[INDEX]

ARTICLES

 

There are 2 articles in Danish: common and neuter

 

 

1. Indefinite Articles:

  Common Neuter
Singular en et
 

Usage: as in English:     en bil (a car),     et hus (a house)

Note:     1. The indefinite article is not used before a noun denoting a profession, nationality, religion:

                    han er læge     (he is a doctor)         hun er lærer         (she is a teacher)
                    jeg er dansker (I am a Dane)          du er amerikaner  (you are an american)

                2. The indefinite article is used before an adjective:

                    han er en god læge    (he is a good doctor)          hun er en dygtig lærer (she is a clever teacher)
                    jeg er en høj dansker (I am a tall Dane)

                3. The indefinite article is used when a relative clause follows the noun:

                    han er en læge, som jeg kender           (he is a doctor whom I know)
                    hun er en dansker, der bor i Tyskland (she is a Dane who lives in Germany)
       
                    

 

2. Definite Articles:

  Common Neuter
Singular den, -n/-en det, -t/-et
Plural de, -ne/-ene de, -ne/-ene
 

Note: a consonant is doubled after a short vowel: bus, bussen; hotel, hotellet 

Usage:     1. The definite articles are normally added to a singular or plural noun: 

                    bilen     (the car)                   huset        (the house) 
                    bilerne  (the cars)                 husene      (the houses)
                    bilen er rød (the car is red)
                    bilerne er røde (the cars are red)
                    husene er hvide (the houses are white)
                     

                2. The definite articles are placed before an adjective, as in English: 

                    den røde bil       (the red car), 
                    det store hus      (the big house) 
                    de røde biler      (the red cars), 
                    de store huse     (the big houses)

 

Note:     The definite article is often used before an abstract noun:

                     livet er kort (life is short)        tilbage til naturen (back to nature)

 

[INDEX]

SUBSTANTIVES (NOUNS)

 

1. Genders: there are 2 genders in Danish: 

                    a. common  (n-words)     representing both masculine and feminine nouns 
                    b. neuter     (t-words) 

 

2. Plural: are formed by adding suffixes to the singular form of the noun: 

                    1. -e     (some words ending in a consonant):     dag/dage            (day/days) 
                    2. -r     (words ending in -e):                             uge/uger             (week/weeks) 
                    3. -er   (other words ending in a consonant):      måned/måneder (month/months) 
                    4. the same:                                                      år                       (year/years) 
                    5. irregular:                                                       barn/børn           (child/children) 

 

3. Cases:  nouns are only inflected in the genitive: 

                    1. genitive: -s     (is added to the last ending of the word): 

                                    en bils dør                  (the door of a car)
                                    bilens dør                   (the door of the car), 
                                    bilers døre                  (doors of cars)
                                    bilernes døre               (the doors of the cars)
                                    mandens                     (the man's) 
                                    bilens farve er rød       (the colour of the car is red) 
                                    mandens hat er sort     (the man's hat is black)

                    2. genitive: the english "of-construction" is not used very often: 

                                    døren af bilen     (the door of the car) 
                         Better: døren på bilen     or     bilens dør

 

4. Order of the added suffixes:

noun plural article genitive English
dreng     s boy's
dreng   en s the boy's
dreng e ne s the boys'
hus   et s of the house
hus e ne s of the houses
måned er ne s of the months


 

 

[INDEX]

ADJECTIVES

1. Word Order: an attributive adjective is placed before the noun as in English (see also Articles): 

                                en rød bil     (a red car) 

 

2. Inflection: A. Attributive adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify: 

                        a. indef. article -. adjective + t - noun (t-word): 
                            et stort hus     (a big house) 
                            et rødt tag      (a red roof) 

                        b. indef. article -  adjective (base form) - noun (n-word): 
                            en stor mand  (a big man) 
                            en rød bog     (a red book) 

                        c. def. article - adjective + e - noun (sing./plural): 
                            det store hus     (the big house) 
                            den røde bil      (the red car) 
                            de store huse    (the big houses) 
                            de røde biler     the red cars) 

 

                        B. Predicative adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify: 

                        a. indef. article  -  noun (t-word) - verb - adjective + t: 
                            et hus er stort    (a house is big) 
                            et tag er rødt     (a roof is red) 

                        b. indef. article -  noun (n-word) - verb - adjective (base form): 
                            en bil er rød (a car is red) 
                            en mand er stor (a man is big) 

                        c. noun (t-word)+ def.article -  verb - adjective + t: 
                            huset er stort     (the house is big) 
                            taget er rødt      (the roof is red) 

                        d. noun (n-word)+ def.article -  verb - adjective (base form): 
                            bilen er rød         (the car is red) 
                            manden er stor    (the man is big) 

                        e. noun (plural) (+ def.article) -  verb - adjective + e:  
                            husene er store         (the houses are big) 
                            bilerne er røde          (the cars are red) 
                            huse og biler er dyre (houses and cars are expensive)

 

                        C. Irregular: 

                            lille  (small/little, singular): 
                            the same in all forms in singular: 
                                et/det lille hus      (a/the small house) 
                                en/den lille bil      (a/the small car) 

                            små (small/little, plural): 
                            the same in all forms in plural: 
                                små huse          (small houses)
                                de små huse     (the small houses) 
                                de små biler     (the small cars) 

Note:  1. If -e is added to an adjective ending in -en or -el the first -e- dissapears: 
                gammel (old): 
                    han er gammel             (he is old) 
                    den gamle mand          (the old man) 
                    de er gamle                 (they are old) 

                sulten (hungry): 
                    han er sulten                 (he is hungry) 
                    det sultne barn              (the hungry child) 
                    de er sultne                   (they are hungry) 

            2. Adjectives ending in -e never change: 
                et lille barn                         (a small child) 
                det stille barn                     (the quiet child) 

            3. Adjectives ending in -sk never add -t: 
                en rask dreng                     (a healthy boy) 
                et rask barn                        (a healthy child) 
                de raske børn                     (the healthy children) 

            4. An adjective can also be used as a noun (without a supporting word): 
                en hvid hest og 2 sorte (a white horse and 2 black ones) 

 

3. Comparison: a. Regular forms add -ere, -est to the adjective: 
                                      comparative:   -ere:    varm/varmere     (warm/warmer) 
                                      superlative:     -est:     varm/varmest      (warm/warmest) 

                              b. Regular forms with mere, mest are used as in English: 
                                      comparative:  mere:     han er mere mere venlig     (he is more kind) 
                                      superlative:     mest:     han er den mest venlige     (he is the most kind) 

                              c. Irregular forms with less irregularities: 
                                      lang/længere/længst    (long/longer/longest) 
                                      stor/større/størst         (big/bigger/biggest) 

                              d. Quite irregular forms: 
                                      lille - mindre - mindst (small/smaller/smallest) 
                                      god - bedre - bedst     (good/better/best) 

Usage: The superlative is used in Danish when 2 things are compared: 

            kaffe eller te, hvad kan du bedst lide? (coffee or the, which do you like better?)

 

 

[INDEX]

NUMERALS


1. Cardinal Numbers  

Numbers from 1 to 20

1 en, et [e'n], [et]   11 elleve [ælvæ]
2 to [to']   12 tolv [tål']
3 tre [trai']   13 tretten [tradn]
4 fire [fi·a]   14 fjorten [fioadn]
5 fem [fæm']   15 femten [fæmdn]
6 seks [sæx]   16 seksten [saisdn]
7 syv [süu']   17 sytten [sødn]
8 otte [å·tæ]   18 atten [ädn]
9 ni [ni']   19 nitten [nedn]
10 ti [ti']   20 tyve [tü·væ]


Se the Pronunciation Guide how to pronounce [ü], [æ], [ø], [å], [ö], [']

Numbers from 21 to 1000

21 enogtyve [e'nåtü·væ]   101 hundrede og en [hunað å e'n]
22 toogtyve [to'åtü·væ]   102 hundrede og to [hunað å to']
23 treogtyve [trai'åtü·væ]   200 to hundrede  
30 tredive [traðvæ]   300 tre hundrede  
40 fyrre [fö·a]   400 fire hundrede  
50 halvtreds [hältræs]   500 fem hundrede  
60 tres [træs]   600 seks hundrede  
70 halvfjerds [halfiærs]   700 syv hundrede  
80 firs [fi'as]   800 otte hundrede  
90 halvfems [halfæm's]   900 ni hundrede  
100 hundrede [hunað]   1000 tusind(e) [tusn]


The year 1998 is written: 
nitten hundrede otteoghalvfems
The year 2001 is written:
to tusind(e) og et



2. Ordinal Numbers

1st første [föastæ]
2nd anden [än·n]
3rd tredie [træðæ]
4th fjerde [fiæ·a]
5th femte [fæmdæ]
6th sjette [siæ·dæ]
7th syvende [süu'næ]
8th ottende [ådnæ]
9th niende [ni'næ]
10th tiende [ti'næ]