Dialogue

Want to Understand & Master the Danish Dialogue 100%?

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.

Or sign up using Facebook
By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.
Already a Member?

Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

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.

Or sign up using Facebook
By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
By clicking Join Now, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and to receive our email communications, which you may opt out at any time.
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In the previous lesson, we covered how to ask, “How do you say this in Danish?” which was “Hvordan siger man det der/det her på dansk?” Do you remember? In this lesson, because we don’t want you to be caught off guard in any situation in Denmark, we are going to introduce a new phrase that is very important to help you focus your skills, not on the sounds, but on the writing. So let’s start this new lesson.
GRAMMAR POINT
In Denmark, “Can you write it down, please?” is
Kan du skrive det ned, be’om?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Kan du skrive det ned, be’om?
Once more:
Kan du skrive det ned, be’om?
The first words kan du are translated in this case as “can you”.
(slow) Kan du.
Kan du.
Next we have skrive, which is translated as “to write”
(slow) Skrive.
Skrive.
This is followed by det ned, which is translated directly into English as “it down”.
(slow) Det ned.
Det ned.
Be’om is “please” as you might remember from previous lessons.
All together:
Kan du skrive det ned, be’om?
This means, "Can you write it down, please?”
As you already observed the previous phrase is not very specific. To make yourself more clear you can say: “Can you write this down, please?”
Kan du skrive det her ned, be’om?
Compared to the last sentence, we just added the word her to create the meaning of “this”.
(slow) Kan du skrive det her ned, be’om?
Kan du skrive det her ned, be’om?
If you want to be even more specific you might want to ask for something like this:
Kan du skrive sætningen ned for mig, tak?
In English:
“Can you write the sentence down for me, thanks?”
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Kan du skrive sætningen ned for mig, tak?
Once more:
Kan du skrive sætningen ned for mig, tak?
The new word in this question is sætningen which means “the sentence”
(slow) Sætningen.
Sætningen.
For mig directly translates as “for me” and you can add this before the “please” in any of the sentences we see in this lesson.
(slow) For mig.
For mig.
Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time:
(slow)Kan du skrive sætningen ned for mig, tak?
Kan du skrive sætningen ned for mig, tak?
Also, you can say Kan du skrive det der ord ned, be’om? In English that means “Can you write that word down, please?”
Let’s break it down.
(slow) Kan du skrive det der ord ned for mig, be’om?
Kan du skrive det der ord ned for mig, be’om?
Det der are the words that come together to create the meaning of “that”.
And the new word here is ord which means “word”.
(slow) Ord.
Ord.
It might happen that people are not carrying a pen and paper. So before asking: Kan du skrive det ned, be’om? try asking Har du pen og papir?
“Do you have a pen and paper?”
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Har du pen og papir?
Once more:
Har du pen og papir?
The first words, har du, are translated as “do you have”
(slow) Har du.
Har du.
Then you have pen, which in English is “pen”.
(slow) Pen.
Pen.
Then you have og which means “and”.
(slow) Og.
Og.
Finally we have papir which means “paper”.
(slow) Papir.
Papir.
Here’s the whole sentence:
(slow) Har du pen og papir?
Har du pen og papir?
As usual, before asking about someone else’s stationery supplies or for a favor, it’s a good idea to say “excuse me” Undskyld mig at the beginning of the sentence.

Comments

Hide