Learn about negation in Danish
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Antoni: How do you say "no" in Danish? |
| Anna Juul: And how do you make negative sentences? |
| Antoni: At DanishClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Sebastian Skou is organizing a party, so he is asking his guests about their food preferences. He asks his neighbor, Karen Lee, "Do you like pizza?" |
| Sebastian: Kan du lide pizza? |
| Dialogue |
| Sebastian: Kan du lide pizza? |
| Karen: Nej, det kan jeg ikke. |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sebastian: Kan du lide pizza? |
| Antoni: "Do you like pizza?" |
| Karen: Nej, det kan jeg ikke. |
| Antoni: "No, I don't." |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say "no" and make negative sentences in Danish. First, let’s review how to make a simple negative sentence. In Danish, there are several ways to make a negative sentence. However, the most common one is with the use of the word |
| Anna Juul: ikke |
| Antoni: which is equivalent to the English word "not." For instance, if you want the negation for |
| Anna Juul: Jeg studerer |
| Antoni: or "I am studying," you can say |
| Anna Juul: Jeg studerer ikke |
| Antoni: or "I am not studying." Here, we simply add the negation |
| Anna Juul: ikke |
| Antoni: or "not" after the verb, |
| Anna Juul: studerer |
| Antoni: or "studying." In Danish, the negation is usually added right after the verb. If a sentence has a modal verb and an active verb, the negation is placed between the verbs. For instance, to negate the sentence |
| Anna Juul: Jeg burde blive |
| Antoni: or "I should stay," you can say |
| Anna Juul: Jeg burde ikke blive. |
| Antoni: Antoni: or "I should not stay," simply adding the negation between the two verbs. Two other common words used for negation in Danish are |
| Anna Juul: knapt |
| Antoni: or "barely" and |
| Anna Juul: aldrig |
| Antoni: or "never." Here’s an example |
| Anna Juul: Jeg har aldrig rejst alene. |
| Antoni: "I have never traveled alone." |
| There are instances when you can place the negation at the beginning of the sentence, and that’s when the negation is part of a clause modifying another phrase. Here’s an example: |
| Anna Juul: Knapt et år var gået siden han drog afsted. |
| Antoni: "Barely a year had gone by since he left." |
| [Recall 1] |
| Alisha: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Sebastian (@neighbor-dad) asks, "Do you like Pizza?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Anna: Kan du lide pizza? |
| [Recall 2] |
| Alisha: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Karen (@hero-mom) answers "No, I don't?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Anna Juul: Nej, det kan jeg ikke. |
| Michael Hillard: If you notice, the negation |
| Anna Juul: ikke |
| Michael Hillard: or "not," comes at the end of the sentence after the subject: |
| Anna Juul: jeg |
| Michael Hillard: or "I." Also, did you notice how to say "no" at the beginning of the sentence? |
| Anna used the word |
| Anna Juul: Nej |
| Michael Hillard: which is the equivalent of the word "no" in English. This is the negation you use to say "no" in Danish when answering Yes-No questions. For instance, if you’re asked |
| Anna Juul: Vil du se en film? |
| Michael Hillard: "Do you want to see a movie?" You can simply say |
| Anna Juul: Nej |
| Michael Hillard: to say that you don’t. |
| [Summary] |
| Antoni: In this lesson, you learned how to make a negative sentence in Danish with the use of the word |
| Anna Juul: ikke |
| Antoni: or "not." In most cases, we simply add this negation following the verb in the sentence. However, if there are two verbs in a sentence—a modal verb and an active verb—we place the negation between the two verbs. Of course, you also learned how to say the word "no" in Danish, which is |
| Anna Juul: Nej |
| Antoni: which is the negation you use when answering Yes-No questions. |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Antoni: Danish has an egalitarian culture, which means they do not use honorifics and simply address people—even professionals—by their first names. That may sound rude or impolite in some cultures, but that’s pretty normal in Denmark. So, how do you say "no" politely in Denmark? The truth is that Danes are very polite people, and there are several ways you can refuse politely in their language. For instance, you can say |
| Anna Juul: Nej tak |
| Antoni: to say "No, thank you," or |
| Anna Juul: Beklager, jeg kan ikke |
| Antoni: to say "I can’t." And if someone invites you out but you’ve already made plans, you can go with |
| Anna Juul: Beklager, men jeg har allerede planer. |
| Antoni: "Sorry, but I already have plans." |
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) |
Comments
Hide