Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson we’ll see a very useful phrase meaning “I don’t understand.” It is useful, of course, because many times you won’t immediately pick up on what people are saying.
GRAMMAR POINT
In Danish, “I don’t understand it” is
Jeg forstår det ikke.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Jeg for-står det ikke.
Once more:
Jeg forstår det ikke.
The first word is the personal pronoun “I”
Next we have forstår which is the verb “to understand.”
(slow) For-står.
Forstår.
It’s followed by det which means “it”.
(slow) Det.
Det.
And lastly you have the negative ikke, meaning “not”,
(slow) Ikke.
Ikke.
Poor knowledge of the Danish language may be one reason for not understanding. In this case, say
Jeg forstår ikke Dansk. This expression is translated in English as “I don’t understand Danish”
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Jeg for-står ikke dansk.
Jeg forstår ikke dansk.
The first word is again the personal pronoun “I”
Next we have forstår ikke which would be “don’t understand”
(slow) For-står ikke.
Forstår ikke.
And the last word, dansk, means “Danish”
(slow) Dansk.
Dansk.
Another option is to tell someone, “I don’t speak Danish.”
Jeg taler ikke dansk.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Jeg ta-ler ikke dansk.
Once again:
Jeg taler ikke Dansk.
In this sentence, we replaced the verb “understand” with “speak”.
(slow) Taler.
Taler
These expressions are all very direct. To make them more polite, simply add “Excuse me” which is Undskyld mig! or “Sorry” which is Undskyld! to the beginning of the phrase. For example:
Undskyld, jeg forstår det ikke.
“Sorry, I don’t understand.”
(slow) Und-skyld, jeg for-står det ikke.
Undskyld, jeg forstår det ikke.

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