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DANISH

UNIT 1: Greetings

April 2 is Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday and is observed as International Children’s Book Day.

Andersen was born with dyslexia and, although he learned to read, he could never spell properly, and his handwritten texts were riddled with mistakes. As a result, his writing style remained close to the spoken language and still sounds fresh today. His publishers corrected his errors but left the style untouched.

 

See more interesting facts here

English            

Danish:

Transcription:

 

De (you) is used for:

             - plural "you"; 

             - as a formal version of "you"

Dialogue 1

Danish:    - Hallo!  Mit navn er H.C. Andersen.

                    [hɑloː]  [mid nɑun aɒ]

English:   - Hello!   My name is H.C. Andersen.

 

Please meet  Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, and fairy tales, including "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Little Mermaid", "The Nightingale", "The Snow Queen", "The Ugly Duckling", and many more.

He's greeting you:  

Ok, you have a chance to talk to the great storyteller and ask him

why he made the Little Mermaid commit suicide. 

But first, let's greet him back. 

Choose one of the following variants:

Good morning

Godmorgen

[goðmɒ:ɒn]

Good day

Goddag

[godæ:] 

Good evening

Godaften

[goðɑfdən]

H.C. Andersen:   - Hallo! Mit navn er H.C. Andersen.

You:                     - ............/e.g. Good morning/.

                               Mit navn er ..............!

H.C. Andersen:   - Hvordan har De det? 

You:                     - Eh?..

Now, let's talk to him.

Relax, he died long time ago...

Emmm... Just a sec. I'll check it out... Ok, here:

 

How are you? (informal)

Hvordan har du det? 

[vɒdɛn hɑː du de] 

English            

Danish:

Transcription:

 

How are you? (formal)

Hvordan har De det?

[vɒdɛn hɑː di de]

Du (you) is used for:

             - a single person;

             - younger or as old as yourself

Let's not keep Mr. Andersen waiting. 

Here is how you can answer to his question:

English            

Danish:

Transcription:

 

Good, thanks

Godt, tak 

[gɒd tɑk]

I'm feeling good, thank you

Jeg har det godt, tak

[jɑj hɑ: de gɒd tɑk]

(lit: I have it good, thanks) 

It's going well, thank you

Det går godt, tak

[de gɒ: gɒd tɑk]

(lit: I have it fine, thanks) 

Ready to continue

the conversation? 

Let's do it.

 

Ok, that was rude. Not you. Your response was totally appropriate.

He said he's bored - "jeg keder mig" [jɑj ke:ðɒ mɑj]

and also said "goodbye" - farvel [fɑˈvɛl].

Choose one of the following answers to bring this weird conversation to an and.

Have a good day

Har en god dag

[hɑ: en goð dæ:] 

Goodbye (informal)

Hej hej

[hɑj hɑj] 

See you later

Vi ses

[vi se:s] 

Good night

Godnat

[goðnɛd]

Hello (inform.) 

Hej 

[hɑj] 

The Danish words "godmorgen",

"goddag", "godaften" and "godnat"

can also be written in two words:

 

god morgen, god dag, god aften, god nat

How are you? (neutral)

Hvordan går det?

[vɒdɛn gɒ: de]

Dialogue 2

H.C. Andersen:   - Hvordan har De det? 

You:                     - ....../e.g. I'm feeling good, thank you/

H.C. Andersen:   - Jeg keder mig. Farvel.

You:                     - And again, eh? 

English            

Danish:

Transcription:

 

Good luck

Pøj pøj 

[pɒj pɒj] 

H.C. Andersen:   - Jeg keder mig. Farvel.

You:                     - .............../e.g. Have  a good day/

Dialogue 3

Have you made a choice?

Let's go.

English            

Danish:

Transcription:

 

Hello (formal) 

Hallo 

[halɔ] 

© 2015 created by Anastasia Gubanova 

 

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