DANISH AN ELEMENTARY GRAMMAR AND READER[SSSAGASSASGGASSSSSSSSGasSssaagg! DANISH An Elementary Grammar and Reader aaa BY ELIAS BREDSDORFF, MA. Lecturer in Danish in the University of Cambridge BUBTGASASSSSSAaSaaaaaa’ CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1958 SAGAGTT GSAT SSSGGTS SSS SASS AAasssssSsSGesassssssssag BEERTESEESEESEEEEEES! SASSGGSSESSGSSSSASSSSossssaaaasa294439 - PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION ‘The majority of Danish grammars and readers are at tourist level, and they are unsatisfactory for the serious student of Danish. During my nine years as a University Lecturer in Danish in this country I have felt increasingly the need of a satisfactory Introduction to Danish. This book; theréfore, has been written to fill that gap. It is largely based on my own experience in teaching Danish to British students, and most of its contents Rave been ‘tried out’ on my studentsin London and Cambridge, the majority of whom had had no previous knowledge of the Danish language. The book has been divided into six parts: a general introduction to the written and the spoken language; a chapter on Danish phonetics; a grammar, including exer- cises; a chapter of general information; a chapter consisting of altogether twenty-five Danish texts, of which twenty are prose and five are poems; and a final chapter of twenty English texts for translation into Danish. The prose extracts are arranged according to their relative difficulty, but it has been my purpose at the same time to choose texts which are interesting and valuable in themselves. Ex- perience has taught me how irritating it is, for the students as well as for the teacher, to have boring and stupid texts, or texts which might be suitable for children but have little interest or appeal to adult readers. Of the twenty English texts for Danish composition, the first ten are relatively easy, with Danish translation of the most difficult words and phrases; the last ten have been borrowed from vPREFACE previous examination papers (University of London and University of Cambridge), arranged according to the relative difficulty of each pager, and I am grateful for having received permission to include these papers in my book. ‘As most Danish words cary the stress on the first syllable, indication of stress—['] in front of the stressed syllable—is normally only given if some other syllable than the first carries the main stress. The Danish texts in this book have been carefully anno- tated, but words which may be easily looked up in a dic- tionary are not normally given. As any serious student of Danish must necessarily possess a Danish-English as well as an English-Danish dictionary, I have considered it a waste of time and space to compile a special vocabulary of all the words included in this book. Inconclusion I should like to quote what Otto Jespersen writes about the teaching and learning of foreign languages in his excellent book entitled Sprogundervisning (1935): “The students must become interested in the subject; they must be made to realize that it is very much in their own interest to continue the work. They must feel that by learning a foreign language they are given a key, and that there are plenty of treasures to which this key gives them access. They must be brought ‘o see that the literature to which they have got access contains many works that appeal also to them, And in so far as it is possible, the learning of a foreign language should make them interested 1 The best Danish-English dictionary available is Dansk-Engelsk Ordbo 2 vols., edited by H. Vinterberg and C. A. Bodelsen (Gyldendal, 1954- A concise Danish-Danish dictionary is aso recommended: Nudansk Ordbog, 2 vols. (Politikens Forlag, 1953). vi PREFACE in the country and people of that language, so that they themselves may wish to extend their knowledge of it... . “We do not learn our mother-tongue for the sole purpose of being able to read its classic authors, but we do not learn it either for the sole purpose of being able to give a message to the shoemaker or to understand the laundry- bill. Similarly, when we learn a foreign language, we should not exclusively fly up towards the summits, but neither should we content ourselves with crawling at the bottom of the valleys: between both spheres there is a multitude of shades, regions which may be of great value to us if we want to have direct contact with other nations.” ‘A final word of thanks is due to Mr J. D. O’Conhor, Department of Phonetics, University College, London, for valuable assistance with the phonetic section, to Mr B. Kjerulff Nielsen, Copenhagen, for a number of valuable suggestions, and to Mr W. Glyn Jones, Cambridge, for carefully going through the proofs. ELIAS BREDSDORFF CAMBRIDGE a1 February 1956 PREFACE TO THE REVISED IMPRESSION In preparing this second impression I have consulted several colleagues who have used the book for some time, and I am grateful to them and to my own students for having suggested various minor improvements. At the same time some misprints and errors in the first edition have been removed. viiPREFAGE To avoid any misunderstanding I want to make it quite clear that I recommend that beginners, having finished Part I and Part II, should go on to the first sections of Parts III, IV and V simultaneously, and to Part VI as | soon as possible. It is essential that beginners should start reading Danish Texts (Part V) at a very early stage. ELIAS BREDSDORFF CAMBRIDGE 20 May 1958 viii CONTENTS Preface to the First Edition Preface to the Revised Impression 1 oa se abet 2 The Written Language 3 The Spoken Language The Sound System Spelling and Sound Values Special Pronunciation ‘Stress ‘Weak Forms of Words 1 Nouns 2 Adjectives 3 Adverbs 4 Numerals 5 Pronouns 6 7 8 9 anene Regular Verbs, Irregular Verbs Conjunctions Prepositions 10 _Interjections 11 Word Order 12 Word Formation page v vii 1 1 18 18 25 38 39 42 46 56 67 "4 8 95, 109 131 139 164, 165 "75contents CONTENTS “rans 2 SSE WoRBE AND ORNERAL sa. Ane a page 183) xo, Om sprogundervisning (Otto Jespersen) 234 1 Special Idioms 183 | qv. Oxford (Ludvig Holberg) 239 2 Day and Night 185 | xv. H. G. Andersen som eventyrdigter. (Georg 3 Meals F 186 Brandes) 248 4 The Days of the Week 186, xvi. Hvad Fatter gor, det er altid det rigtige (H. C. 5. The Months 186 Andersen) 253 6 Public Holidays in Denmark 187 | xvi. ‘Hvad Fatter gor, det er altid det rigtige” 7 The Four Seasons 188 (Johannes V. Jensen) 258 8 The Cardinal Points 183 | xvm. ‘Lette bolge, nar du blaner...’ (Kaj Munk) 264 9 Names Denoting Kinship 18g | =. Myrer og modsigelseslyst (Kjeld Abell) 270 10 Countries and Nations 190 xx. Det danske sprog (Soren Kierkegaard) 278 11. Colours 19g | XXt- Torbens datter 280 12. The Monetary ‘System 195 | *x- Kong Christian (Johannes Ewald) 282 13. Weights and Measures 196. | xin, Fedrelandssang (Adam Oehlenschlager) 284, 14 Common Abbreviations 198 | xxiv. Den danske sommer (Thoger Larsen) 285, a xxv. Danmarkssangen (Johannes V. Jensen) 286 1 Den tykke kat fot y= a um, Prasten og hyrden 203 mt, To Molbohistorier 205 wv. En jysk roverhistorie (Steen Steensen Blicher) 206 v. Prinsessen pa zrten (H. C. Andersen) 208 vi. Danske ordsprog 209 i vu. Den polske kongeson (M. A. Goldschmidt) au vit, Et besog hos Charles Dickens i sommeren 1857 (H. C. Andersen) 213 | 1x. ‘Kniv’, der sogte efter mennesker (Knud Rasmussen) 215 x. Min lille dreng (Carl Ewald) 217 | x1. Min fynske barndom (Carl Nielsen) 220 | B xiPART I AN INTRODUCTION TO DANISH 1, THE DANISH ALPHABET ‘The Danish alphabet consists of the following 29 letters: Aa L 1 [al] W w_ [dobal ve:9] Bb M m [em] X x [aks] Ge Non yy fl Dd Oo Z oz [set] Ee Pp Ee [2] Ff Qq @ o [92] Gg Rr Aa Hh Ss [es] or } a Ii T t [te] Aa aa Ji U ou fu} K k [ki] Viv [ver] (For the significance of the phonetic symbols in square brackets, see pp. 18-25.) In some modern dictionaries the letter ‘A’ may come before the letter ‘A’. ‘According to a Danish Spelling Reform of 1948 the letter ‘A’ has now entirely replaced the letter ‘Aa’, i.e. ‘A’ is used in schools and in all official documents, where formerly ‘Aa’ was used. Also most books printed after 1948 use d instead of aa. Many people still use the letter aa, however, and also some of the Danish newspapers, and there is still some uncertainty about Danish proper names: 1AN INTRODUCTION TO DANISH thus Arhus alternates with Aarhus, Agdrd with Aagaard, and | Hakon with Haakon, In this book 4 and d have been used consistently. 2. THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE Itis fairly easy for a British or American student to acquire a reading knowledge of Danish. ‘Three things are essential for that purpose: an elemen- tary knowledge of the structure and grammar of the Danish language, a Danish-English dictionary, and a little imagination. But even without the help of the two former assets it is possible to understand many Danish words and sentences, because they have a close resemblance to English. As an illustration and a proof of this, three Danish texts are given below, with a total vocabulary of more than 150 common Darish words, of which only five are given in English translation. Using his imagination any English student should be able to understand and translate go~100 per cent of the texts, even if they are the first Danish texts he has ever seen. Translate, preferably without using any dictionary, the following Danish texts* into English (without attempting to pronounce the words in Danish): TRE DANSKE TEKSTER @) Nu vil vi begynde. Vi vil ere dansk. Mange danske ord er i familie med (‘med’, with) engelske ord. Vi er i et rum i et hus i England, Her er en dor, og + A literal English translation of thesetexts is givenat the endof this section. 2 THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE (‘0g’, and) der er to vinduer. Vi kan se ud i en park, hvor der er mange born. Solen skinner; det er en varm dag. Det er mandag den forste september. I parken sidder en ung mand pa (‘pa’, on) en benk og drommer. PA hans kna er en Aben bog. Et lille barn gar i det gronne gras. Det lille barn har en ny spade i handen; barnet vil grave et dybt hul. Let bed, hvor der er friske rode og hvide roser, gar en hone og en tam ravn. En stork flyver over grasset. PA grasset stér en fed mand med en rod nase; han selger iskrem. Alle bornene vil have is. Det er en varm efter- sommerdag. (2) Min onkel er i Danmark, Han har et fotografiapparat, Han fotograferer ofte. Han har fotograferet en gas, en svane, en rod ko, et hojt tra, et lille gront hus, en gruppe skoleborn, en familie i en sejlb4d, en ung dame med et gront sjal over skuldrene, en prast i en kirke, en kat gdende en mus, en flyvemaskine, en mand ridende pA en clefant, et snelandskab, en masse hunde og mange iri- teressante portretter. Han er absolut en af de bedste amatorfotografer i Kobenhavn. (3) En idiotisk kriminalhistorie En rig eldre dame er myrdet Klokken elleve fredag formiddag pa et hotel i Kobenhavn. Politiet fandt mor- derens pibe og hans brune hat pa en stol. En af hotellets gester si en person gd ud af hotellets dor seks minutter over elleve; manden havde en tyk bog under armen. Politiet har nu arresteret over hundrede personer; de havde alle en tyk bog under armen. Politiet kan ikke (‘ikke’, no/) 3AN INTRODUCTION TO DANISH finde morderen, for han har solgt den tyke bog, og nu har han en tynd bog under armen. Disse tekster demonstrerer, at engkendere kan leredansk, his (‘hvis’, if) de har lidt fantasi, Admittedly, the three Danish texts given above are made up of words which have a similarity to equivalent words in English, and most normal texts would contain, in addi- tion, several words and phrases which are less easily guessed, or which simply have to be looked up in a dic- tionary. But the fact that many of the most common words, both in Danish and in English, have obvious simi- larities, will be seen from the following list: absolut, absolutely bryst, breast elleve, eleven af, of brod, bread engelsk, English alene, alone bank, benck enorm, enormous alle, all cigaret, cigarette fader, father allerede, already cykel, bicycle falde, fall arm, arm dag, day familie, family bad, bath danse, dance fin, fine bag, back datter, daughter finde, find bage, bake dem, them finger, finger bar, bare der, there fisk, fish bedst, best derfor, therefore fod, foot begynde, begin derinde, in there for, for binde, bind dobbel, double fra, from bla, blue drikke, drink fredag, Friday bog, book drom, drean fi, free bred, broad dyb, deep frisk, fresh bringe, bring do, die fuld, full broder, brother dor, door fylde, fill brun, brown efter, after fale, feel 4 THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE forst, first give, give glad, glad glas, glass god, good gras, grass gron, green gra, grey gast, guest ga, go haly, half hat, hat have, have hel, whole her, here hjem, home holde, hold hul, hole hundrede, hundred hus, house hvad, what hvid, white hvor, where hore, hear habe, hope hand, hand har, hair hard, hard i, in igen, again indtil, until jul, yule juli, July juni, June kaffe, coffee kage, cake kalde, call kan, can knee, knee ko, cow kold, cold komme, come konge, king kop, cup koste, cost lade, let lampe, lamp land, land lang, long leve, live ligge, lie lille, little liv, life lofte, lift Jos, loose mand, man mandag, Monday mange, many maskine, machine masse, mass mere, more mild, mild min, my, mine minut, minute 5 moder, mother morgen, morning merke, mark mode, meet mane, moon nabo, neighbour nat, night navn, name nemlig, namely ni, nine nord, north nu, now nummer, number ny, new ner, near ofte, ofien onkel, uncle op, up ord, word 08, us over, over ovn, oven papir, paper par, pair pen, pen person, person pibe, pipe politi, police popular, popular presse, press pris, price pracis, preciseAN INTRODUCTION TO DANISH prast, priest sko, shoe tre, three pumpe, pump smile, smile tre, tree radio, radio sommer, summer — tusind, thousand regn, rain sommetider, some- tynd, thin rest, rest times teenke, think rig, rick sten, stone torst, thirst ring, ring sukker, suger ud, out tulle, roll sy, sew under, under rund, round syd, south ung, young rod, red synd, sin varm, warm salt, salt synge, sing vest, west samme, same synke, sink vi, we sand, sand syv, seven vil, will se, see saelge, sell vind, wind seks, six sete, set vindue, window seksten, sixteen solv, silver vinter, winter selv, self son, son vad, wet sende, send sondag, Sunday gj, eye sidde, sit soster, sister ore, ear sige, say tage, lake ost, east skal, shall to, two Aben, open skarp, sharp tolv, twelve Are, oar skjorte, shirt torsdag, Thursday These 220 words, to which many more could be added, are taken from among the 1000 words most commonly used in Danish. The fact that such a great quantity of words are similar in Danish and English is explained by various facts. In the first place, the old Scandinavian language, Old Norse, had very much in common with Old English. Otto Jespersen, the Danish linguist, writes: ‘An enormous 6 THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE number of words were then [i.e. before the Viking invasion] identical in the two languages [i.e. Old Norse and Old English], so that we should now have been utterly unable to tell which language they had come from, if we had no English literature before the invasion; nouns such as man (mand), wife (viv), father (fader), folk (folk), mother (moder), house (hus), thing (ting), life (liv), sorrow (sorg), winter (vinter), summer (sommer), verbs like will (vil), can (kan), meet (mode), come (komme), bring (bringe), hear (hore), see (se), think (tanke), smile (smile), ride (ride), stand (Old Danish: stande, Mod. Dan.: st), sit (sidde), spin (spinde), adjectives and adverbs like full (Fuld), wise (vis), well (vel), better (bedre), best (bedst), mine (min) and thine (din), over (over) and under (under), etc. The consequence was that an Englishman would have no great difficulty in under- standing a viking, nay we have positive evidence that Norse people looked upon the English language as one with their own.’? Secondly, during the Viking period many Scandinavian words were taken over by the English, and the resemblance to modern Danish is still obvious in such words as: die (do), seat (sede), they (de), them (dem), their (deres), law (lov), thrall (trael), window (vindue), steak (steg), knife (kniv), skin (skind), wing (vinge), root (rod), low (lav), rotten (ridden), call (kalde), guest (gest), give (give), sister (soster), bread (bred), egg (#g). To quote Jespersen again: ‘An Englishman cannot thrive or be ill or die without Scandinavian words; they are to the language what bread and eggs are to the daily fare.’* + Otto Jespersen, Growth and Structure of the English Larguage (6th ed., Leipzig, 1930), p. 60. © Bid. peAN INTRODUCTION TO DANISH Thirdly, Danish and English have borrowed many words from the same foreign sources, especially from French, Latin and Greek, e.g. such words as ‘rose’, ‘mont? (mint), ‘pare’ (pear), ‘strede’ (narrow street), ‘alter’ (altar), ‘munk? (monk), ‘biskop’ (bishop), ‘sovs? (sauce), ‘soldat’ (soldier), ‘officer’, ‘komfort’ (comfort), ‘kulor” (colour), ‘journalist’, ‘garage’, and ‘international’. Fourthly, many English words have been taken over by the Danes during the last hundred years: words like ‘sweater’, ‘ulster’, ‘pyjamas’, ‘sport’, ‘tennis’, ‘kricket’, ‘golf’, ‘fodbold’ (football), ‘parlament’, ‘jury’, ‘strejke” (strike), ‘lockout’, “interview” and ‘film’ are used as every- day words in modern Danish. ‘The Danish language, therefore, is full of words which present little, or no, difficulty to the English reader. A know- ledge of Scotch may often be useful, as even more Scandi- navian loan-words have survived in Scotch than in English. ‘The Danish word ‘barn’ is easily guessed from a knowledge of Scottish bain, and similarly such words as ‘kirke’, ‘grade’, ‘kiste’, ‘mund’ and ‘gard’ may be guessed from a knowledge of the equivalent words used in Scotland or the north of England: “kirk” (church), ‘greten’ (c1y), ‘kist” (chest), ‘mun? (mouth) and ‘gerth’ (yard). Sometimes a knowledge of the original meaning of an English word may be helpful; the Danish word ‘mad’ ( food) is, by origin, the same as meat, the original meaning of which was food, as may be seen from the context meat and drink. 'A knowledge of French my sometimes be usefuul to identify the meaning of Danish words, e.g. ‘avis’ (newspaper), “butik? (shop), ‘baggage’ (Juggage), ‘kontor’ (office), “billet” (ticket). “But a knowledge of German is even more useful, because innumerable German loan-words have found their 8 THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE way into the Danish language. Anyone familiar with German will immediately recognize the following Danish words: ‘adel’ (nobility), ‘herre* (gentleman), ‘frue’ (wife), “krig’ (war), ‘skon’ (beautiful), ‘arbejde’ (work), ‘magt? (power), ‘angst’ (fear), ‘farve’ (colour), ‘zerlig’ (honest), ‘svag’ (weak), ‘rejse” (travel), ‘besoge’ (visit) and ‘be- gejstring’ (enthusiasm). ‘Danish makes more use of compound words than most other languages, usually in an unhyphenated form. The meaning of such words is often easily understood if one understands each of the component parts. Such words as “fotografiapparat’ (camera), ‘liggestol’ (deck chair), ‘aftage’ (take off), ‘somand? (sailor), ‘trahus’ (wooden house), ‘middag’ (noon) and ‘eftermiddag’ (afternoon) are easily guessed, and if one knows the meaning of ‘skrive” (write), “bord? (table) and ‘stol’ (chair), it is easy to guess the meaning of the compound ‘skrivebordsstol’. The elements are joined together, often to the number of three, four, or more, forming words of a length unknown in English. The record was probably beaten by Hans Andersen in his story ‘Hyrdinden og Skorstensfejeren’ (The Shepherdess and the Chimney-sweep), in which, as a joke, he coined the compound: ‘Gedebukkebensoverogundergeneralkrigs- kommandersergent’ (literally, Billy-goat-legs-over-and-under- general-war-commander-sergeant). Although the meaning of many Danish compounds is obvious when the elements are known, students must be careful with the comparatively few words of this kind that have a specific meaning. ‘Though the two elements ‘land’ (Jand) and ‘mand’ (man) are easily recognized, it is not so easy to guess that the word ‘Jandmand’ means farmer, whereas the word ‘landsmand? means fellow countryman,AN INTRODUCTION TO DANISH ‘The student of Danish is particularly warned against a wrong interpretation of the following Danish words, because their apparent similarity to English words of a different meaning may lead the reader astray: “aktuel” means topical Bur: actual is called ‘vir- kelig’ Bur: also is called ‘ogsa’ Bur: anger is called ‘vrede’ Bur: blanket is called ‘teppe” bur: photograph is called ‘fotografi’ Bur: genial is called ‘jovial’ Bur: fill is called ‘drebe’ or ‘s1A ihjel” Bur: chin is called ‘hage’ Bur: map is called ‘kort’ Bur: sky is called himmel’ Bur: small is called ‘lille’ Bur: stool is called ‘taburet? Bur: storm is called ‘uvejr Bur: sea is called ‘hav? Bor: so is called ‘derfor’ Bur: time is called ‘tid’ “tale” means count Bur: tell is called ‘fortelle’ ‘ugle” means owl Bur: eagle is called ‘orn’ The following English words are used in Danish with a meaning different from the English one: “speaker? means radio announcer ‘sixpence’ means cloth cap ‘smoking’ means dinner jacket ‘happy end’ means happy ending Notice also the expressions ‘engelsk bof” for beefiteak and Sengelsk sovs? for Worcestershire sauce 10 ‘alts8” means consequently ‘anger’ means remorse “blanket” means form “fotograf” means photographer ‘genial’ means ingenious deafand-dumb, [iu] ivrig [iuri eager. [ye] syv [syur seven, [ia] ja [ia yes; Jan [ian]. [ie] jeg [io 7(in an unstressed position) ; familie [fa'milvia family. [ia] hjerte [ards heart, [ie] fjerde [fie:r fourth, [io] jod [10:78 iodine; jord [i0:2r earth. [bb] jomfru [iomfru virgin; jolle [isle dinghy. [15] hjorne [i5rna comer; Jorgen [iSran}. [ie] jode [io:8e Jew. [iu] jul [iu:>1 Christmas, Yuletide; hjul [iu:?1 wheel. iy] jyde [iy:80 Jute, Jutlander. 2. SPELLING AND SOUND VALUES This letter is pronounced: (1)_As [A], in long syllables only. Examples: gade [gi:80 street; vase [vars vase. (2) As [a], in short syllables only, and in diphthongs. Examples: kaffe [kafo coe; mand [man? man; taifan [tal'furon typhoon; bajer [baler bottle of beer; navn [nauon name. 25DANISH PHONETICS (3) As [a], long or short, but only before or after r. ‘Examples: rase [ra:so rage; drak [drak drank; varm [varem warm. Notice the pronunciation of ‘at’ [>] to (before an infinitive). SS This letter is pronounced: (1) As [b]. ; ‘Examples: bid [68:28 boat; abe [azbe ape, monkey; ebbe [zbe ebb. (2) As [u] in some few words. ‘Examples: peber [peur pepper; kobber [kou?ar copper. The letter 5 is silent in ‘kodmand’ [koman? grocer, and in ‘Kobmagergade’ [kemargi:8a] (a street in Copen- hagen). @ This letter (which only occurs in words of foreign origin) is pronounced: (x) As [s]- ; : Examples: cigar [si'ga:r cigar; koncert [kon'sird concert. (a) As [f] in the combinations ch and ci. Examples: chef [Jz:2f chief; chokolade [fogo'la:d> chocolate; social [so'fa:21 social. This letter is pronounced: (x) As [4], in an initial position, in front of a stressed vowel, and sometimes when doubled. Examples: disse [diso these; ide [i'de:? idea; bredde [bre:edo breadth. 26 SPELLING AND SOUND VALUES (2) As [8], in front of an unstressed vowel and in a final position. Examples: bade [b8:89 bathe; blod [blo:78 blood; sidde [se80 sit. The letter d is mostly silent: (1) Before #. Example: fedt [fet fat. (Bur: medtage [mzdt include.) (2) Before s. Example: palads [pa'las palace. (Bur: Guds [gu8s God’s.) (3) After n. Examples: sand [san? sand; lande [lana land (verb). (Bur: indre [endra inner; mandig [mandi virile.) (4) After J. Examples: falde [falo fall; fuld (fulp full. (Bur: veldig [veldi powerful; aldrig [aldri never.) (5) After r. Examples: verd [ve:?r worth; fjerde [fi (Bur: verdig [Vardi worthy.) (6) In front of fin such words as: snedker [sne:2kar joiner; bodker [be:2kar cooper; etc. (7) Colloquially in the following words: fader [far father; moder [mor mother; broder [bror brother; kleder [klaezr clothes; lade [la let; lide [liz? like (verb); bede [ ask; ved [ve:? knows; ved [ve at, near, by; hvad [va whats med [mae with; ad [a along; God dag! [go'da:? How do you do? (and often in ‘god? [go:? good, and the plural form *gode’ [gore good). ‘The letter d is always silent in the following two words: sagde (si: said; lagde [la: laid. 27 fourth.DANISH PHONETICS This letter is pronounced: (1) As [e], long or short. ‘Examples: leve [le:vo live; tre [tre:? three; hende [hena her, (2) As [2], mainly short. Examples: hvem [vem? who(m); dem [dem them; bedst [besd best. Notice the long vowel in the following words: vejr weather; her [hae:?r here; der [dei2r there; hver every; fjerde [fiesr fourth; sjette [Jardo sixth; Tegeme [lze:gamo body. (3) As [8], before or after r, Short only. Examples: kerne [kirna kernel; stjerne [sdiarno star; rende [rine run. (4) As [2], in unstressed positions only. Examples: huse [hu:se houses; leve [le:ve live; huset [hu:?s0d the house. (5) As [a], in many combinations‘with ¢ and eg. Examples: vej [vai? way; sejle [sailo sail; negl [nail finger- nail, (Bur: eg [e399 oak; neger [ne:gor negro.) Notice also ‘seksten’ [saisdan_ sixteen. (6) As [i], only in the two personal pronouns ‘De’ [di you, and ‘de? [di they. | ‘The letter ¢ is often silent in a final position afer r. Examples: hore [ho:r hear; nere [neir near (plur.); nermere [narmor: nearer. This letter is pronounced: (1) As (f]. ; ‘Examples: fin [fiz?n fine; la [918:> flay; boffel [bofel buffalo, 28 SPELLING AND SOUND VALUES (2) As (u] in the prefix af:. Examples: afg4 [augi:? go of, leave; affald [aufal? refuse (noun). The letter fis silent in the preposition af [a of, and the adverb af [&:? off This letter is pronounced: (1)_As [3]. Examples: g4 [g4:? go, walk; gnave [gna:ve gnaw; egget [z:2g98 the egg; agt [agd intention, (2) As [9]. Examples: kage [ka:go cake; flag [fla:2g flag; hagl [hag?l hail; sallge (saelgo sell; song [sorg sorrow. (3) As [i], in some combinations eg, og, and (three words only) ig. Examples: negl [nail jinger-nail; log [1012 onion; mig [mal me; dig [dai you (dependent form) ; sig [sai himself, herself. (4) As [f] in certain French loan-words. Example: bagage [ba'ga:fo luggage. The letter g is silent in many Danish words. Examples: tage [ta:? take (also the present tense ‘tager” [ta:?r], the past tense ‘tog’ [to:?] and the past participle “taget’ [té:08]) ; sige [si:2 say (also the present tense ‘siger” '] and the past tense ‘sagde” [s8:]); sporge [sb3r: ask (also the present tense ‘sporger’ [sb8:?r], the past tense ‘spurgte’ [sbordo], the past participle ‘spurgt” [sbo:?rd], and the noun ‘sporgsmal’ [sb3rsma:2l question); solgte [solda sold (also the past participle ‘solgt’ [sol2d]) ; valgte [valde chose (also the past participle ‘valgt’ [val2d]) ; lagde [la: laid; dag [d:> day (also the inflected forms: dagen 29DANISH PHONETICS [da:an the day; dage (di: days, etc.); mandag [man?da Monday (and similarly with the other weekdays); og [> and; ogsa [252 also; pige [pi:o girl; ryge [ry: smoke; aldrig [aldri never (and similarly with all other words ending in -ig); Viborg [vibor?] (and similarly with many other words ending in -rg); fugl [fu:?1 bird (and similarly with all other words containing the combination -ugl-); uuge [u:9 week; rug [ru ye; borgmester [bor'masdar mayor; nogen [no:n some, any (sing.); noget [no:a8 something, anything. Notice the pronunciation of ‘nogle’ [no:n some, any (plur.). This letter is pronounced J Examples: her [ha:2r here; hus [hu:2s house. The letter h is silent before » and j. Examples: hvad [va what; hvem [vem? who(m); hjem [iem? home; hjelpe [ialbe help. This letter is: proioonee AD (1) As [i], long or short. Examples: ride [rio ride; fin [f1:2n fine; vi [vi wes i[i in (2) As [e], short only. Examples: lidt [let a little; binde [beno bind. Notice the pronunciation of Niels [nels] and Nielsen [nelson] (proper names). (3) As [a] in the following three words only: mig [mai_me; dig [dai you (dependent form); sig [sai himself, herself. 30 SPELLING AND SOUND VALUES ‘This letter is pronounced: (1) As [i] ‘Examples: ja [ia yes; vej [val? way, road. (2) As [J], in the combination sf and in French loan- words. Examples: sjal [Ja:21 shawl; journal [fur'né:?1 journal. The letter j is'silent in the following two words: vejr [vaio weather; fjer [fe:2r feather(s). (Bur: fjerkra [fierkra:? poultry.) This letter is pronounced: (x) As [kK]. ; Examples: Kina [ki:na China; kunne [kuna could; akkusativ [a'kusatiz?v accusative; Klokke [klogo clock, bell. (2) As [3] (a) After s, Example: skole [sgo:le school. (6) Medially before a consonant. Example: faktum [fagtom fact. (0) Before [a], [ar], and [an]. Examples: tenke [tengo think; teoretiker [teo're:?tigar theorist, theoretic; frakken [fragan the coat. (3) As [i], in one word only: seksten [saisdan_sisteen. This letter is pronounced @ Examples: leve [le:ve live; kul [kol coal; alle (alo all. The letter / is often silent colloquially in: til [te 1, tills skal [sga shall; vil [ve will; skulle [sgu_ should. Notice the pronunciation of ‘nogle’ [no:n some, any (plur.). 31DANISH PHONETICS This letter is pronounced as [m]. Examples: mand [man? man; dem [dam them; hammer [hamar hammer. This letter is * sane * (1) As [n]. Examples: nu (nu now; kunne [kune could; Knud [knu:a8 Canute. - (2) As [n], in front of [g] or [k]. ‘Examples: tenke [tengo think; Inga [enga]; tank [tan?k tank. The letter n is silent in the colloquial pronunciation of the word ‘kunne’ [ku could, and frequently also in the present tense ‘kan’ [ka can. This letter is pronounced ° (1) As [o], long or short. Examples: rose [ro:so rase; to [to:? two; soldat [sol'da:7 soldier. (2) As [o], short only. Examples: top [tp tp; komme [komo come, (g) As [a], long only. Examples: bog [bi:2g. book; otte [&:do eight. This letter is pronounced © paper; piano [pi'azno piano; episk [e:?pisg epic; apparat [apa'ra:d apparatus. 32 SPELLING AND SOUND VALUES (2) As [b], in the following instances: (a) After s. Examples: spade [sbi:8o spade; springe [sbren spring, jump. (6) Medially before consonant. [kablozb race. (c) Before [2], [ar], and [an]: Examples: lampe [lamba lamp; type [tyba type; proper [pro:?bar clean; gruppe [grube group; kappen [kaban the cloak. (d) Before the ending -ig. Example: hyppig [hybi frequent, Example: kaplob This letter does not occur in any Danish word. This letter is pronounced as [F]. Examples: rod [ro:78 red; gra [gr&:? grey; arrest [a'risd arrest; far [far father; bager [ba:ger baker; hore [heir hears veerre [var: worse; laerer [laezr: teacher; er [Ar is, am, are. The letter r is silent in the noun ‘karl’ [ka&:?! farm labourer. (But not in the proper name ‘Karl’ [karl This letter is pronounce Charles.) - (1) As [5]. Examples: se [se:? see; st& [sd&:2 stand; kysse [keso Kiss. (2) As [J], in the combinations g and si. Examples: sjal [4:71 shawl; Asien [4:9fon Asia, 33DANISH PHONETICS This letter is pronounced (1) As [t], when it occurs initially, in a stressed syllable, in a final position after a vowel, and in a few other cases. Examples: to [to:? two; fortaelle [for'tzela tell; tre [tre:? three; Otto [oto]; kat [kat cat. (2) As [d], when it occurs in the following positions: (a) After s. Examples: st8 [sd8:? stand; stoppe [sdaba stop; lyst [lysd] light. (6) Medially before [3]. Examples: vente [vendo wait; dette [dedo this. (0) Medially before [an], [or], [s], and [J]. Example natten [nadon the night; Peter [pe:?der]; dets [deds its; gletcher [gledfar glacier. (d) Before the ending -ig. Example: vittig [vidi witty. (3) As [8], in the ending -e. Example: huset [hu:?s08 the house; levet [leva lived (past participle); meget [malo8 very, much. (4) As [J] in the ending -tion, Example: nation [na'fo:?n nation. ‘The letter ¢ is always silent in the following words: det [de it, that; idet [i'de as; altsA [alPso consequently. It is also normally silent in the conjunction ‘at’ [a that, and in ‘at’ [> to (before an infinitive), Thiele pronoun (x) As (u], long or short. Examples: due [du:e pigeon, dove; hus [hu:?s house; bus [bus bus. cra SPELLING AND SOUND VALUES (2) As [0], short only. Examples: hul [hol hole; sukker [sogar sugar. (3) As [y], in French loan-words only. Examples: menu [me'ny menu; parfume [par' perfume, This letter is pronounced: (1)_As [v]. Examples: vi [vi we; pave [parve pope; vrede [vre:da anger, wrath; svin [svizon swine, pig; ulv [ulev wolf. (2) As [u], after short vowels. Examples: sav [sau? saw (noun); syv [syu? seven; sove [sue sleep (verb); sovn [séun? sleep (noun) ; neevne [nzeuna name, mention, The following changes should be noted: v pronounced as (u] v pronounced as [v] hav [hau sea havet [hi:2ve8 the sea lov [lou law oven [18:?van the law grev A. [greu 'a:? Count A. greve [gre:va. count livlig [liuli dively life ivrig [iuri_ eager var eagerness brevpapir [breupa'pi:?r writing rev [bre:>v letter paper stivhed [sdiuhe:28 stiffness stiv [sdizov stigy The letter v is silent in the following instances: (1) Frequently after 2. Examples: halv [hal? half; solv [sol silver; tolv [ol twelve; selv [szl? (one)self, (him)self, etc.; gulv [gol floor. (Bur: elv [lv river; selve [szelva. the very.) (2) Always in the word: havde [hada had. 35,DANISH PHONETICS (3) In the colloquial pronunciation of the following words: have [ha:? have; give [gi:? give (also the present tense ‘giver? [gi:2r], the past tense ‘gav’ [ga:2], and the past participle ‘givet’ [giz8]); blive [blizo become (also the present tense ‘bliver’ [bli:2r], the past tense ‘blev’ [ble: and the past participle ‘blevet’ [ble:98}); hoved [hozed or [ho:8e head. This letter (which only occurs in a few words of foreign origin) is pronounced as [v]. Example: whisky [visgi whisky. This letter (which only occurs in a few words of foreign origin) is pronounced: (1)_As [ks]. Example: Pax [paks]. (2) As [s]. Example: Xantippe [san'tito]. This letter is pronounced: (1) As [y], long or short. Examples: byde [by:80 bid; ny [ny:? new; lyst [lysd light. (2) As [e], short only. Examples: kysse [keso kiss; stykke [sdogo piece; tynd [ton? thin; lyst [losd desire (noun). (3) As [6], after r. Examples: ryg [rég back; bryst [brésd breast. (4) As [3] in the word ‘fyrre’ [fra forty. 36 SPELLING AND SOUND VALUES This letter (which only occurs in a few words of foreign origin) is pronounced as [s]. Examples: zebra [se:bra zebra; benzin [baen'si:?n petrol. (1)_As [z], long or short. Examples: ble [ze:blo apple; heel [ha:21 heel; tenke [tengo think. (2) As [8], before or after r. Short only. Examples: praest [prisd clergyman, priest; varre [vir: worse. This letter is 2 (1) As [#], long or short. Examples: mode [mo:8a meet; kol [ko:21 keel; ost [osd east. (2) As [8], long or short, Examples: hone [hé:na hen; dor [d8:2r door; son [sn son, (3) As [5], before or after r. Short only. Examples: dromme [drima dream; gron [grin? green; torst [tSrsd_ thirst. (4) As [>], in most combinations af and og. Examples: hoj [hi high; log [Ibi? onion(s); mog [moi muck, manure, (But notice the pronunciation of the fol- lowing words: bog [be:29 beech; boger [be:>gar books; hog [he:°g hawk; gog [90:7g cuckoo; fog [fo:?g drifted.) 2 37DANISH PHONETICS This letter is prnoxnce ly. Oo: Mibe Thasbe hope; bla [bla: blue; s& [38:2 saw (past tense of ‘see’). (2) As [b], short only. Examples: hand [hon? and; blat [blot blue (neuter form); si [s9 then. 3, SPECIAL PRONUNCIATION English students are advised to memorize the correct pro- nunciation of the following words: af [a of (prep.). Example: en af dem [e:2n a'daem one of them. af [a:? off (adverb). Example: han faldt af [han fald ‘a:? he fell off. alts [als consequently. at [> to (before an infinitive). i Example: det er let at se [de: ‘leet > sez? it ts easy to see. at [a that (conj.). Example: han siger, at han kommer [han 'sizr a han ‘komar he says that he will come. De [di you. havde [ha:6a had. de [di they. idet [i'de as. det [de it, that. karl [kaz7!_farm labourer. dig [dai you (dependent —_kobmand [kaman? grocer. form of ‘du’). lagde [la: laid. fjer [fe:7r feather(s). mig [mai me. 38 SPECIAL PRONUNCIATION nogle [no:n some, any (plur.). scksten [salsdan sixteen. ogsd [ps0 also. sig [sal himself, herself, etc. sagde (si: said. vejr [veexr weather. 4. STRESS In most Danish words the stress is on the first syllable (cf. Preface, p. vi). Also in compounds the first syllable will normally carry the main stress. Examples: skrivebord ['sgri:vabo:2r writing-desk; skrive- bordsstol ['sgri:vaborsdo:7l chair for a writing-desk. The adding of endings to Danish words will not normally influence the stress. Examples: leve [le:va live; levende ['le:vana living; hustru ['husdru wife; hustruerne [‘husdrurna] the wives; lang (lan? long; laengere ['lenar: longer. Exceptions to this rule are: (1) Many loan-words, especially of Greek, Latin, and French origin. Among the most important groups are those ending in: ~abel (c.g. variabel [vari'a:>bal variable; risikabel [ris ka:?bal risky). -abisk (e.g. arabisk [a'ra:7bisg Arabic). -ade (c.g. marmelade [marma'li:8e marmalade; arkade [ar'ka:8> arcade), -af (c.g. biograf [bio'gra:?f cinema; fotograf [foto'gra:7f photographer). age (c.g. bandage [ban'da:fa bandage; ravage [ra'va:fo ravage). al (e.g. original [>rigi'na:21_ original; social [so'fa:l social). an (e.g. human [hu'ma:?n humane; tyran [ty'ran? tyrant). 39DANISH PHONETICS -ance (e.g. balance [ba'lanso balance; fajance [fa'lanse faience). cant (e.g, extravagant [eksdrava'gan?t extravagant; kontant [kon'tan2t cash). -arisk (e.g. parlamentarisk [parlamen'ta?risg Parliamentary; eksemplarisk [zeksam'pla:?risg exemplary). -ark (e.g. patriark [patri'ark patriarch; monark [mo'nark monarch). -asme (e.g. sarkasme [sar'kasmo sarcasm). ast (e.g. fantast [fan'tasd daydreamer; gymnast [gym'nasd gmnast). -at (e.g. soldat [sol'da:7t soldier; karat [ka'ra:% carat). -el (e.g. model [mo'da! model; pastel [pa'sdze!? pastel). -ence (e.g. konkurrence [kanku'ranse competition). ent (e.g. konkurrent [konku'ran2 competitor; klient [kli'zen7% client). n front leg.) 4rDANISH PHONETICS (4) Several Danish place-names. Examples: Kobenhavn [koban'hauon Copenhagen; Hel- singor [helsen'e:?r Elsinore; Korsor [kor'so:2r]; Hobro [ho'bro:?]. 5. WEAK FORMS OF WORDS Many common Danish words have two, or sometimes more, different pronunciations according to whether they occur in a stressed or an unstressed position in the sentence, ‘The same phenomenon may be observed in English also, when such words as ‘at’, ‘for’, ‘and’, among many others, are given their full or strong form when stressed or pro- nounced in isolation, but a weak form in such phrases as ‘all at sea’, ‘tea for two’, ‘you and me’, where they are not stressed. ; Tn just the same way the Danish word ‘og’ (and) ig pronounced [2u] when stressed, but when in an unstressed position has a weak form [>], as for instance in the phrase “du og jeg’ (you and I), pronounced [du ‘ial. Similarly, the word ‘kan’ (can) has a strong form [kan?] and a weak form [ka], as in ‘vi kan se ham’ (wwe can see him), pronounced [vi ka ‘sez? ham]. The verb ‘er’ (are, is, am), which in isola~ tion or in a stressed position is pronounced [Sr], is, in an unstressed position, frequently weakened to the pronuncia- tion [z] or [2] or [r], and if the preceding word ends in a vowel sound it may even disappear completely. Since most of the words which have a weak and a strong form are very common small words which are rarely stressed in the sentence, it follows that, just as in English, the weak form’ is much more frequently used than the strong form, and therefore that failure to use weak forms 42 WEAK FORMS OF WoRDS when they are required, gives exactly the same bad results as if such words as ‘at’, ‘for’, and ‘and’, were always pro- nounced strongly in English, whether stressed or not. ‘The student of Danish should be warned that the pro- nunciation indicated in dictionaries, etc., is generally the strong form of the word, so that students must be prepared to note for themselves the many weak forms which are to be found in conversational Danish. Notice in this con- nexion that an untrained Danish speaker will, if asked, generally give the strong form of a given word. It is wiser, therefore, to ask about phrases of the type ‘du og jeg’, quoted above, rather than about isolated words. There are, for instance, two pronunciations of the word ‘jeg’, a strong one [ial], and a weak form [ia]. If you ask an untrained Danish speaker whether he says [ial] or [ie] he will in- variably answer: ‘jeg siger jeg’ [ia sir ‘ial I say J, thus unknowingly contradicting himself. Some of the ways in which the weak form may differ from the strong are as follows: (1) Change of vowel sound. ‘Examples: Jeg strong form [ial] weak form [io] Jeg har set Hyad sagde jeg? [va six ham [io har 'se:2t ham] I have ‘iat) What did I say? seen him dem strong form [dem] weak form [dam] Jeg fik dem Dem kender jeg ['dem [io “feg dam] I got them kenar ia] I know them (2) Omission of vowel sound. Examples: den strong form [den?] weak form [dn] og den anden Dener god ['den?2go:7] lo [> dn ‘an: lo:?] and the that is a good one other one laughed 43DANISH PHONETICS her strong form [hz:?r] weak form [har] Kan du Herborhan [‘he:?rbor?r vere her [ka du 'v: han] He lives here (lit.) Can you be here? ive. Is there room enough for you here? (3) Omission of consonant sound. Examples: med strong form [mad] weak form [mz] med en lille Vildu med? [ve du'mad] — dreng [ma n ‘lilo dran?] with Are you coming? alittle boy vil strong form [vel] Jeg weak form [ve] Vil De ikke vilikkke [lo ‘vel ega] don't med? [ve di ego ‘ma] Aren’t want to you coming? skal strong form [sgal] weak form [sga] Hvad skal vi ‘Du skal! [du 'sgal] You gore? ['vasga vi ‘gérr] What must! shall we do? er strong form [ar] Hun weak form [2] Er det sandt? er her ikke [hun ‘dr har [de 'san2t] Is it true? ego] She isn't here (4) Total omission of complete word. Examples: Had er det? [var de What is that? Det er en bil [d biz?l That is a car. ‘The colloquial pronunciation of ‘skulle’ (should) and “kunne? (could) as [sgu] and [ku] are similar cases, but not identical, since the fall forms (sgula] and [kuna] may com- monly be heard in unstressed positions, and the use of the two forms is more a matter of individual taste than of stress purely. ‘Among certain less educated Danes there is the belief that it is more ‘refined’ always to use the strong forms, 44 r har] WEAK FORMS OF WORDS e.g. [mad], [vel] and [sgal], and the same people often pronounce the word ‘ogsA’ (also) as [>us>] instead of [>s0], and even pronounce many of the silent letters, e.g. in ‘solv’ (silver) [solv] instead of [sol]. Students are warned against imitating such for A pronunciation containing too many weak forms will be much more acceptable in Danish than one using too few, so the rule should be always to use the weak form unless there is an obvious reason for using the strong one, as = is in ‘du og jeg’ [du ‘>u iai (you and J)—(not you or J). 45PART III GRAMMAR 1. NOUNS THE ARTICLE ‘There are two genders in modern Danish: common gender (c) and neuter (n). The indefinite article, therefore, has two forms: Common gender Neuter en [en a, an et [ed a, an Examples: en mand [en man? a man et barn [ed baran a child en dame [en da:ma a lady et hus [ed hu:?s a house ‘The definite article in Danish, as in other Scandinavian languages, is post-positive, or enclitic, i.e, the article is added (without hyphen) to the noun as a suffix. This, however, applies only when the noun is not preceded by an adjective (or an adjectival word). In the singular, the enclitic article is -en [-on] for the common gender and et [-08] for the neuter, Nouns which end in an unstressed -e, however, only add -n [-n] for the common gender, and # [-8] for the neuter. Examples: manden [man?an the man damen [da:man the lady barnet [barnad the child market [margoS the mark (cf. “et marke’) 46 NOUNS In the plural the enclitic definite article is -re [-na], added to the plural ending of the noun. Nouns which have no plural ending add -ene [-sna]. Examples: Plural without article damer [da:mor ladies huse [hu:so houses Plural with definite article damerne [da:marn the ladies husene [hu:sana. the houses mend [mzn? men mendene [mzn?ono the men born [b5ren children bornene [bSranana the children When a noun ends in a single consonant, preceded by a short, stressed vowel, the consonant is doubled before the enclitic article: en hat [en hat a hat; hatten [hadan the hat en son [en sn a son; sonnen [sén?an_ the son Some nouns ending in unstressed -el, -en or -er drop the -e- of their ending when the definite article is added. Ifthe -e- is preceded by a double consonant, the consonant is simplified.when the -e- drops out, ¢.g.: en cykel [en sygal a bicycles cyklen [syglen the bicycle et tempel [ed temmbal a temple; templet [tem?blod the temple et teater [ed te'd:?dor a theatre; teatret [te'a:7drod the theatre en himmel [en hemal a sky; himlen [hemlon the sky (Bur: en vinter [en ven?dar a winter; vinteren [ven?doron * the winter en sommer [en somar_@ summer; sommeren [somaran the summer) When a noun is preceded by an adjective (or an adjec- tival word) the enclitic article is not used, but one of the 47 ~GRAMMAR following forms ofthe definite article is put in front of the adjective: . Common gender: den [den]. Singular { Neuter: det [de]. Plural: de [ai]. Examples: den unge mand [dan one man? the young man det rode hus [de ra:de hu:?s the red house de unge mend [di one man? the young men de rode huse [41 re:Bo hu:so the red houses THE PLURAL The plural of nouns is formed in three different ways in Danish: rst declension: the noun adds -e. and declension: the noun adds -er (or -r if the singular form ends in an unstressed -). grd declension: the noun has no plural ending. Examples: Singular (x) et hus [ed hus a house (2) en by [en by:? a town (2) en dame [en di:ma a lady damer [da:mar ladies (g) et flag [ed flag a flag flag [fl4:2g flags ‘The following nouns have vowel mutation in the plural; they are all common gender, except ‘barn’ which is neuter: Plural huse [hu:se houses byer [by:?ar towns From a to # : From a too: father: fader, far [far]; daughter: datter (dader]; dotre feedre [fare] [dedra] 48 NOUNS duck: and [an]; ender child: barn [bar?n]; born [ener] [b5ran] tooth: tand [tan]; tender [tenor] From o toa: power: kraft [krafd]; kreef= ter [krafdar] town: stad [sda8]; steder brother: broder, bror [bror]; brodre [braéra] mother: moder, mor [mor]; [sdze8or] modre [mara] night: nat [nad]; netter book: bog [b&:?g]; boger [nedor] [bo:2gar] man: mand [man?]; mand peasant: bonde [bane]; bonder [man?] [ben2ar] . foot: fod (0:28) ; fodder [fo87ar] From d to # : root: rod [ro:28]; redder hand: hand [hon?]; hen- — [r88%er] der [hen?ar] cow: ko [ko:?]; koer [ko:2er] toe: t& [t8:2]; twer [tee:?or] sow: so [s0:?]; sver [se:20r] goose: gas [98:75]; ges [gas] - Words which end in the plural in unstressed -ere drop the final -e when the enclitic article is added, e.g. skomagere [sgoma:?gare shoemakers; skomagerne [skomay gerne the shoemakers englandere [znlanere Englishmen; englenderne [enlzen?- arne the English neuy, The word ‘menneske’ [manasge man, human being, drops the plural ending -r when the enclitic article is added: mennesker [manasgar men, human beings; menneskene [meenasgona mankind The word ‘oje” [>i ge, has an irregular plural form: et oje [ed die an eye; ojne [oina eyes. When a noun ends in a single consonant, preceded by 49 )GRAMMAR a short, stressed vowel, the consonant is doubled before the plural ending, e.g.: en hat [en hat a hat; hatte [hada hats en son [en sén a son; sonner [séner sons Some nouns ending in unstressed -el, -en or -er drop the -e- of their ending when the plural ending is added. If the ve- is preceded by a double consonant, the consonant is simplified when the -e- drops out, e.g.: en cykel [en sygal a bicycle; cykler [syglar bicycles et teater [ed te'a:2dor a theatrs; teatre [te'a:?dro theatres en sommer [en somar a summer; somre [somre summers The Danish word ‘penge’ [pene money, is a plural word: mange penge [mans pane much money Several words which have no plural form in English have both a singular and a plural form in Danish, e.g: ‘et mobel [ed mo:?bal a piece of furniture; mobler [mo:?blar furniture et rad [ed 18:28 a piece of advice; gode rad [gor8e 18:8 good advice Several words which have no singular form in English have both a singular and a plural form in Danish, e.g.: cen saks [en sags a pair of scissors; to sakse [to:? sags to pairs of scissors Latin words ending in -um follow the second declension but lose the ending -um before the plural ending -er is added, e4 et museum [ed mu'szzom a museum; museer [mu'se:or) ‘museums Tn such words the ending -um also drops out in front o the enclitic articles: 50 NOUNS museet [mu'se:08 the museum; muswerne [mu'swerorne the ‘museums Notes on the Use of the Articles In Danish the definite article is often used with abstract nouns (e.g. ‘deden’, death, ‘naturen’, nature, ‘lykken’, happiness) and with nouns denoting a whole genus (c.g. “mennesket’, man, ‘kvinden’, oman). « Examples: Kunsten er lang, livet er kort [kon?sdan ar lan? li:>va8 ar kord Art is long, life is short Mennesket spar, Gud rader [mani 5 ; 195g90 sb8:?r gud ri:dar Man proposes, God disposes ° . The definite article is also used in many contexts where possessive pronouns would be used in English, e.g.: Drengen stod med handen i lommen [drany%an sdo:78 mae hon?an i laman The boy stood with his hand in his pocket Han havde bogen under armen [han hi: b&:?gan onor areman He had the book under his arm Notice also the use of the definite article i i plotce abot inite article in the following De fleste mennesker tor... [di fle:?sdo one :?sdo_maeni : Most people believe... ' nee eee Den ene dag efter den anden gil gik [deen em dix? afd deen an: gig One day after the other passed ” Lyset gar hurtigere end lyden [ly:7598 gir hordivore en lyi9¥an Light travels faster than sound Han bor 1 byen [han bo:?r i by:7an He lives in town Om natten [om nadan By night Om dagen [pm diz2an By day 51GRAMMAR Han mistede modet [han mesdada moz78at He lost courage Notice the use of the indgfnite article in the following examples: Til en pris af [tel en pri:?s a At the price of Til en vardi af [tel en var'di:? a To the value of En del af slottet [en de:7l a shoda8 Part of the castle En masse mennesker [en masa manasgor Plenty of people En dag blev det uvejr [en d&:? ble de uvaex2r One day 4 storm came on Notice the omission of article in the following examples: Solen st&r op i est [s0:7Ian sdir ‘2b t asd The sun rises in the east Han er soldat [han ar sol'da:%t He is a soldier Jeg er englender [io ar enlerar Iam an Englishman ‘Som dren... [sm driq? Asa boy... Det er synd [de ar son? It is a pity Hun spiller klaver [hun sbelar kla've:2r She plays the piano Jeg har hovedpine [is har ho:Spizna I have a headache Han bor pa ‘Carlton’ [han pa karlton He is staying at the ‘Carlton’ It is particularly important to remember that no article is used in front of a predicate signifying a person’s nation, occupation, religion, etc. (e.g. ‘Han er dansker, journalist, katolik, student, o.8.v.’, He isa Dane, a journalist, a Roman Catholic, an undergraduate, etc). Case Modern Danish—like English—has only two cases of the noun: the common form (identical for the nominative, | accusative and dative) and the genitive. 52 Nouns ‘The genitive ending is always -s (without an apostrophe), both in the singular and the plural, e.g. Hr. Jensens hus [har iznsons hu:7s Mr Jensen’s house Mandens hat [manvons hat The man’s hat Mendenes hatte [manranas hada The men’s hats Drengenes fodbold [drinanas foBbolnd The boys? football In Danish the genitive form is used frequently in cases where the preposition ‘of? would be used in English, e.g.: Husets vinduer [hu:?seds vendu:?er The windows of the house Klokkens lyd [klogans ly:78 The sound of the bell In some stock phrases a genitive form is preserved after the prepositions ‘til’ and ‘i’, which used to govern the genitive in Old Danish, e.g.: til sos [te sos at sea til bunds [te bons to the bottom i fredags [i fre:?das. last Friday i morges [| moras this morning. (Bur: i morgen [1 morn to-morrow.) i fongars [i forghiors the day before yesterday. (Bur: i gar [i gh:7r yesterday.) EXERCISE | VOCABULARY (For the nouns the figures given in brackets denote rst, 2nd and 3rd declensions.) Gommon gender nouns: mand? (3) [man? man; dame (2) [da:mo lady; narse (2) [nee:so nose; mund (1) [mon? mouth; dreng (x) [dran? 509; pige (2) [pita girl; skole (2) [sgo:lo school; dag (1) [da:? day; uge (2) [ure week; maned (2) 4 Vowel mutation from a to ® in the plural. 3 53 apeGRAMMAR [ma:no8 month; by (2) [by:? town, city; dansker. (1) [dansgor Dane; englender (1) (enlenrar Englishman; kat (1) [kat cat; hund (1) [hun? dog; ven (2) [Vaen friend; cykel (2) [sygel bicycle; vinter (1) [vender winter; sommer (1) [smar summer; stol (1) [sdo:?! chair; saks (1) [sags pair of scissors, Neuter nouns: barn? (3) [baron child; menneske (2) [manasga human being; oje (irregular) [oie eye; ore (2) [o:r ear; ar (3) [&:9r year; dyr (3) [dy:2r animal; mobel (2) [mo:2bal piece of furniture; bord (x) [bo:r table; hus (1) [hu:2s. house. Plural noun: penge [pene money. Verbs: er [ar am, are, is; har [har? has, have. Other words: og [> and; ikke [ego not; i [i in; p& [p& on; mange [mana many. A Translate into Danish: 1. Aman, a lady and a child. ‘The man, the lady and the child. Men, ladies and children, ‘The men, the ladies and the children, ‘A human being has a nose, a mouth, eyes and ears. ‘The boy and the girl are at (Danish: in) school. ‘The boys and the girls are at (Danish: in) school. Boys and girls are not men and ladies. ‘A day, a week, a month, a year. 10. The day, the week, the month, the year. » Days, weeks, months, years. 12. The days, the wecks, the months, the years. 13. The school is in the town. 14. The schools are in the towns. 15. Boys will be (Danish: are) boys. 16. A Dane and an Englishman. 17. The Dane and the Englishman. Vowel mutation from a to» in the plural. St Sy SEE PS © ‘ NOUNS 18, 19. 20. ar. 22, 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28, 29. 30. 3I. 32. Danes and Englishmen, ‘The Danes and the English. The boy has a cat and a dog. ‘The cat and the dog are friends. Cats and dogs are not friends. The cats and the dogs. The girl has a bicycle. ‘The bicycle is in the school. ‘The winter and the summer. ‘The man has much money. Cats and dogs are animals, A chair is a piece of firniture. Chairs and tables are furniture. ‘The furniture is in the house, ‘The scissors are on the table. B VOCABULARY Adjectives: unge [ons young; gamle [gamls_ old; store [sdo:r3 great, large, big; lange [lane long; korte [kordo short; nye [ny:9 new; lille [lila little, small. Translate into Danish: 1, Theyoungman. 2. Thebig child. 3. The young men. 4. The big children. 5. The old year. 6. The new month, 7. The long winter and the short summer. 8, The new bicycle. 9. ‘The little girl. 10. The young girls. Gi Translate into Danish: 1, The gitl’s dog. 2. The young girls dog. 3. The girls’ dogs. 4. The old lady’s money. 5. The ladies’ money. 6. Thedaysoftheweck. 7. The months of the year, 8. The young ladies of the town. 55GRAMMAR 2, ADJECTIVES There are two declensions of the adjective in Danish: 1. The indefinite declension. 2. The definite declension. 1. The indefinite declension is used: (a) When the adjective is preceded by the indefinite article (‘en’ or ‘et”) or stands in isolation before a noun, (6) When the adjective is used predicatively. There are three forms of the adjective in the indefinite declension: Singular Plural —— Common gender Neuter Both genders Uninflected form Form ending in-t Formending ine store [sdo:ra big gode [go:8e good stor [sdo:7r big stort [sdo:7rt big good godt{got good by:? a big town et stort hus [ed sdoz2rt hu:?s a big house store byer [sdozra by:7ar big towns store huse [sdozre hus big houses det er godt vejr [de ar got vaz:2r it is fine weather vejret er godt [vzer?ra8 ar got the weather is fine huset er stort [hu:7sod ar sdo:2rt_ the house is big byerne er store [by:7erne ar sdozra_ the towns are big dejligt vejr idag [dailit var i'da:? lovely weather today ‘Adjectives which end in unstressed -¢ or -s have no inflexion: en moderne by [en mo'dirna by:? a modern town en stakkels mand [en sdagals man? @ poor man et moderne hus [ed mo'dirna hu:?s. a modern house 56 ADJECTIVES et stakkels barn [ed sdagols bar2n a poor child moderne huse [mo'dirna hu:sa modern houses stakkels born [sdagals bir?n poor children Adjectives which end in -sk or -t do not add the ending -t in the neuter. The same thing applies to some adjectives ending in -d: et dansk hus [ed dan?sg hu:?s @ Danish house et interessant brev [ed entra'sanrt bre:2v an interesting letter et glad smil [ed glaB smiz?l a happy smile ‘Most adjectives which end in a vowel in the uninflected form do not add the ending -e in the plural; the plural of ‘ny? (new) may be either ‘ny? [ny:9] or ‘nye? [nyro]: to nye (or: ny) huse [to:? ny:o (ny:?) huss two mw houses en bl skjorte [en bl&:? sgiords a blue shirt bla skjorter [bl&:? sgiordar blue shirts ‘Adjectives ending in unstressed -¢l, -en, or -er, drop the -t- before the ending -e. If the -e- is preceded by a double consonant, the consonant is simplified: en gammel mand [en gamal man? an old man; gamle mand [gamla maen? old men en nogen dreng [en noian drin? a naked boy; nogne drenge [noina drine naked boys en bitter mandel [en bedar manral a bitter almond; bitre mandler [bedra man?lar bitter almonds Adjectives ending in unstressed -et change the final -t into -d- when the ending -e is added: et anbefalet brev [ed anbefa:2l8 bre:ov a registered letter anbefalede breve [anbefa:7loe bre:va registered leiters When an adjective ends in a single consonant, preceded by a short, stressed vowel, the consonant is doubled before the ending -e: 57GRAMMAR en smuk dame [en smok dima a beautiful lady; smukke damer [smogo dazmar beautiful ladies et gront tre [ed grSnvt trai? a green tree; gronne treer [grine tra:?er green trees The adjective ‘lille? little, small, has an irregular plural form: ‘sma’: en lille dreng [en lila dran? a little boy et lille barn [ed lila baren a little child sm drenge [sm&:? drina little boys sm born [smaz? b5r?n little children 2. The definite declension is used: (a) When the adjective is preceded by the definite article (or some other determinant, such as a demonstrative or possessive pronoun, or a noua in the genitive). (b) In address. In the definite declension the adjective ends in -¢ in both genders, singular and plural: den store by [deen sdozre by:? the big town mit store hus [mit sdozra hu:s my big house det gode vejr [de gordo verr the fine weather hans brune hat [hans bru: na hat his brown hat Keere ven [keira ven Dear friend de store byer [di sdozra by:?ar the big towns, ete. All the rules given above concerning the plural forms of adjectives ending (i) in - or -s5 (ii) in a vowel; (iii) in unstressed el, -en, or -er; or (iv) in a single consonant, preceded by a short, stressed vowel, apply to the adjectives in the definite declension throughout. Also in this declen- sion ‘lille’ has the plural form ‘sma’: det stakkels barn [de sdagols barn the poor child 58 ADJECTIVES de bla skjorter [di bla: skiordar the blue shirts Det ny Teater [de ny:? te'a:rdar The New Theatre det nye hus [de ny:o hu:?s the new house den gamle mand [den gamla man? the old man den nogne dreng [deen noina drain? the naked boy det bitre smil [de bedra smiz?l the bitter smile det anbefalede brev [de anbefi:?la80 bre:7v the registered letter den smukke dame [dzen smogo dazma the beautiful lady den lille dreng [dzen lila dran? the litle boy de sma drenge [di smA:? drana the little boys The adjective ‘egen’ [aion own, is entirely irregular. In front of a common gender noun it is always “egen’ and in front of a neuter noun always ‘eget? [ais8], even when one would expect the definite declension. The plural form is always ‘egne’ [aina]. min egen hat [min aion hat my own hat hans eget hus [hans aiaB hu:?s his own house mandens egne born [man?ansaina bSr?n the man's oun children In Danish, adjectives are often used substantively, with- out any supporting word: Giv mig bogen—ikke den rade, den gronne [gi mai ba:?gan —ego den ra:da, den grina Give me the book—not the red one, the green one den blinde [dzen blena the blind man de blinde [di blena the blind han gor det rigtige [han gr de regdio he does the right thing Comparison of Adjectives The comparative is formed by adding -ere to the positive (ie. the uninflected form of the adjective). The superlative is formed by adding -est to the positive: 59