Learn how to use the past simple tense
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.
| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DanishClass101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 4 - Running Into an Old Friend in Denmark. John here. |
| Nana: Hej I'm Nana. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to catch up by using past simple tense. The conversation takes place in the street. |
| Nana: It's between Emily and Jon. |
| John: The speakers are friends. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Emilie: Jon! Hvor er det længe siden! |
| Jon: Emilie?! Sikke en overraskelse. Jeg vidste slet ikke, du var tilbage i Danmark. |
| Emilie: Jeg kom tilbage i forrige uge. |
| Jon: Du ser glad ud. Havde du en god tur? |
| Emilie: Ja, det kan du tro. Jeg oplevede mange spændende ting. |
| Jon: Okay... Mødte du også mange spændende mennesker? |
| Emilie: Jo... Det gjorde jeg. Folk fra hele verden! |
| Jon: Ja, jeg prøvede at følge med på din blog, men da jeg kom ind på mit ønskede studium, gik det i stå. |
| Jon: Og så fik jeg også arbejde på en café, så der skete pludselig meget. |
| Emilie: Det må du nok sige. Jeg er imponeret. |
| Jon: Du troede måske, at jeg lå og drev tiden væk? |
| Emilie: Tja... Åh, jeg er nødt til at løbe. Vi ses! |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Emilie: Jon! Hvor er det længe siden! |
| Emily: Jon! Long time no see! |
| Jon: Emilie?! Sikke en overraskelse. Jeg vidste slet ikke, du var tilbage i Danmark. |
| Jon: Emily?! What a surprise. I didn't know you were back in Denmark. |
| Emilie: Jeg kom tilbage i forrige uge. |
| Emily: I came back the week before last week. |
| Jon: Du ser glad ud. Havde du en god tur? |
| Jon: You look happy. Did you have a nice trip? |
| Emilie: Ja, det kan du tro. Jeg oplevede mange spændende ting. |
| Emily: Yes, you bet. I experienced many exciting things. |
| Jon: Okay... Mødte du også mange spændende mennesker? |
| Jon: Okay... Did you also meet many interesting people? |
| Emilie: Jo... Det gjorde jeg. Folk fra hele verden! |
| Emily: Well, yes... I did. People from all over the world! |
| Jon: Ja, jeg prøvede at følge med på din blog, men da jeg kom ind på mit ønskede studium, gik det i stå. |
| Jon: Yes, I tried to follow on your blog, but when I got into my desired course of study, it came to a standstill. |
| Jon: Og så fik jeg også arbejde på en café, så der skete pludselig meget. |
| Jon: And then I also got a job at a café so a lot happened suddenly. |
| Emilie: Det må du nok sige. Jeg er imponeret. |
| Emily: You can say that again. I'm impressed. |
| Jon: Du troede måske, at jeg lå og drev tiden væk? |
| Jon: Perhaps you thought that I was lying around and idling away time? |
| Emilie: Tja... Åh, jeg er nødt til at løbe. Vi ses! |
| Emily: Well... Oh, I have to run. See you! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: So Emily was traveling, and Jon was studying. |
| Nana: Their two paths were very different, huh? |
| John: It’s good that they could meet up again though. |
| Nana: After high school there are many paths you can take. |
| John: What types of things are popular? |
| Nana: It’s popular to take a gap year during which you can volunteer, travel, or work. Or all three, if you don’t have enough money to just travel. |
| John: Is there a special name for this kind of trip? |
| Nana: It can be called dannelsesrejse, or “educational trip”. |
| John: But Jon didn’t go traveling, he’s studying. |
| Nana: That’s right. Many enroll in university or a university college. |
| John: Are there other educational or training courses available? |
| Nana: Yes, some people go to folk high schools, and these offer education and social activities through long or short-term courses. |
| John: Sounds like a good place to “grow.” Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Nana: længe siden [natural native speed] |
| John: long time no see |
| Nana: længe siden [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nana: længe siden [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Nana: vide [natural native speed] |
| John: to know |
| Nana: vide [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nana: vide [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Nana: slet [natural native speed] |
| John: at all |
| Nana: slet [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nana: slet [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Nana: forrige [natural native speed] |
| John: previous, last |
| Nana: forrige [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nana: forrige [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Nana: glad [natural native speed] |
| John: happy, glad |
| Nana: glad [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nana: glad [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Nana: tro [natural native speed] |
| John: to believe, to think |
| Nana: tro [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nana: tro [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Nana: opleve [natural native speed] |
| John: to experience |
| Nana: opleve [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nana: opleve [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Nana: gøre [natural native speed] |
| John: to do, to make |
| Nana: gøre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nana: gøre [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Nana: få [natural native speed] |
| John: to get |
| Nana: få [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nana: få [natural native speed] |
| John: And last.. |
| Nana: ligge [natural native speed] |
| John: to lie, to be, to be situated, to stand |
| Nana: ligge [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nana: ligge [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Nana: slet ikke |
| John: Meaning "not at all". What can you tell us about this? |
| Nana: The phrase is made up of two adverbs. |
| John: What are the two adverbs? |
| Nana: The first one, slet, is difficult to translate on its own, but it often means "at all" when combined with other words. The second adverb ikke means "not." |
| John: How is this phrase used? |
| Nana: You can use this to emphasise the negative in a sentence. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Nana: Sure. For example, you can say... Han troede hende slet ikke. |
| John: ...which means "He did not believe her at all." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Nana: se glad ud |
| John: Meaning "to look happy". What can you tell us about this? |
| Nana: This phrase consists of the irregular verb se, the adjective glad, and the adverb ud. |
| John: How is it used? |
| Nana: You use it to describe someone or something looking happy. |
| John: Can you switch the adjective for “happy” with a different adjective? |
| Nana: Of course! Du ser træt ud is “You look tired”, for example. |
| John: Can you give us an example using the original phrase? |
| Nana: Sure. For example, you can say... Ikke alle så glade ud efter mødet. |
| John: ... which means "Not everyone looked happy after the meeting." Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Nana: kunne tro |
| John: Meaning "to believe, to bet". What can you tell us about this? |
| Nana: The phrase is made of the modal verb kunne and the regular verb tro. |
| John: Ah, we came across this modal verb in an earlier lesson and it means “to be able to”. |
| Nana: Right. And tro means “to believe” or “to think”. |
| John: And this phrase is used for being able to believe in something? |
| Nana: Yes, and it can also be used like “you bet”, to show certainty. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Nana: Sure. For example, you can say... Du kan tro, jeg har savnet dig. |
| John: ... which means "You can be certain I have missed you." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about catching up by using past simple tense. I think that we’re going to start by reviewing the most important verb. |
| Nana: I think you’re right! We will start by looking at the verb være, which means “to be”. |
| John: In English, this verb is important, but also frustrating because the conjugations are irregular. |
| Nana: I’m afraid that it’s the same in Danish! It can also be used as an auxiliary verb to make different tenses. |
| John: Let’s check out some of these conjugations then. |
| Nana: Sure. In present tense it is er, in simple past tense it is var, and as the past participle it is været |
| John: Wow, those are very irregular, especially the present tense form! Listeners, if you need to double-check these, remember that they’re in the lesson notes! So, let’s hear a sample sentence using one! |
| Nana: Pigen er glad for at se ham igen. |
| John: “The girl is happy to see him again.” So, we just talked about an important irregular verb. How do you conjugate regular verbs? |
| Nana: Firstly, you need to know how to create the base form. Most Danish verbs end in -e, and we remove that to get the base form, or imperative form. |
| John: Do you have an example? |
| Nana: Sure. vente means “to wait”. If you drop the -e, you get the base form vent. |
| John: And from the base form, you can conjugate? |
| Nana: Yes, but there are two types of regular verbs. Type 1 are conjugated into the past tense by adding -ede to the base of the verb. |
| John: And how are Type 2 conjugated? |
| Nana: By adding -te. An example of a past tense Type 2 verb is mødte. |
| John: Which is the past tense of “to meet”. |
| Nana: Be careful with Type 2 verbs, because there is a vowel change in the base form with some when forming past tense and the past participle. |
| John: Can we hear a couple of example sentences with regular verbs? |
| Nana: Historierne varede for evigt. |
| John: “The stories lasted forever.” |
| Nana: Købte du en souvenir til alle? |
| John: “Did you buy a souvenir for everyone?” |
| Nana: And finally, irregular verbs. There are about 120 of these, and we can also call them Type 3. You form the present tense by adding -r to the end of the verb in the infinitive form of the verb. |
| John: How do they conjugate into past tense? |
| Nana: There is no set way. In the lesson notes, there is a table with some of the most common irregular verbs and there you’ll see that there are many different conjugations. |
| John: So listeners, be sure to check out those notes! |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Nana: Hej hej |
Comments
Hide