Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
This lesson will teach you how to refuse in Danish. There are many situations in our daily lives when we want to refuse, especially when we do not like or want something. Danes consider straightforwardness as a form of being polite, meaning refusing politely is not frowned upon.
GRAMMAR POINT
In Danish, “No thank you ” is:
Nej tak.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Nej tak.
Once more:
Nej tak.
The first word Nej means “no”, and after that comes tak which means “thanks”.
(slow) Tak.
Tak.
Let’s hear the expression again:
Nej tak.
(slow) Nej tak.
This expression is the equivalent of “No, thank you!” A more polite form of this is Tak, men nej tak! This literally means “Thanks, but no thanks.” in English.
Let’s hear that one more time
Tak, men nej tak!
(slow) Tak, men nej tak.
Tak men nej tak.
The new word here is men, which means “but”.
・
When you feel that you are offered something that is too much, you say Tak, men det er alt for meget.
Let’s hear that again:
(slow) Tak, men det er alt for me-get.
Tak, men det er alt for meget.
In this sentence, we replaced the nej tak with det er alt for meget. Translated to English, it becomes “this is way too much”. Er is a form of “to be” and together with det er it becomes “this is”.
(slow) det er
det er.
Next we have alt for meget, which is translated as “way too much”.
(slow) Alt for me-get.
Alt for meget.
Let’s hear the phrase one more time.
(slow) Tak, men det er alt for me-get.
Tak, men det er alt for meget.
The translation is “Thanks, but it is way too much.”
・
If you leave out men “but”, it becomes a very humble and polite way of accepting a big gift. Tak, det er alt for meget.
・
During your stay in Denmark, especially if you are there during Easter or Christmas, you may be invited to a Danish cold table lunch. This is basically a buffet, and your hosts will not hesitate to offer you more food. You may feel like saying: “Thank you, but I can’t eat anymore”.
Tak, men jeg kan ikke spise mere.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Tak, men jeg kan ikke spi-se me-re.
Once more:
Tak, men jeg kan ikke spise mere.
In this sentence you again have tak, men which is “thanks, but”.
Jeg kan ikke means “I can not”.
(slow) Jeg kan ikke.
Jeg kan ikke.
Spise is a form of the verb that means “to eat”.
(slow) Spi-se.
Spise.
And mere is “more”
(slow) Me-re.
Me-re.
(slow)Tak, men jeg kan ikke spi-se me-re.
Tak, men jeg kan ikke spise mere.
“Thank you but I can not eat anymore.”

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