Danish Language

[Lyndsie]

Yup, those are going into my notes, LOL.

Also, another question. 0:-)

I see that there is a difference between de/De with capitalization..since you posted I meaning you as capitalized, I assume it takes on a different meaning when it's just a lowercase i? What is it?

And are there any other words that are like this, meaning dependent on whether they are capital or lowercase?
Thanks. (:

[PlainChaos]

As I wrote in post #8: De is the polite form, you say De when you want to express politeness,
take a closer look at post #8

Du is you 2nd person singularis
I is you 2nd person pluralis

The only reason why we sometimes write you (pl.) capitalized like this I is to distinguish it from the preposition word i which means in and which is usually always lowercase.

Try look at this example:
Bor I i huset derover?
Do you live in that house over there?

I bet you see the problem now

[Lyndsie]

Okay, I've read every post carefully now, and I must say I'm still a bit confused with et/en and det/den. :P
I know, I know, you said there really isn't a way to tell when to use which other than one for "higher beings" etc...
So my question is thus:
Is it "wrong" to say, for example, an apple as en aeble when it's meant to be et aeble? Everyone will still know I mean an apple, yes?
Same with det/den, if I use the wrong one, the meaning still goes through, correct? And if people will know what I am talking about, is there one I should use when in doubt? (ie is et more common or en? Same with det/den.)

I know this post is a bit of a jumble, sorry, let me try to lay it out better.
If I wanted to say:
An apple is red.
Correctly it would be: Et aeble er red.
Would I be understood if I said: En aeble er red.
It is red.
Correctly: Det er red
Understood if I said: Den er red.

Just wondering because I could see how this would cause a problem for "the apple" being aeblet and saying aeblen would cause confusion. :|


Then, a few basic questions about verbs:
It seems that the conjugated form is for every subject? Just confirming this.
Like vaere in present becomes er...in English I am, he is, but in Danish, everyone "er", yes?

Do all infinitives end in "e"?

For regular verbs, how do I make them future tense? (see edit below)

Thanks, I know this post is long and probably very confusing, I have trouble wording my questions, hehe.


EDIT:
Just realise, for "future" tense, I just use one of the modal verbs you posted, correct? I am too in the mindset of Spanish, lol, it's the only other language I've started to learn, and they have verb conjugations for future.

So, to say I promise I'll learn Danish, I would just put "vil" in front of "laere" yes?
So: Jeg lover [jeg?] vil laere Danske.
Is that correct?

[Lyndsie]

Okay, another question, sorry, about nouns this time.
I see when pluralising, some nouns add "erne" to the end, while some add "ene". Why is this and how do I know which ending to add?

Also, verbs again. :P
"To like", when I send it through the translator, tells me it is "at gerne", so I like apples would be Jeg gerner aebler, right?
But if I want to say I like him, it tells me I should say Jeg kan godt lide ham. Why is it different?

[Sisii]

About the verbs
i like apples - jeg kan godt lide æbler.
i like him - jeg kan godt lide ham
you use 'gerne' when' you want something, ex. i would like an apple - jeg vil gerne have et æble
so i think the translater got it wrong

[Sisii]

about the nouns i think the only reason that the ending are 'erne' is beacause that the verb is ending R when we are talking about more of them
ex.
(apples)æbler - æblerne
computere - computerne
(telephones) telefoner - telefonerne
(houses) huse - husene
(nails)negle - neglene

[Sisii]

It is wrong to say en æble or den æble, but We will perfectly understand you when you say EN ÆBLE , but it just sounds a little crazy for us .
and about 'den er red' it would be understand but still sounds a little crazy to us and by the way theres is also a grammar for colors
when you want to say an apple is red is not only ' et æble er rød' but
et æble er rødt , you put a T on the end, you do that with all colors when you explaining about smt . like - The house is yellow - Huset er gulT

and yes Jeg lover jeg vil lære dansk is correct

[Lyndsie]

Nouns:
Okay, yes, that makes much sense, I didn't notice that the ones with "r" ended in a vowel, thus needing an "r" to make it plural. I understand now. ^_^

Verb "to like":
Okay, so if I like something, I use "kan godt lide" but if I want something, I use "gerne". Is that only for being polite, like "I would like..." or could I also use it for "want", like "I want apples now"--"Jeg gerner aebler nu"?
edit: For kan godt lide if I wanted to say something like, I liked him, but now I like... it would be Jeg kunne godt lide ham, med nu jeg kan godt lide... yes? Because the past tense for "kan" is "kunne"?

Colours:
Thank you, I didn't know that! Is that only for describing things (The apple is red/Et aeble er roedt) or also say "Red is my favourite colour/Roedt er min "favourite colour".

Commands:
New question, haha. If I wanted to command someone to "be good" would I say "Er godt" like the verb conjugated, or would I use the stem of the verb (minus "at"), "Vaer godt". I have noticed this in song titles (Laer Mig At Elske Dig for example).
Maybe "to be" isn't such a good example since it's irregular...
Promise me.
Would be "Lover mig" or "Lov mig"?

[PlainChaos]

Okay, so if I like something, I use "kan godt lide"

Yes.

but if I want something, I use "gerne". Is that only for being polite, like "I would like..."

Yes to be polite you add gerne. When you want something you'd say vil have, but that'd sound a bit too rude, so in general we normally use the phrase vil gerne have.

or could I also use it for "want", like "I want apples now"--"Jeg gerner aebler nu"?

No, you can't use it that way!

I liked him, but now I like... it would be Jeg kunne godt lide ham, men nu jeg kan godt lide... yes? Because the past tense for "kan" is "kunne"?

Exactly!

Is that only for describing things (The apple is red/Et aeble er roedt) or also say "Red is my favourite colour/Roedt er min "favourite colour".

Yes, it applies to all adjectives, but notice that it depends on whether the noun is regular or irregular (hence fælleskøn/common gender: en and intetkøn/neutrum: et), e.g. you'd say min kjole er rød (my dress is red) and not rødt, because en kjole is fælleskøn, but when the noun the adjective (color in this case) is refering to is neutrum you'd have to add a t (et æble is neutrum). And when you want to say your favorite color is red, you'd say rød er min yndlingsfarve, because here rød acts like a noun, and not an adjective.

If I wanted to command someone to "be good" would I say "Er godt" like the verb conjugated, or would I use the stem of the verb (minus "at"), "Vaer godt".

You'd do like in English and say vær god. To say er god in Danish would be the sam as saying is good in English, do you see what I mean? And again, there's no noun, thus god doesn't have a t.

Promise me.
Would be "Lover mig" or "Lov mig"?

Lov is the imperative mood of (at) love (to promise), keep in mind that this mood always expresses direct commands or requests, so in this example the correct answer would of course be lov mig (the other one is present tense and would be the same as saying promises me in English, and that's not what we wanted to say, was it? )

Hope that helped

[Lyndsie]

Very very helpful! I don't want to want things and be rude about it!
I finally got a dansk-engelsk dictionary today also, so I can learn some words, haha.

I was writing some practice sentences though, and I have a question:
I loved cats, until I was scratched.
I put down Jeg elskede katter indtil jeg var ridset.
But then I was thinking...should var be blev instead? Because technically I have "become" scratched...in English it would be correct to say both but more natural to say "was" instead of "became". Is one more correct than the other? (var/blev?)

[Sisii]

thats a good idea, if you can, then see some danish movies, or listen to some danish music, some songs are translated in this forum too.
the correct its Jeg elskede katte indtil jeg BLEV ridset , in this meaning you cant say 'var ridset .

[Lyndsie]

Okay, I figured it would be something like that.

I have all of Nik & Jay's albums, lol, I really really really enjoy their music. xD And I listen to it nearly 24/7.

Another question (I have sooo many, sorry!): How do I say that I am/was doing something?
ex:
I am talking.
Jeg er taler?

[PlainChaos]

We don't have that mood in Danish, "I am/was doing". Your example would go like this: Jeg taler.

[Lyndsie]

Originally Posted by PlainChaos

We don't have that mood in Danish, "I am/was doing". Your example would go like this: Jeg taler.

Okay, thanks.
I think that's all my questions for now...I'm just going to go practice practice practice. :P

[PlainChaos]

Hehe enjoy, or as we say in Danish, god fornøjelse!

[Lyndsie]

Another question or two, haha. (You just can't get rid of me. :P)

Firstly; adjectives and t's. Does a t only get added to the end of the adj. if it ends in a d? Or how exactly does that work?

Secondly; when do I use favorit and when do I use yndlings?

[PlainChaos]

Haha you can ask so many questions you want, in the end that's how we learn, right, by asking questions We're more than pleased to help you

I actually already did answer your first question in #69.

Yes, it applies to all adjectives, but notice that it depends on whether the noun is regular or irregular (hence fælleskøn/common gender: en and intetkøn/neutrum: et), e.g. you'd say min kjole er rød (my dress is red) and not rødt, because en kjole is fælleskøn, but when the noun the adjective (color in this case) is refering to is neutrum you'd have to add a t (et æble is neutrum). And when you want to say your favorite color is red, you'd say rød er min yndlingsfarve, because here rød acts like a noun, and not an adjective.

If the noun is, say, "irregular" (we call it intetkøn in Danish), like æble (et æble) then the adjective has a t too. Hus (house) is irregular too. Let's take an example:

The house is big.
Huset er stort.

And a "regular" noun would e.g. be pige (girl):
The girl is pretty.
Pigen er smuk.

Because the noun (pigen) is regular, or fælleskøn as we call it, you don't add a t.

Secondly; when do I use favorit and when do I use yndlings?

Well, that's a matter of taste, you can use both in every context, but I'd say yndlings is more commonly used.

[Lyndsie]

Thanks.
And darn, guess that means I'm really going to have to commit the en's and et's to memory. :P

& if yndlings is more common I'll use it.
And the favourited thing goes on the end, yes? Like "favourite food" is "yndlingsmad"? Are there any oddities with this?

[PlainChaos]

Yeah unfortunately it seems like your only option

The favourited thing goes on the end, yes. And no, there are no oddities (thank God) lol.