Learn an essential phrase when traveling in Denmark or a Danish-speaking community
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| INTRODUCTION |
| This lesson's phrase will help you take matters into your own hands! In this lesson we’ll take a look at the word “please,” which will be very important when you need to ask for something. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| In Danish, “please” is: |
| Be’ om. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Be’ om. |
| Once more: |
| Be’ om. |
| Let’s take a closer look at Be’ om. The first word be’ is a shortened version of the verb bede which means “to ask” or “to pray”. |
| (slow) be-de. |
| bede. |
| The second word om is an adverb that means “about” and together with be’ they make up the expression please. |
| Let’s hear the expression again: |
| Be’ om. |
| (slow) Be’ om. |
| ・ |
| When you ask for forgiveness, for a big favor, or when the person you’re talking to is in a bad mood, you might feel that be’ om is not enough. You can use the following phrases. Vil du være så sød. In English this becomes “Would you be so kind.” |
| Let’s hear that again: |
| (slow)Vil du være så sød. |
| Vil du være så sød. |
| You might even hear the expressions together like this Vil du være så sød, be’om. |
| Vil is a form of the verb “to will” so it can be translated as “will” or “would”. |
| This is followed by “you”, du. Becoming “will you” or “would you” |
| (slow) Vil du. |
| Vil du. |
| Være is then the root form of the verb “to be”. |
| (slow) Væ-re. |
| Være |
| The third word is så which means “so” |
| (slow) Så. |
| Så. |
| And lastly we have sød which in English can be “sweet, kind, nice” |
| (slow) Sød. |
| Sød. |
| Let’s hear it again: |
| (slow) Vil du være så sød. |
| Vil du være så sød. |
| Another vil du expression is Vil du ikke nok! And this is most often used when the person you are asking seems unwilling to help, or reply to your wishes. The literal translation is “Would you not enough” but would correspond to the expression “Won’t you please!” |
| Let’s hear the phrase one more time. |
| Vil du ikke nok! |
| The first new word here is ikke or “not” in English. |
| (slow) Ikke. |
| Ikke. |
| It’s followed by nok which means “enough” but here is used to emphasize the helper’s will. |
| (slow) Nok. |
| Nok. |
| The whole phrase one more time: |
| (slow) Vil du ikke nok! |
| Vil du ikke nok! |
| A common situation where you often use “please”, is when you’re asked if you want something and you reply “Yes, please”. In Danish, we use tak instead. Ja, tak! means “Yes, thanks.” |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Ja tak. |
| Once more: |
| Ja tak. |
| ・ |
| When you want to ask for something specifically, you use Den her be’om. for “this please” and Den der be’om. for “that please.” |
| Den her means “this” and den der means “that”, but unlike English, we add distance to indicate where what we want is. |
| Let’s take a closer look at the first phrase. |
| Den would be in this case “this one” |
| (slow) Den. |
| Den. |
| Her means “here” |
| (slow) Her. |
| Her. |
| It’s followed by please be’ om. |
| The literal translation of Den her be’om! would be “This one here please.” Which in English is a little redundant. |
| In the case of “that please”, first we have den which here also indicates one thing, but it is followed by der which means “there”. |
| (slow) Der. |
| Der |
| Altogether: |
| (slow) Den der be’om. |
| Den der be’om. |
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