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Lesson Transcript

Beginner Season 1 Lesson 5 -The Danish Weather is Predictably Unpredictable!
INTRODUCTION
Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to DanishClass101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 5 - The Danish Weather is Predictably Unpredictable! Eric here.
Anna: Hej! I'm Anna.
Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use past continuous tense and some typical weather expressions. The conversation takes place at the station.
Anna: It's between Camille and Benedikte.
Eric: The speakers are family members. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Camille: Lad os skynde os indenfor.
Benedikte: Sikke et regnvejr!
Camille: Ja, himlen var blå og skyfri, og solen skinnede for lidt siden.
Benedikte: Det kan hurtigt skifte om vinteren.
Camille: Jeg ville ønske, det ikke var så koldt.
Benedikte: Eller at det ville sne i stedet for at regne.
Camille: Ja, men ikke for meget. Ellers stopper togene måske med at køre.
Benedikte: Nårh, ja. Det er rigtigt.
Camille: Hey, nu hagler det!
Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Camille: Lad os skynde os indenfor.
Benedikte: Sikke et regnvejr!
Camille: Ja, himlen var blå og skyfri, og solen skinnede for lidt siden.
Benedikte: Det kan hurtigt skifte om vinteren.
Camille: Jeg ville ønske, det ikke var så koldt.
Benedikte: Eller at det ville sne i stedet for at regne.
Camille: Ja, men ikke for meget. Ellers stopper togene måske med at køre.
Benedikte: Nårh, ja. Det er rigtigt.
Camille: Hey, nu hagler det!
Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Camille: Lad os skynde os indenfor.
Camille: Let's hurry inside.
Benedikte: Sikke et regnvejr!
Benedikte: What rainy weather!
Camille: Ja, himlen var blå og skyfri, og solen skinnede for lidt siden.
Camille: Yes, the sky was blue and cloudless and the sun was shining a little while ago.
Benedikte: Det kan hurtigt skifte om vinteren.
Benedikte: It can change quickly during the winter.
Camille: Jeg ville ønske, det ikke var så koldt.
Camille: I wish it wasn’t so cold.
Benedikte: Eller at det ville sne i stedet for at regne.
Benedikte: Or that it would snow instead of rain.
Camille: Ja, men ikke for meget. Ellers stopper togene måske med at køre.
Camille: Yes, but not too much. Otherwise, the trains might stop running.
Benedikte: Nårh, ja. Det er rigtigt.
Benedikte: Oh, yeah. That's right.
Camille: Hey, nu hagler det!
Camille: Hey, it's hailing now!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Eric: Anna, I guess Denmark has all four seasons, like any other country in Europe.
Anna: Right. The winter spans from December to February, the spring from March to May, summer includes the months of June, July, and August, and autumn goes from September to November.
Eric: And what about the weather in Denmark?
Anna: It’s very unpredictable. Snow can fall as late in the year as April or May, it can be hot even in October, and sometimes it rains all through the winter.
Eric: Some scientists say that many countries are experiencing seasonal shifts due to global warming. Do you think this is happening in Denmark?
Anna: Maybe. Or maybe it’s just the Danish weather doing what it does best - being unpredictable.
Eric: Okay.
VOCAB LIST
Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Anna: regnvejr [natural native speed]
Eric: rainy weather
Anna: regnvejr [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Anna: regnvejr [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Anna: himmel [natural native speed]
Eric: sky, heaven
Anna: himmel [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Anna: himmel [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Anna: skyfri [natural native speed]
Eric: cloudless
Anna: skyfri [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Anna: skyfri [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Anna: sol [natural native speed]
Eric: sun
Anna: sol [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Anna: sol [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Anna: at skinne [natural native speed]
Eric: to shine
Anna: at skinne [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Anna: at skinne [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Anna: at skifte [natural native speed]
Eric: to change, to switch
Anna: at skifte [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Anna: at skifte [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Anna: at sne [natural native speed]
Eric: to snow
Anna: at sne [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Anna: at sne [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Anna: at regne [natural native speed]
Eric: to rain
Anna: at regne [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Anna: at regne [natural native speed]
Eric: Next we have..
Anna: ellers [natural native speed]
Eric: or, or else, otherwise
Anna: ellers [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Anna: ellers [natural native speed]
Eric: And last..
Anna: at hagle [natural native speed]
Eric: to hail
Anna: at hagle [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Anna: at hagle [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: himmel
Eric: which means “sky,” or “heaven.”
Anna: Himmel is often used in reference to the weather or the sky's appearance at different times of the day.
Eric: If you want to refer to “heaven” or “paradise,” remember to always use the definite singular form,
Anna: himlen.
Eric: Can you give us an example using this word?
Anna: Sure. For example, you can say.. Himmelen ligner et flammehav.
Eric: ..which means “The sky looks like a sea of flames.” Okay, what's the next word?
Anna: skyfri
Eric: which means “cloudless.”
Anna: Skyfri consists of the noun sky, meaning “cloud,” and the adjective fri which means “free.”
Eric: You can use this adjective to describe the weather when the sky is clear and sunny.
Anna: A less common usage of skyfri is a figurative use of the word, in reference to a person's facial expression or carefree and sorrowless life.
Eric: Can you give us an example using this word?
Anna: Sure. For example, you can say.. Endelig en skyfri dag!
Eric: .. which means “Finally a cloudless day!” Okay, what's the next word?
Anna: ellers
Eric: which means “or, or else, otherwise.” It can also be used as the equivalent of “in addition” or “in addition to this.”
Anna: Another way to use the word ellers is to emphasize a statement, equivalent to the English expressions “indeed,” or “certainly.” If you want to decline an offer politely, you can say ellers tak, which literally means “otherwise thanks.”
Eric: Can you give us an example using this word?
Anna: Sure. For example, you can say.. Den nye chef virker ellers flink.
Eric: .. which means “The new boss seems nice otherwise.” Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the past continuous tense and typical weather expressions.
Anna: Ok, let’s start with the past continuous tense.
Eric: The past continuous tense is used to describe an ongoing action in the past, or something that was taking place when something else happened.
Anna: Note, however, that in Danish, the past continuous tense is only used when you want to emphasize the process that was happening in the past.
Eric: Right. and to do this, we can choose between three different phrases -
Anna: være i færd med, være i gang med, and være ved at
Eric: All of these three phrases are equivalent to the verb “be” plus the second verb in -ing form. Here we have an example -
Anna: Using the first pattern - Jeg var i færd med at spise.
Eric: “I was eating.”
Anna: Jeg is the pronoun “I,” var is the verb at være, “to be” in past tense meaning “was,” and spise means “eat.” I færd med is used to create the progressive tense of the verb, equivalent to adding the ing-form in English. So it can’t be translated on its own.
Eric: Now let’s use the second pattern.
Anna: Jeg var i gang med at spise
Eric: Which has the same meaning - “I was eating.”
Anna: Right, and using the third pattern we have - Jeg var ved at spise.
Eric: Again, “I was eating.”
Anna: You can also use the verb lave, meaning “to do” or “to make,” to form the past continuous tense.
Eric: Listeners, you can find out how to conjugate this verb and more examples in the Lesson Notes.
Anna: Ok, let’s move on to our next grammar point - typical weather expressions.
Eric: No matter what the language, this subject will always come in handy when you are starting a conversation.
Anna: Exactly! Listeners, there is a conjugated chart with common weather-related verbs in the Lesson Notes, so be sure to check them out.
Eric: Now let’s move on to talk about how to form weather-related nouns in Danish.
Anna: This is really simple – you can form weather-related nouns by adding the suffix -vejr to a general noun.
Eric: Does this suffix have a meaning by itself?
Anna: Yes, it does. The neuter gender noun vejr by itself means “weather.”
Eric: And as a suffix, it is used to create weather-related nouns, or is used to describe what kind of weather is happening at a given time.
Anna: The noun remains exactly the same, we just add -vejr at the end.
Eric: You can turn any noun into a new one that describes the current type of weather. For example -
Anna: regn,
Eric: meaning “rain,”
Anna: Plus vejr becomes regnvejr
Eric: meaning “rainy weather.”
Anna: Note that the nouns ending with -vejr are all neuter gender nouns, because vejr is a neuter gender noun by itself.
Eric: Anna, when we’re creating nouns like this, do we need to add or remove any letters?
Anna: Generally no, but of course there are some exceptions.
Eric: Okay, now before we go, can you give us a couple more examples?
Anna: Sure! For example, tordenvejr
Eric: “thunderstorm”
Anna: snevejr
Eric: “snowy weather”
Eric: Ok, let’s use those in sample sentences.
Anna: Good idea. Sikke et tordenvejr i går!
Eric: “What a thunderstorm yesterday!”
Anna: Kør ikke ud i snevejret!
Eric: “Do not drive out into the snowy weather!”

Outro

Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Anna: Vi ses!

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