Danish Phrases

Visiting Denmark for business or pleasure? Impress the locals with some top-notch Danish phrases.

br /> Danish is a North Germanic language, on the same branch of the Indo-European family tree as Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian, and Swedish. It has approximately 5,292,000 speakers. Danish is the official language of Denmark. It's also the second official spoken language of the Faroe Islands (with Faroese) and Greenland (with Greenlandic) and is officially recognised in the bordering area of South Schleswig in Germany. It is one of the official languages of the European Union.

Pronunciation

Vowels

A: as in 'father'

E: a short, flat 'e' as in 'met'

E(g): as the 'i' in 'high'

I: a short, flat 'e' as in 'met'; as the 'i' in 'marine'

O: a short 'o' as in 'pot'; as the 'a' in 'walk'; as the 'oo' in 'zoo'

O(r): as in 'or' but with little emphasis on the 'r'

O(v): as the 'ow' in 'vow', but shorter

U: as in 'pull'; as the 'oo in 'zoo'

U(n): as the 'a' in 'walk'

Y: a long, sharp 'u' ? purse your lips and say 'ee'

? as the 'e' in 'bet'; as the 'a' in 'act'

? as the 'er' in 'fern', but shorter

z as the 'a' in 'walk'

Consonants

B: as in 'box'

C: as in 'cell'

Ch: as in 'cheque', but sharper

(o)d: as the 'th' in 'these'

g: before vowels, a hard 'g' as in 'get'

h: as in 'horse'

j: as the 'y' in 'yet'

k: as in 'kit'

ng: as in 'sing'

r: a rolling 'r' abruptly cut short

sj: as the 'sh in 'ship

w: as the 'v' in 'Volkswagen'

 

Greetings

Hello: Goddag/Hej (pol/inf)

Goodbye: Farvel

Yes: Ja

No: Nej

Thank you: Tak

Excuse me: Undskyld

May I/Do you mind?: Ma jeg/Tillader De?

 

Small Talk

What's your name?: Hvad hedder du?

My name is ...: Jeg hedder ...

Where are you from?: Hvorfra kommer du?

I'm from ...: Jeg kommer fra ...

How old are you?: Hvor gammel er du?

 

Signs

Entrance: Indgang

Exit: Udgang

Open: Ten

Closed: Lukket

Information: Information

Police Station: Politistation

Toilets: Toiletter

Men: Herrer

Women: Damer

 

Around Town

I'm looking for ...: Jeg leder efter ...

A bank: en bank

The city centre: centrum

The ... embassy: den ... ambassade

My hotel: mit hotel

The market: markedet

The museum: museet

The police: politiet

The post office: postkontoret

A public toilet: et offentligt toilet

The telephone centre: telefoncentralen

The tourist office: turist-informationen

Cathedral: katedral/domkirke

Church: kirke

Main square: hovedtorv/torvet

Old city: den gamle bydel

Palace: palads

 

Shopping

How much is it?: Hvor meget koster

Bookshop: boghandel

Camera shop: fotohandel

Delicatessen: delikatesse

Laundry: vaskeri

Market: marked

News agency: aviskiosk

Stationers: papirhandel

 

Times & Dates

What time is it?: Hvad er klokken?

It's ? o'clock.: Klokken er ?

Today: i dag

Tomorrow: i morgen

Day after tomorrow: i overmorgen

In the morning: om morgenen

In the afternoon: om eftermiddagen

In the evening: om aftenen

Early: tidlig

 

Monday: mandag

Tuesday: tirsdag

Wednesday: onsdag

Thursday: torsdag

Friday: fredag

Saturday: lordag

Sunday: s?

 

Numbers

Zero: nul

One: en

Two: to

Three: tre

Four: fire

Five: fem

Six: seks

Seven: syv

Eight: otte

Nine: ni

Ten: ti

 

Food & Drink

Breakfast: morgenmad

Lunch: frokost

Dinner: middag

Menu: spisekort

Daily special: dagens ret

Curry: karry

Soup: suppe

Meat: kod

Lamb: lamme

Beef: oksekod

Chicken: hons

Turkey: kalkun

Fish: fisk

Tuna: tunfisk

Salmon: laks

Cucumber: agurk

Mushroom: champignon

Vegetables: grontsager

Carrots: gulerodder

Garlic: hvidlog

Potatoe: kartoffel

Onion: log

Corn: majs

Olive: oliven

Apricot: abrikos

Pineapple: ananas

Orange: appelsin

Banana: banan

Lemon: citron

Fruit: frugt

Cream: flode

Cheese: ost

Butter: smor

 

Non-alcoholic: alkoholfri

Orange juice: appelsinjuice

Lemonade: citronvand

Coffe: kaffe

Tea: te

Water: vand

 

To learn Danish why not consider some Foreign Language Tution?.