Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In the previous lesson, we introduced you to some phrases you can use to expand your vocabulary by writing, when you’re in Denmark, and this is the last lesson of the series dedicated to learning from the people around you. In this lesson, we are going to cover “How do you read this?”
GRAMMAR POINT
In Danish “How do you read this?” is
Hvordan læser man det her?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Hvor-dan læ-ser man det her?
Once more:
Hvordan læser man det her?
The first word, hvordan, means “how.”
(slow) Hvordan.
Hvordan.
Next we have læser which is the present form of the verb “to read”.
(slow) Læser.
Læser.
This is followed by “you”
(slow) Man.
Man.
Then we have the words det her which come together to create the meaning of “this”.
The entire sentence again is:
(slow) Hvordan læser man det her?
Hvordan læser man det her?
If you want to be more specific, simply add what it is you want to read at the end of this sentence. Let’s say you want to know a specific word, it will sound like this:
Hvordan læser man det her ord?
“How do you read this word?”
The thing we asked for here is ord and this means “word”
(slow) Ord.
Ord.
You might also like to ask, “How do you pronounce this?” In Danish, it’s Hvordan udtaler man det her?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Hvordan udtaler man det her?
Once more:
Hvordan udtaler man det her?
The new word in this question is udtaler which is the present form of the verb “to pronounce”.
(slow) Udtaler.
Udtaler.
Let’s break the whole question down:
(slow) Hvordan udtaler man det her?
Once more:
Hvordan udtaler man det her?
In English this would be “How do you pronounce this?”
Again here you can add the thing you are looking to pronounce at the very end. Let’s try it with “sentence”
Hvordan udtaler man den her sætning?
The word sætning means “sentence” and by adding this you have specified what you need. But be aware that “sentence” is a common gender noun, and “this” has to change from det her to den her.
Let’s hear that one more time:
(slow) Hvordan udtaler man den her sætning?
Hvordan udtaler man den her sætning?
When you want to find out the meaning of the word or phrase, ask:
Hvad betyder det?
“What does it mean?”
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Hvad betyder det?
Once again:
Hvad betyder det?
The first word, hvad, means “what”.
(slow) Hvad.
Hvad.
Next we have betyder, a form of the verb “to mean”.
(slow) Betyder.
Betyder.
At the end we have det which means “it”.
Altogether, we have:
Hvad betyder det?
Or, “What does it mean?”

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