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Danish NEWS TV

Danish NEWS Radio

Danish Radio P4 Music

Kom og besøg LEGOLAND California

 

Come visit us at LEGOLAND CALIFORNIA TODAY!

 

 

 


 

Excellent new spell checker in Danish / English
www.ordbogen.com


Wanted to hear how the Danish language sounds like?
Click Here to visit an excellent new website that
has everything you are looking for.

If interested in learning to speak Danish
their is NO BETTER site on the web than right here
http://www.speakdanish.dk and below.


How would you like to type the entire email or letter
in Danish with all the Danish characters in place?
Now you can, all you have to do is type, cut and paste.
Thanks to
Tomasz P. Szynalski that is now possible
Click Here and you'll love it, thanks Thomasz.


 

Danish is not a hard language to learn or speak, it only
has one problem, you still have to look around
finding someone who speaks it.
"just kidding"

 

 

Introduction to the Danish Language

Introduction to the Danish Language

Danish is the official language of Denmark, Greenland and the Faeroe Islands. Both Greenland and the Faeroe Islands have their own language too, which most of the people speak but Danish is used for official purposes and taught in schools.

Danish is also spoken by 20,000 people just south of the German border. It goes back to the time before 1864 when the area belonged to Denmark, and the Danish minority south of the German border is very keen on preserving the Danish language. In Icelandic schools, too, the first foreign language to be taught is Danish. That serves as a way of communicating with the other Scandinavian countries.

Danish is not exactly known as one of the most beautiful languages in the world. Actually, the sound of Danish always seems to amuse foreigners which gives the language a certain entertainment value. Foreigners often characterize Danish as a monotone-like drawl, and many people say that Danes speak like they have a hot potato in their mouth. Of course, the Danes themselves find their language both charming and pretty though they are aware of the fact that Danish can be difficult to learn for people from other countries. Because of that, most Danes find it amusing to test foreigners with the sentence Rødgrød med fløde (A Danish dessert), because they know that foreigners are unable to pronounce it. So if you ever visit Denmark you can be sure that several Danes will test you on that one.

Danish is characterized as a very flat language. It is said that people in flat countries speak with flat accents. As to Denmark this could be true, because Denmark is indeed a very flat country with its highest point only 147 m or 482.28 feet.

The written Danish is characterized by a very strict norm, but the spoken language may vary considerably in pronunciation. The Danish language has several dialects even though Denmark is a small country. The standard language that is called Rigsdansk originated around Copenhagen, and was originally based on the sociolect of the upper class of Copenhagen. Almost every island has its own dialect, which can be difficult to understand for Danes in other parts of the country. However, the vast majority of the population speak either standard Danish or a social variation of it.

The Danish vocabulary is not based upon an enormous amount of words but it is in principle unlimited, as new words can freely be formed by means of compounding or deriving eg. Langtidsplanlægge (Created of three existing words lang, tid, planlægge, means to plan long-term). Existing words are simply used to create new words and as a result of this, the largest Danish dictionaries contain more than 200,000 words.

If you have a good insight to the Danish language and speak it should we say "so - so" you now have an additional option while searching for the correct word in Danish. With more than 100,000 words and 12,500 expressions where you get to know how exactly the word is being spelled as well as the correct meaning of the term itself this information is now available by visiting this website Den Danske Ordbog (DDO). It is available in both Danish and English so whatever language you prefer all you have to do is click on either Danish or English and should you have any questions just ask.... enjoy.
 

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The Origin of Danish

Origin

Danish is a language of the Indo-European family, and it belongs to the North Germanic group together with Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian and Swedish. Historically speaking, Danish is a dialect of a common Scandinavian language which is known from AD 200. Only towards AD 1200 did a split become obvious, and many Viking Age loan words in English, law, window, ill, loose, die etc. are Scandinavian rather than Danish.

Over the centuries Danish has adopted thousands of words from foreign languages, especially from Lower German in the Middle Ages. Since the 17th century a considerable number of loan words have been taken from French, and especially in the 20th century many English words have found their way into the Danish language.

The historical changes in vocabulary were to a large extent brought about by external factors such as Christian missionaries in the Viking Age, trade links with Hanseatic merchants, immigration by north German artisans and noble families in the Middle Ages, the Lutheran Reformation in the 16th century, and since then a broad cultural contact with the modern international prestige languages. These were first German and French and from the end of the 19th century mainly English. The whole of this western European cultural milieu has constantly adopted words from the "dead" languages, Latin and Greek. Under the same external influences, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish have in all essential aspects undergone a parallel development.
 

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Differences between the Scandinavian Languages

As many foreigners will know, the differences between the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish vocabulary are not great. The languages are to a large extent mutually intelligible. Danes, Norwegians and Swedes can converse in their native tongues, though they indeed sound very different for most foreigners. However, the Danish language has changed more than any of the other Scandinavian languages. The language has been - and still is - influenced by international loan words to a greater extent than Swedish and Norwegian, and therefore the rules for the spelling have often changed.

Generally, native speakers of one of the three languages have little trouble dealing with the written versions in other languages. Especially written Danish and Norwegian can be difficult to separate, some sentences are even absolutely identical.

Even though the three languages are very alike, the population in the three countries often focus on the differences. The Danish soft d’s and g’s cause amusement among Swedes and Norwegians, but their pronunciation sounds funny and over-articulated to the Danes too.
 

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The Written Language

The Alphabet

Danish is written in the Roman alphabet. The biggest difference between the American and the Danish alphabet is that the Danish alphabet has three additional letters - æ, ø and å - totally 29 letters. Since 1948, the alphabet has been expanded with the Swedish and Norwegian letter å. The spelling reform of 1948 also abolished the practice of beginning all nouns with a capital letter.

The letters æ, ø and å come in this order as the last three letters of the alphabet and they are all vowels. The pronunciation can be confusing, but a good way of remembering how they should sound is: for æ as with e in egg; for ø as with i in first; for å as with o in lord.

The letters æ, ø and å are only found in Danish and Norwegian, so if you find a sentence with these three letters there is a good chance that it is a Danish text.

The å entered the Danish alphabet in 1948, and was meant to replace the double-a. However, the double-a is still to be found in written Danish. Double-a is precisely the same as å, so don’t look for Aabenraa in the beginning of the dictionary, as you will then be searching in vain.

But what is the difference between å and aa and why are towns like Aalborg and Århus often spelt both ways? Today it is a question of spelling conventions, Aalborg insists on using the double-a even on road signs whereas Århus insists on using the å.

It is now year 2001 and things are changing so YOU WILL find that the way the use of the å was used in the old days is not necessary the way things are anymore.

The proper usage of å versus aa is according to Retskrivningsbogen (The Danish dictionary of orthography):

The letter å was substituted for aa in 1948 as the token symbol for the å sound, but it is still possible to use both in Danish personal names and places, but not in other words.

The correct use is å but you should follow the way the named person uses it.

Some places like Aalborg and Aabenraa have strong local traditions for replacing the å with the aa, and these should be followed. It can also be important to remember that the capitalization of the double-a when it starts a sentence is Aa, not AA.

Besides the æ, ø and å the most important things worth knowing about the Danish alphabet is that the letters c, q, w, x and z are only used in loan words as for instance check, zoo, weekend, and that the letters v and w are treated as being the same.

Therefore many Danes have difficulties in the pronunciation of these two letters in English.

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Pronunciation

Some of the major characteristics of Danish pronunciation is that the Danish r has to be fetched from deep below the tonsils and, as somebody would say, it requires special muscles. The reduction of unstressed vowels and the glottal stop are also characteristic features.

The glottal stop (stød) may be difficult for non-Danish speakers to imitate and does not in fact exist in the pronunciation of the language in many regions of Denmark. However, it is important to pronounce the glottal stop because otherwise words may be misunderstood. For example le´ver (with a glottal stop) means liver, whereas lever (without a glottal stop) means to live. The glottal stop is produced by a sudden contraction of the expiration muscles. If the vowel of the syllable in question is long, the glottal stop occurs at the end of the vowel. If the vowel is short the glottal stop is pronounced before the following consonant. In a syllable with a short vowel and a voiceless consonant there is no glottal stop.

The Danish orthography is principally conservative and only partly conforms to present day pronunciation. In for instance ligge (to lie), skylle (to rinse) and mund (mouth) the i, y and u represent a sound corresponding to e, ø and å, while the same vowel sign in kigge (to look), skylde (to owe), and hund (dog) is pronounced as it is written.

The written sequences ld and nd in which d can be silent, always indicate a preceding short vowel as for instance in bold (ball) and vind (wind)

Danish is rich in vowels. The 9 vowel letters represent 16 different vocalic sounds; for instance in sal (hall), salt (salt) and saks ( scissors) the letter a stands for three different pronunciations. In addition there are several diphthongs e.g. [aj] as in leje (to hire) and lege (to play).

Few consonants are voiced; even [b,d,g] are unvoiced. Moreover, the particular sound of Danish is partly due to stød, a near-closing of the vocal chords which occurs regularly in specific word types, for instance in monosyllables like tab [ta´b] (loss) and fugl [fu´l] (bird)

 

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Sounds of the Danish Letters


Danish Letters

Appr. US Equivalent


Vowels

a sounds like e in egg
or sounds like sound between a in ban and a in barn but without the r sound

e sounds like a in ache but very short
or sounds like a shortened ee in see
or sounds like e in open

i sounds like a sound between e in egg and i in ill
or sounds like e in see

o sounds like o in old
or sounds like a in cap

u similar to oo on booth

y sounds like ew in few but with lips more rounded
or similar to German ö

æ sounds like a in ache but very short

ø similar to German ö sounds like e in let pronounced with lips tightly rounded
or similar to ir in bird but without the r and with lips more rounded

å sounds like au in caught
or sounds like o in old

Consonants

b as b in bit when final or between vowels as w in win

c before a consonant, a, o or u as k in kit, elsewhere as in set

d when final or between vowels similar to th in this elsewhere as d in dig.
After l, n or r or before t or s it is rarely pron.

f as f in fit

g as g in get, after vowels it is rarely pronounced. Between vowels and at the end of a syllable as a softened g in get. As in some foreign loan words as s in vision.

h silent before j and v.
Elsewhere as h in his.

j as y in yet

k as k in kit. Between vowels ands at the end of a syllable as g in get

l as l in lip

m as m in meet

n as n in no

p as p in pan. Between vowels and at the end of a syllable as b in bit

q similar to English

r at the beginning of a word or after a consonant sounds like a strong guttural h, the Spanish j in Jose or as the French r in rue.
Elsewhere between vowels or before a consonant it often becomes part of the vowel sound or is lost

s as s in sit

t as t in tin. Between vowels and at the end of a syllable as d in do. In final position similar to th in this

v when final sounds like oo in boot.
Elsewhere as v in van

w as v in van

x as x in taxi

z as s in sun

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Grammar

Within the Germanic languages there are two grammatical traits that are peculiar to Scandinavian, namely the enclitic definite article e.g. dag-en (the day) år-et (the year) dage-ne (the days), år-ene (the years), and the passive form of the verbs, e.g. føl-es (is/are felt).

Danish has the definite article at the end of the word: a man = en mand, the man = manden. Adjectives and pronouns are inflected according to gender e.g. stor, stor-t (big), nogen (someone), noget (something)

Nouns: Danish nouns have two genders; common gender (fælleskøn) e.g. en dag, dagen (a day, the day) and neuter gender (intetkøn) e.g. et år, året (a year, the year). The words for a and an are en for common gender nouns and et for neuter nouns. Most nouns have only one gender, but some can have both without changing the nouns meaning e.g. en cirkus, et cirkus (a circus), but sometimes a different gender indicates a different meaning of a word e.g. vår - en (spring), vår - et (bedclothes). The plural of nouns is expressed in four different ways, by adding -e, -r, -er or no ending; dag-e (days), uge-r (weeks), måned-er (months) and år (years - zero ending).

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Pronouns: The Danish personal pronouns are as follows:

I
you (informal)
        (formal)
he
she
it
we
you
they
jeg
du
De
han
hun
den/det
vi
I / De
de


Adjectives
agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. For singular nouns nothing is added to the adjective with common nouns, but -t is added to the adjective with neuter nouns.

en stor bil


bilen er stor


et stort hus


huset er stort

a big car


the car is big


a big house


the house is big

For plural nouns -e is added to the adjective:

store biler


bilerne er store

big cars


the cars are big

Verbs in the present tense do not change according to person. The present tense ending for all persons is -r. In the past tense there are two groups of verbs. One group adds -ede in the past tense and -et in the present perfect tense.

jeg boede

jeg har boet

I lived

I have lived

The other group adds -te in the past tense and -t in the present perfect.

jeg købte

jeg har købt

I bought

I have bought

To negate any verb the word ikke is placed after the verb in simple verb forms, and after the auxiliary verb in the present perfect tence.

han har skrevet

han har ikke skrevet

han skrev

han skrev ikke

he has written

he hasn’t written

he wrote

he didn’t write

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A Small Dictionary for Fun

Everyday expressions:

Welcome

Hello

Good
morning

Good day

See you

Yes

No

Please

Thank you

Of course

Maybe

Beautiful

I’m fine
Velkommen

Hej

Godmorgen


Goddag

Vi ses

Ja

Nej

Vil du være så venlig at...

Tak

Selvfølgelig

Måske

Smuk

Jeg har det fint

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Introductions
:

My name is

What is your name?

Pleased to meet you

How are you?

Where are you from?

I’m from the USA

Do you speak English?

Do you understand?

Excuse me

Sorry

Jeg hedder

Hvad hedder du?

Det var hyggeligt at mødes

Hvordan har du det?

Hvor kommer du fra?

Jeg kommer fra USA

Taler du engelsk

Forstår du det?

Undskyld mig

Undskyld

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Other expressions:

 

Congratulations

I love you

Happy New Year

Help

Language

Mailbox

Merry Christmas

Sweetheart
Tillykke

Jeg elsker dig

Godt Nytår

Hjælp

Sprog

Postkasse

Glædelig Jul

Skat (which also means
sales tax)
 

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Time

 

What time is it?

At noon

At midnight

A second

A minute

An hour

It’s one o’clock

It’s half past one

It’s ten to one

It’s ten past one
Hvad er klokken?

Klokken tolv middag

Ved midnatstid

Et sekund

Et minut

En time

Klokken er et

Klokken er halv to

Klokken er ti minutter i et

Klokken er ti minutter over et

 

 

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Days of the week

 

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Mandag

Tirsdag

Onsdag

Torsdag

Fredag

Lørdag

Søndag

 

 

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Months of the year

 

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Januar

Februar

Marts

April

Maj

Juni

Juli

August

September

Oktober

November

December

 

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