Learn how to discuss past events
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| Beginner Season 1 Lesson 4 - This Danish Song Sounds Familiar... |
| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DanishClass101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 4. This Danish Song Sounds Familiar… Eric here. |
| Anna: Hej! I'm Anna. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to discuss past events. The conversation takes place on the bus. |
| Anna: It's between Niklas and Alexander. |
| Eric: The speakers are co-workers. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Niklas: Jeg var til en vens bryllup i weekenden. |
| Alexander: Var det en god fest? |
| Niklas: Ja, det var det. Du gætter aldrig, hvad der skete. |
| Alexander: Hvad skete der?! |
| Niklas: Gommens bror spillede et remix af brudevalsen. |
| Alexander: Et remix af brudevalsen? |
| Niklas: Ja, han er DJ. Det var helt fantastisk! |
| Alexander: Det lyder i hvert fald sjovt. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Niklas: Jeg var til en vens bryllup i weekenden. |
| Alexander: Var det en god fest? |
| Niklas: Ja, det var det. Du gætter aldrig, hvad der skete. |
| Alexander: Hvad skete der?! |
| Niklas: Gommens bror spillede et remix af brudevalsen. |
| Alexander: Et remix af brudevalsen? |
| Niklas: Ja, han er DJ. Det var helt fantastisk! |
| Alexander: Det lyder i hvert fald sjovt. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Niklas: Jeg var til en vens bryllup i weekenden. |
| Nicholas: I was at a friend's wedding this weekend. |
| Alexander: Var det en god fest? |
| Alexander: Was it a good party? |
| Niklas: Ja, det var det. Du gætter aldrig, hvad der skete. |
| Nicholas: Yes, it was a really fun party. You'll never guess what happened. |
| Alexander: Hvad skete der?! |
| Alexander: What happened?! |
| Niklas: Gommens bror spillede et remix af brudevalsen. |
| Nicholas: The groom's brother played a remix of the bridal waltz. |
| Alexander: Et remix af brudevalsen? |
| Alexander: A remix of the bridal waltz? |
| Niklas: Ja, han er DJ. Det var helt fantastisk! |
| Nicholas: Yes, he is a DJ. It was absolutely fantastic! |
| Alexander: Det lyder i hvert fald sjovt. |
| Alexander: It definitely sounds fun. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Anna, how do Danes tend to get married these days? |
| Anna: Danes usually get married either in a church or at the town hall, and then have a party afterwards with family and friends. |
| Eric: I see, and what are the most common traditions during weddings? |
| Anna: I guess they're mostly the same as in other countries – cutting the cake, throwing the bouquet, and dancing the bridal waltz before midnight. |
| Eric: I've read that nowadays, not only do fewer people get married in a church, but fewer people are getting married at all. |
| Anna: That’s definitely true. There’s not as much pressure to get married today as there was in the past, so many couples just live together without getting married. High divorce rates have also affected the perception of marriage, leading some to give up on the concept of marriage altogether. |
| Eric: Is that so? Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Anna: at være [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to be |
| Anna: at være [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at være [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: bryllup [natural native speed] |
| Eric: wedding |
| Anna: bryllup [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: bryllup [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: weekend [natural native speed] |
| Eric: weekend |
| Anna: weekend [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: weekend [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: fest [natural native speed] |
| Eric: party |
| Anna: fest [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: fest [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at gætte [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to guess |
| Anna: at gætte [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at gætte [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: aldrig [natural native speed] |
| Eric: never |
| Anna: aldrig [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: aldrig [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: at ske [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to happen, to occur, to take place |
| Anna: at ske [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: at ske [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: gom [natural native speed] |
| Eric: groom |
| Anna: gom [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: gom [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: brudevals [natural native speed] |
| Eric: bridal waltz |
| Anna: brudevals [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: brudevals [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Anna: i hvert fald [natural native speed] |
| Eric: definitely |
| Anna: i hvert fald [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Anna: i hvert fald [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Anna: weekend |
| Eric: which obviously means “weekend.” In Danish, the noun “weekend” is used the same way as it is in English. |
| Anna: It might be an English loan word, but it’s fully integrated into the Danish language. |
| Eric: That means it’s conjugated like other common gender nouns. |
| Anna: “A weekend” is en weekend and “the weekend” is weekenden. “Weekends” is weekender and “the weekends” is weekenderne. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Anna: Sure. Hun arbejder to weekender i træk. |
| Eric: which means “She is working two weekends in a row.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Anna: fest |
| Eric: which means “party.” |
| Anna: In Danish, the word fest is used in the same way as in English, but in some set phrases it has alternate meanings. |
| Eric: For example? |
| Anna: At have en fest literally means “to have a party,” but it can also mean that you are having fun, or are having a good time. |
| Eric: Okay, is there another common phrase using this word? |
| Anna: Yes, the phrase så slutter festen literally means “then the party ends,” but it is used to indicate that the positive or joyful celebrations are over at this time. |
| Eric: Let’s form a sentence using this word - |
| Anna: Sure. Der er fest på lørdag! |
| Eric: “There is a party on Saturday!” And the last phrase is |
| Anna: i hvert fald |
| Eric: which means “definitely.” Anna, let’s break down this phrase to examine the meaning of each word. |
| Anna: Sure. I means “in,” “into,” or “on.” Hver is a pronoun that means “each” or “every.” Fald is a noun and means “case.” |
| Eric: You can use it to indicate that something is definite or certain in any circumstance, no matter what happens. It can also be used to say “at least,” “in any case,” or “at any rate.” For example you can say… |
| Anna: Drengen er i hvert fald ikke træt. |
| Eric: “The boy is definitely not tired.” |
| Anna: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to discuss past events in Danish. |
| Anna: Right. For this, we will have to use the past tense. |
| Eric: In short, the past tense is used to talk about an action or event that took place in the past and has ended. |
| Anna: Let’s give our first example using the verb “to be,” at være |
| Eric: conjugated in past tense, it is |
| Anna: var |
| Eric: Used in a sample sentence, we have - |
| Anna: Parret var på ferie i sidste uge. |
| Eric: “The couple was on vacation last week.” |
| Anna: Just like in English, there are regular and irregular verbs in Danish. |
| Eric: Alright, for now let’s talk about regular verbs |
| Anna: Sure thing! There are two basic ways to conjugate regular past tense verbs in Danish. The first way is by adding the ending -ede to the base form of a verb. The other way is to add the ending -te to the base form of a verb. |
| Eric: Keep in mind that these rules will not apply to irregular verbs. Anna, tell us about irregular Danish verbs. |
| Anna: When you’re conjugating irregular verbs in Danish, you should definitely expect a vowel change. You can find a conjugation chart in the Lesson Notes with some of the most common regular and irregular verbs. |
| Eric: Can you give us some examples using the past tense? |
| Anna: Of course, let's take the regular verb “to do” or “to make,” which in Danish is at lave. |
| Eric: The past tense will be |
| Anna: lavede, |
| Eric: Meaning “did.” Using it in a sample sentence, we have |
| Anna: Jeg lavede lektier i går. |
| Eric: “I did homework yesterday.” |
| Anna: Now, let’s use the regular verb at købe meaning “to buy.” |
| Eric: To conjugate this verb, we add the ending |
| Anna: -te, forming købte. |
| Eric: Meaning “bought.” For example - |
| Anna: Pigen købte hvide blomster. |
| Eric: “The girl bought white flowers.” Finally, let’s hear an example using an irregular verb. |
| Anna: Sure, how about at smide, “to throw.” In the past tense, it would be smed |
| Eric: Meaning “threw.” Used in a sample sentence, it’s... |
| Anna: Han smed nøglen væk. |
| Eric: And it means “He threw away the key.” |
| Anna: As you can see, to conjugate the irregular verb at smide in past tense, the vowel i has been changed to an e and the -e at the end of the infinitive form has been removed, forming the word smed. |
| Eric: Great! Now let’s see how to apply the past tense for asking follow-up questions. |
| Anna: This will come in handy when you’re having a conversation. |
| Eric: Yes, you can express interest in what someone is saying because it shows you have been paying attention. |
| Anna: For example, if someone tells you that they were at a party during the weekend, then Var det en god fest? |
| Eric: “Was it a good party?” would be a common follow-up question. I recognise the first word here! |
| Anna: Well spotted! It’s the verb “to be” - at være in past tense - var |
| Eric: Okay. Now let’s use a question from the dialogue - |
| Anna: Hvad skete der?! |
| Eric: This literally means “What happened there?!” After asking this question, be prepared to get a full description of the event. So, if you want to know only specific details, you need to narrow down this question - |
| Anna: We can ask, for example - Hvad skete der om aftenen? |
| Eric: “What happened in the evening?” |
| Anna: We added om aftenen |
| Eric: meaning “in the evening.” |
| Anna: Basically, you can replace om aftenen with any other time expression. |
| Eric: Can we get one last example? |
| Anna: Okay, Hvad skete der med bruden? |
| Eric: Meaning “What happened to the bride?” |
| Anna: Here we have the phrase med bruden, meaning “to the bride.” |
| Eric: Listeners, don’t forget that you can find more examples in the Lesson Notes. |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Anna: Farvel! |
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