Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
If you go to a pharmacy, you will need to explain how you feel in order to let the pharmacist give you the right medicine. In this lesson, we’ll work on explaining symptoms so you can get the proper treatment and any medicine you may need.
Let’s try to make a list of all the possible things you might need.
GRAMMAR POINT
In Danish, “cold medicine” is forkølelsesmedicin.
(slow) Forkølelsesmedicin.
Forkølelsesmedicin.
“I would like some cold medicine, please” in Danish is
Jeg vil gerne be’ om noget forkølelsesmedicin, tak.
Let’s break it down by syllable.
(slow) Jeg vil ger-ne be’ om no-get for-kø-lel-ses-me-di-cin, tak.
Jeg vil gerne be’ om noget forkølelsesmedicin, tak.
The first part of this sentence, jeg vil gerne be’om is a set phrase that translates directly as “I would like to ask for”. After this comes the thing you need or want, and at the end you have “thanks” or tak. You will impress your Danish friends with this sentence.
Let’s take a closer look at the words:
Jeg is “I” followed by vil which is the verb “will” but translates in this phrase as “would”, therefore becoming “I would”
(slow) Jeg vil.
Jeg vil.
Then we have gerne or in English “like”
(slow) Gerne.
Gerne.
This is followed by a verb, in this case we applied the conjugation “to ask for”. Be’ om derives from the verb “to ask”, bede, and the adverb om which translates to “for”.
(slow) Be’ om.
Be’ om.
Noget shows the amount we are asking for - in this case “some”
(slow) Noget.
Noget
Followed by “cold medicine”
(slow) Forkølelsesmedicin.
Forkølelsesmedicin.
And in the end we have tak.
All together, that is:
(slow) Jeg vil gerne be’ om noget forkølelsesmedicin, tak.
Jeg vil gerne be’ om noget forkølelsesmedicin, tak.
Literally, this means “I will like to ask for some cold medicine, thanks.”
Let’s see how to explain your symptoms.
In Danish, “I have a headache” is
Jeg har hovedpine.
Let's break it down.
(slow) Jeg har hovedpine.
Now let's hear it once more.
Jeg har hovedpine.
The first word jeg, is “I”.
(slow) Jeg.
Jeg.
Next we have har which is the present form of the verb “to have”.
(slow) Har.
Har.
After this we have hovedpine, which means “headache”.
(slow) Hovedpine.
Hovedpine.
Altogether, we have jeg har hovedpine, which means “I have a headache”.
(slow) Jeg har hovedpine.
Jeg har hovedpine.
If it’s your stomach that’s hurting, you can say
Jeg har mavepine.
Let’s break it down by syllable and hear it one more time.
(slow) Jeg har mavepine.
We just replaced hovedpine in the previous sentence with mavepine, the word for “stomach ache”.
(slow) Mavepine.
Mavepine.
Let’s hear the entire sentence again.
Jeg har mavepine.
This sentence is easy to use for other aches too, just replace the word mavepine with other aches.
Another sentence you can use is Jeg har ondt i (something). Which in English means “I have a pain in my (something).” Let’s try this with “head” and “stomach”.
Jeg har ondt i hovedet.
(slow) Jeg har ondt i hovedet.
“I have a pain in my head.”
Once more in Danish: Jeg har ondt i hovedet!
Jeg har ondt i maven.
(slow) Jeg har ondt i maven.
“I have a pain in my stomach.”
Let’s break down the sentence:
Jeg har is as you might recall “I have”
(slow) Jeg har.
Jeg har.
The new word here is ondt which means “pain” or “hurts”.
(slow) Ondt.
Ondt.
Together with i, this indicates where and is translated as “in”.
(slow) I.
I.
Maven or “the stomach” in English is where we have the pain and is the interchangeable word in this phrase. Just add in the place on your body that hurts.

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