Dialogue

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson, we’re going to cover counting from 0 to 10. When it comes to numbers, the Danish language has some peculiarities, but there is nothing difficult about them.
GRAMMAR POINT
Let’s see what it’s all about.
0 Nul.
(slow) Nul.
Nul.
1 En.
(slow) En.
En.
If the thing you’re counting is in neutral gender we say:
Et.
(slow) Et.
Et.
2 To.
(slow) To.
To.
3 Tre.
(slow) Tre.
Tre.
4 Fire.
(slow) Fi-re.
Fire.
5 Fem.
(slow) Fem.
Fem.
6 Seks.
(slow) Seks.
Seks.
7 Syv.
(slow) Syv.
Syv.
8 Otte.
(slow) O-tte.
Otte.
9 Ni.
(slow) Ni.
Ni.
10 Ti.
(slow) Ti.
Ti.
As you already heard, the word for the number 1 is en if the thing you count is in common gender, and et if the thing you count is neutral gender.
These two short words are literally translated in English as “a” or “an” and they will show the singularity of the thing you want to count.
Let’s start with how to use en with some common words.
En kvinde. (3 sec) “A woman”
En mand. (3 sec) “A man”
En appelsin. ( 3 sec) “ An orange.”
Now let’s look at et with some neutral words
Et æble. (3 sec) “An apple.”
Et hus. (3 sec) “ A house”
Et akvarie. (3 sec) “ An aquarium.”
As you might have noticed, unlike the English “a” and ”an” depend on whether the word you are counting starts with a vowel or not, but the Danish is dependent on gender, either common or neutral.
Next we have the counter for specific things in singular form. In English that would be “the” or “the” depending on the vowel. In Danish this is quite easy - just add the counter en or et to the end of the word. Like this:
Common gender;
Kvinden. (3 sec) “The woman.”
Manden. (3 sec) “The man.”
Appelsinen. (3 sec) “The orange.”
Neutral gender;
Æblet. (3 sec) “The apple.”
Huset. (3 sec) “The house.”
Akvariet. (3 sec) “The aquarium.”
Now let’s look at making plurals in Danish. You simply add er to the end of the words you are counting. This applies to all except for a few irregular nouns.
Let’s look at how our six words sound in their plural form.
“Women”
(3 sec)
Kvinder
“Men”
(3 sec)
Mænd
“Oranges”
(3 sec)
Appelsiner
“Apples”
(3 sec)
Æbler
“Houses”
(3 sec)
Huse
“Aquariums”
(3 sec)
Akvarier
The plural for “man” and “house” are exceptions of the rule that you just need to add e,r -er to the end of the word.
When you are shopping you simply add the right number to get the amount you want, to the plural of the noun.
Now let’s imagine you buy two bottles of wine. You will wish to say.
“Two bottles of wine, please.”
To flasker vin, be’om.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) To fla-sker vin, be’om.
Once more:
To flasker vin, be’om.
To, as you already know, is the number “two.”
Flasker is the plural of flaske and means “bottles.”
(slow) Fla-sker.
Flasker.
Next we have the word vin which means “wine.”
(slow) Vin.
Vin.
Of course we have be’om at the end, and it’s translated as „please”.
The whole request, then, is
To flasker vin, be’om.
・
Now let’s imagine you buy one delicious Danish pastry at a bakery. Danish pastries are called wienerbrød in Denmark. The phrase will sound like this:
Et stykke wienerbrød, tak. The English translation will be:
“A piece of Danish pastry, please.”
Let’s break that down:
(slow) Et sty-kke wien-er-brød, tak.
Once again:
Et stykke wienerbrød, tak.
Et means “one.”
Wienerbrød as was mentioned before means “Danish pastry.”
(slow) Wienerbrød.
Wienerbrød.
At the end there is tak which means “thanks” but is translated as “please”.
All together, it’s
Et stykke wienerbrød, tak.

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