Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Exchanging money in Denmark is quite convenient. You can exchange money at airports, special money exchange kiosks and banks, or withdraw money from an ATM. Rates applied when withdrawing money from an ATM depend on your bank’s exchange rate. As a general rule, try to find one of the countless exchange offices. They are easy to find because Danes use the English term “exchange”. The colors that are used for the exchange offices are yellow, black and red, so it is almost impossible not to notice them.
GRAMMAR POINT
First, let's review some previous phrases and patterns we've already covered.
In Danish, “Is there an ATM near here?” is
Er der en pengeautomat i nærheden? Pay attention to the intonation. You want to make it sound like a question not like a statement.
(slow) Er der en pengeautomat i nærheden?
Er der en pengeautomat i nærheden?
Now, to ask for a bank. We can just replace the word for “ATM” with the word for “bank” and the phrase works just fine. “Is there a bank near here?” is
Er der en bank i nærheden?
(slow) Er der en bank i nærheden?
Er der en bank i nærheden?
It is simple - as you may have noticed, we just replaced pengeautomat with bank.
Let’s ask for an exchange office now. It is very similar. You just need to insert the expression - vekselkontor.
(slow) Vekselkontor.
Vekselkontor.
Let’s ask the question.
Er der et vekselkontor i nærheden?
(slow) Er der et vekselkontor i nærheden?
Er der et vekselkontor i nærheden?
For times when there is neither a bank nor an ATM, you can ask, "Where can I exchange currency?"
In Danish, this is Hvor kan jeg veksle penge?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Hvor kan jeg veksle penge?
Once again:
Hvor kan jeg veksle penge?
The first word, hvor, means “where.”
(slow) Hvor.
Hvor.
Then we have kan jeg, an expression that is translated as “can I”
(slow) Kan jeg.
Kan jeg.
Veksle is the most important word here, and it means “exchange”
(slow) Veksle.
Veksle.
And at the end we have penge, the word for “money”.
(slow) Penge.
Penge.
Altogether, we have
Hvor kan jeg veksle penge?
In English this means “Where can I exchange money?”
When you exchange money in Denmark, usually you will be asked Hvor meget? This is a very short question that means “How much?” Use the numbers we learned in our previous lessons to say how much money you want to exchange.
Let’s hear the question one more time.
(slow) Hvor meget?
Hvor meget?
Hvor is translated in this question as “how”, but remember this can also mean “where”. Together with meget, which means “much”, they create the expression “How much?”
(slow) Hvor meget.
Hvor meget.
In case you need smaller units, you can go to any shop, supermarket, exchange office, or gas station and ask Kan du veksle den her seddel? In English “Can you break this banknote?”
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Kan du veksle den her seddel?
Once more:
Kan du veksle den her seddel?
The first words kan du is translated as “can you”.
(slow) Kan du.
Kan du.
Then we have veksle, which in our question means “change” or “break”.
(slow) Veksle.
Veksle.
Next we have den her which means “this”.
(slow) Den her.
Den her.
After that we have seddel which means “banknote”.
(slow) Seddel.
Seddel.
Here’s the question again:
Kan du veksle den her seddel?
The literal translation is “Can you change this banknote?” Ask this when you have a big bill that you want to break.

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