INTRODUCTION |
In Danish a market is called marked. Over the years the big markets have been dwindling, especially since supermarkets provide fruits and vegetables at a much cheaper price. But with the new ecological movement and small produce farms being more popular, markets are becoming popular again. The markets consist of movable stalls, vans or tents - only some big cities in Denmark have a constant hall where sellers can rent a stall. Because of this, bigger markets are more normal in the summer. It is not unusual to find one stall or van in non-central areas. Towns that don’t have a specialised cheese vendor or a fishmonger are usually visited by one of these vans once a week. |
GRAMMAR POINT |
Normally, when you are interested in buying something at a market, first greet the seller. Then you ask the questions from the previous lesson. |
Hvor meget koster den her? and Hvad er prisen på den her? After finding out the price, let’s say you want to buy half a kilo of one of the many traditional Danish cheeses. You will have to say: |
Et halvt kilo havarti, tak. |
Let’s break it down: |
(slow) Et halvt kilo havarti, tak. |
Once more: |
Et halvt kilo havarti, tak. |
The first two words, et halvt, mean “a half”. |
(slow) Et halvt. |
Et halvt. |
Kilo is as you might have guessed the Danish word for “kilo” |
(slow) Kilo. |
Kilo. |
Next we have havarti. Which is a very mild Danish cow cheese. |
(slow) Havarti. |
Havarti. |
Last we have tak which as you might remember means “thanks” but here it is being used as a sort of “please”. |
The whole sentence together is: |
Et halvt kilo havarti, tak. |
・ |
Let’s say you are at a produce stand and that you would like to buy two kilograms of apples. In this case, say: |
To kilo æbler, tak. |
(slow) To kilo æbler, tak. |
First we have two, |
(slow) To. |
To. |
And you already know kilo. |
It’s followed by æbler which is translated as |
“apples”. |
(slow) Æbler. |
Æbler. |
The whole phrase is: |
To kilo æbler, tak. |
・ |
Some sellers import their merchandise from other countries, however you might want to make sure that what you’re buying is produced in Denmark. All you have to ask is: |
Er det Dansk produktion? |
Literally, that’s “Is it Danish production?” |
(slow) Er det Dansk produktion? |
Er means “is” |
(slow) Er. |
Er. |
Next we have det which is translated as “it” |
(slow) Det. |
Det. |
Followed by dansk which means “Danish” |
(slow) Dansk. |
Dansk. |
And lastly we have produktion meaning “production”. |
(slow) Pro-duk-tion. |
Produktion. |
Let’s hear the whole question one more time: |
Er det dansk produktion? |
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