern greets with "How are things going," Karen replies with "How are things going with you?" In Karen’s reply, you will observe the objective case for the second person singular "you," which is |
| Anna Juul: dig |
| Antoni: Here, we can see that Danes don’t worry much about formality when greeting one another regardless of the age of the person they are addressing. Does that mean formal Danish language does not exist? Not necessarily. You will be surprised to learn that Danes are kind and polite, and that there are certain phrases you can use if you wish to sound formal. For instance, it would be rude to talk to your superior at work or even to a stranger and say, |
| Anna Juul: Hej! Du! Hvad er klokken? |
| Michael: or "Hey! You! What time is it?" Instead, you would say, |
| Anna Juul: Undskyld, ved du, hvad klokken er? |
| Antoni: "Excuse me, do you know what time it is? Here, we see the phrase, |
| Anna Juul: Undskyld, |
| Antoni: which literally means "Sorry." This is one way to say "excuse me" in Danish, and it’s also commonly used to say sorry. |
| Another phrase you can use to sound formal in Danish is |
| Anna Juul: Tusind tak |
| Antoni: or "a thousand thanks." It’s based on the word |
| Anna Juul: tak, |
| Antoni: which is the Danish word for "thanks." Some say it’s of Germanic origin, which could mean something like "I will remember what you have done." Now, if you’re the one offering something to a friend, like a food or drink, for instance, you can use the phrase, |
| Anna Juul: Kan jeg byde dig på |
| Antoni: which means "Can I offer you…?" For example, if you had a friend come over to visit you, and you wanted to offer them something, you could say, |
| Anna Juul: Kan jeg byde dig på en kop te? |
| Antoni: or "Can I offer you a cup of tea?" In the same manner, if that friend asked to use the restroom, you can respond with |
| Anna Juul: Vær så venlig |
| Antoni: or "Please go ahead." It’s interesting to note that this same expression could mean different things depending on the context. It could also mean "Please do," "Here you go," "You’re welcome," or simply "Please." Speaking of "Please." Another variation of this word you can add to your written communication to make it sound more formal is |
| Anna Juul: Venligst |
| Antoni: You can use it when saying things like, |
| Anna Juul: Venligst sørg for at en læge besøger mig. |
| Antoni: "Please arrange for a doctor to visit me," or something like |
| Anna Juul: Venligst ring til os, hvis du hører fra dem. |
| Antoni: or "Please give us a call if you hear from them." And, finally, there’s the phrase, |
| Anna Juul: Det var så lidt |
| Antoni: which is often used to mean "You’re welcome," although it could mean other things too, such as, "My pleasure," "No problem," "Don’t mention it," or the informal "You got it." |
| Antoni: These are just some of the ways to sound formal when speaking in Danish. You might have noticed that formality in Danish is about the attitude and tone just as it is about the phrases or words you use. |
| Summary |
| Antoni: In this lesson, we discussed what it means to be formal in Danish. Some of the examples we looked at were phrases like: |
| Anna Juul: Vær så venlig, |
| Antoni: which is one way to say "please" in Danish. It literally means "be so kind." We also covered the phrase, |
| Anna Juul: tusind tak, |
| Antoni: which means "A thousand thanks." As we have learned, you can also use the word that serves as the basis for these two previous expressions, the word |
| Anna Juul: tak |
| Antoni: It is a noun derived from the verb |
| Anna Juul: at takke |
| Antoni: which means "to thank." In essence, tak would mean "thanks." And to say "please" is |
| Anna Juul: Venligst |
| Antoni: which is used primarily in formal situations. Another expression we’ve learned is |
| Anna Juul: Vær så god |
| Antoni: which means "You’re welcome." This same word could mean "Please" in some situations. Finally, we’ve learned about |
| Anna Juul: Det var så lidt |
| Antoni: which primarily means "You’re welcome," but could also be used to mean "My pleasure" among other things. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Antoni: There are actually two personal pronouns in Danish that were considered polite pronouns. These are |
| Anna Juul: De and Dem |
| Antoni: which were both pronouns used for the third personal plural and the polite second singular. Both words mean "them" in English. Danes barely use these words anymore. To address a professor or your boss, it is common to hear the second personal singular |
| Anna Juul: du |
| Antoni: In 1956, the Prime Minister of Denmark started this tendency to be on first name terms between citizen and Prime Minister. However, the Queen is still addressed as third person plural, and you also might find the polite forms |
| Anna Juul De and Dem |
| Antoni: being used in some form of literature or even letters or emails trying to keep a formal tone. |
Outro |
| Antoni: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Anna Juul: Farvel! |
| Antoni: See you soon! |
| Credits: Anna Maria Juul (Danish, Denmark), Antoni (English, synthetic voice) |
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