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Lesson Transcript

Hej, jeg hedder [name]. Hi everybody! I’m [name].
Welcome to DanishClass101.com’s “Dansk på tre minutter”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Danish.
In the last lesson, you learned how to talk about nationality. This is the second part of our lesson on the verb at være, which means "to be".
This verb is also used to talk about location, to say things like "I am in the street" or "He is in the room", so it's very useful!
When you want to know where something or someone is, you use the verb at være in Danish.
For example, when someone asks you on the phone Hvor er du? That means "Where are you?".
Let's break it down.
Hvor means "Where"
er is "are.” This is the verb “to be”, at være, conjugated for present tense.
And du, as you know, is the word for "you".
All together, it is Hvor er du?
[slowly] Hvor er du ?
Answering this question is very easy! You just say Jeg er + the place where you are.
Jeg means “I” and
er is that verb at være again.
Then you add the place. So for example, you can say Jeg er på gaden which is "I am in the street"
[slowly] Jeg er på gaden.
Now let’s see a few other possible answers with “I”-
"I am at the office" would be Jeg er på kontoret.
"I am in a meeting" would be Jeg er i et møde.
"I am in a store" would be Jeg er i en butik.
Another useful expression with the verb at være is when you answer the phone. To introduce your name, you can say Det er + your name.
So when I pick up the phone I often say Det er [name]. It is really simple—you just say Det er, which means "It is" + your name.
This verb at være only changes based on time like other verbs. However, the changes don’t follow any obvious logic here. The infinitive form is often used in conjunction with skal, thus skal være is implying a future time or “to be going to be.” For recent past at være changes to var which means “was.” For perfect past the verb changes to har været, “has been.” And present, as you might remember, is simply er.
Now it’s time for [name]’s Insights.
The verb at være can also be used in the following convenient question if you are lost in the street, for example - Jeg ved ikke, hvor jeg er. Kan du hjælpe mig?
That means “I don’t know where I am. Can you help me, please?”
(One more time, slowly - Jeg ved ikke, hvor jeg er. Kan du hjælpe mig?)
In this lesson you learned how to talk about your location thanks to the verb at være. Next time we’ll learn how to talk about ages using the same verb. So do you want to know how to ask somebody’s age? I’ll be waiting for you with the answer in the next Dansk på tre minutter.
På gensyn!

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