Today I worked through chapter 6 of Danish in three months, covering:
- telling the time
- past tense: modal auxiliaries
- prepositions
- other words
Telling the time
Danes use the 24 hour clock in writing.
- Havd er klokken / Hvor mange er klokken?
- den er (klokken) ét / klokken tretten (13.00)
- halv to / ét tredive (13.30)
As in German, halv to is half past one, not half past two. - kvart over seks / et kvarter over seks / atten-femten
- fem minuter i halv tre / fjorten femogtyve
- tretten minuter i tre / fjorten-syvogfyrre
- toget går fjortentredive / Toget går tre minuter over halv tre.
- uret går for hurtigt / langsomt (the clock is fast / slow)
- morgen (early morning); formiddag (mid-morning); middag (12.00); frohkost / frokosttid (lunchtime); eftermiddag / aften / nat
- meals: morgenmad (breakfast); middagsmad; aftensmad; natmad;
- om dagen (by day); om natten
- om morgenen (in the morning); om aftenen
- i (går) aftes (yesterday evening); i aften (this evening); i nat (last night, tonight)
- ved femtiden (about 5); ved middagstid (at noon)
- i gar (yesterday); i forgårs (day before yesterday)/ i dag (today)
- i morges (this morning, looking back); tidligt i morges (early this morning); i morgen (tomorrow); overmorgen (day after tomorrow); tidligt [sent] på aftenen (in early [late] evening)
- en time (hour); halvanden time (an hour and a half); et døgn (24 hours); om dage / i døgnet; per dag; per døgnet (per day)
- daglig(t) (daily)
- i sidste uge / i næste uge (last week / next week); i forrige uge (the week before)
- på fredag otte dage (Friday week); i morgen fjorten dage (a fortnight tomorrow)
- et år (year); et århundrede (century)
- for…siden (…ago)
- for to år siden (2 years ago)
- i fjor [rarely: sidste år] (last year)
- tid (time)
Past tense: modal auxiliaries:
The past tense of the 6 modal auxiliaries covered on day 13 is the same as their infinitives: kunne; skulle; ville; måtte; burde; turde.
Their past participle is formed by adding -t, for example: kunnet. So they can be used in the perfect tense, unlike their English counterparts. Examples:
- Han har kunnet springe 2 meter og ville have kunnet komme op på 2,10 ned træning.
He was able to jump 2m and would have been able to reach 2.10 with training.- har kunnet springe: he was able to
- ville have kunnet komme: would have been able to (conditional perfect. Ville is past tense of the modal ville, present tense vil)
- the book says ned træning. Is ned a misprint for med?
- Jeg har ikke kunnet drikke kaffee i mange år.
I haven’t been able to drink coffee for many years.- Note position of ikke after the first auxiliary har.
- Det være have været en dejlig overraskelse.
that would have been a lovely surprise. - De burde have været der.
They should have been there.
kunne lide = to like
Prepositions
- ad ([moving] by, along); af (of); i (in); fra (from, off); med (with; om (about, on); omkring (around); på (on); til (to); ved (by, at)
- efter (after); før (before); for (for); forbi (past); foran (in front of); bag / bagved (behind);
- ind ad (in through); inden (before); inden for (inside); indtil (until); langs (med) (along);
- (i)blandt (among); (i)gennem (through); (i)mod (towards, against); (i)mellem (among, between);
- over (over, above); over for (opposite); under (under, during);
- uden (without); uden for (outside); ud av / ud af(out of)
- nær (ved) (near);
- hos (with, at);
- i stedet for (instead of)
Examples:
- to ad gangen (two at a time)
- klog af skade (wise from experience)
- jeg er ked af det (I am sorry [about that])
- de kaster snebold efter hinadnen (the are throwing snowballs at each other)
- efter min mening (in my opinion)
- glasset i drivhuset (the glass in the greenhouse)
- i mandags (on [last] Monday)
- i tolv å (for 12 years)
- i tykt i tyndt (through thick and thin)
- gå i skole / teater
but gå i biografen
go to school / the theatre / the cinema - om lidt (in a short while)
- Hvad beder du om? (What are you asking for?)
- om mandagen (on Mondays) / on julen (at Christmas)
- på fredag skal jeg på ferie (on Friday I’m going on holiday)
- folk påtorvet ser på taleren (people in the square are looking at the speaker)
- tro på (believe in)
- på restauran, but på universitet
- på høyre / på venstre side (on the right /left)
- på den måde (in that way)
Some of the other words in this chapter
Nouns (travel): enkelt billett (-er, single ticket); returnbillett (return ticket); jernbarnestation (railway station); et klippekort (-, punchcard); perron (platform); rabat (discount); en rejse (-r, journey);
Nouns (other): en ting (-, thing); en fugl (-e, bird); en grund (-e, reason); en herre (-r, gentleman); en stimme (-r, voice); et navn (-e, name); en bro (-er, bridge); en lejer (-e, lodger); et nummer (numre, number); en bakke (-r, hill); pensionist (pensioner);
Verbs: gjælder (is valid); mærke (notice); klare (manage, succeed in); smile (smile); tage til (go to); forestille (introduce); vil sage (means, is the same as); afgår (departs); have ret til (be entitled to); holde mund (keep mouth shut); tage telefonen (answer the phone);
Adjectives: selvglad (self-satisfied); ukendt (unknown); sikker (safe); undskyld (sorry)
Other: mindre (less); med mindre (unless); lige med det samme (straight away)