Danish phrasebook
旅遊會話手冊
Danish (dansk) is a North Germanic language spoken in Denmark, some areas of Greenland and the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein (Southern Schleswig). While regional dialects can diverge from each other substantially, Standard Danish (rigsdansk) is widely spoken and understood by speakers. Danish is closely related to Norwegian and Swedish, and most speakers of one of the three languages can understand the others to a certain extent. In writing, the differences between the Danish and Norwegian Bokmål are not much bigger than the difference between British and American English, though it will often be harder to understand each other in speech. The Scanian dialect of southern Sweden is especially similar to Danish. Danish is also related to Faroese and Icelandic, but has diverged significantly and is not mutually intelligible with them, though many cognates will still be recognisable, particularly in written form.
Pronunciation guide
Alphabet A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V (W) X Y Z Æ Ø Å a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v (w) x y z æ ø å Acute accent may be used in some words (eg fór), for ease of reading, but it's always optional. C, Q, W, X and Z are only used in loanwords. V and W are treated the same, and W is sometimes left out of the alphabet.
Vowels a as in cat e as in sin, but also as æ and murder i as in see, only shorter o as in no, but also as å u as in soon, but also as å y as in few, but also as ø æ as in egg, only shorter ø as mayor, but also as in bird å as in old, but also caught; sometimes written aa
Consonants b as in bed, and wick between vowels and at the end of words c as k, but sing before e or i d as in dead, the after vowels, silent after l, n or r and before t or s f as in ferry g as in gone, but like y as in yet after a vowel h as in hope, hv = v, hj = j j as in yes k as in kick, and go between vowels and at the end of a syllable l as in lake m as in many n as in near p as in parry, bit between vowels and at the end of a syllable qu like English r is a rolling sound at the back of the throat, silent after vowels and before consonants s as in smell t as in trout and dog between vowels, at the end of a syllable and at the end of a word v as in viking, and hoot at the end of words
Grammar
All Danish nouns are divided into two genders: common and neuter. The "common" gender resulted from the merging of the masculine and feminine genders of Old Norse into a single gender. Genders are assigned somewhat arbitrarily, so the only way to get them right is to memorize the gender with the noun. Common nouns take on the indefinite article en (e.g en hund is "a dog") while neuter nouns take on the indefinite article et (e.g. et hus is "a house"). Unlike in English but like in other North Germanic languages, the definite article is appended to the back of the noun as a suffix, so "the dog" is hunden and "the house" is huset. When referring to objects, common nouns take on the third person pronoun den, while neuter nouns take on the third person pronoun det. Danish still retains separate gendered third person pronouns for people based on their natural gender: han for male persons and hun for female persons. Unlike in Swedish, there is no widely-accepted gender neutral third person pronoun.
Phrase list
Basics Hello. Hallo (halo). - not commonly used. Hello. (informal) Hej (High). How are you? Hvordan går det? (Vor-dan gore d) Fine, thank you. Godt/Fint, tak (Got,Feent tag). That's enough Det er nok (deh air knock) What is your name? Hvad hedder du? (Vadh header doo) My name is ______ . Jeg hedder ______ (Yay...) What did you say? „Hvad siger du?“ (‘‘Vadh see-r do‘‘) Nice to meet you. Det var rart at møde dig (D' vahr rarht add murdhe dah-ee). Correct but normally people say: "Det var hyggeligt at møde dig". Please. Vær så venlig (Ver saw venlee). - not commonly used. Thank you. Tak (Tahg). You're welcome. Selv tak (seloo tahg). Yes. Ja (Ya). No. Nej (Nye). Excuse me. (getting attention) Undskyld mig (On'skil ma'ee). Excuse me. (begging pardon) Undskyld (On'skil). I'm sorry. Det må du undskylde (Dee m'o doo on'skil'eh). Goodbye Farvel (favel). Goodbye (informal) Hej hej (High High). I can't speak Danish [well]. Jeg taler ikke [godt] dansk (Ya'ee tailor 'eek'eh got dahnsk). Do you speak English? Taler du engelsk? (Tailor doo eng'glsk) Is there someone here who speaks English? Er der nogen her, der taler engelsk? (Air dah no'en heer, dah tailor eng'elsk) Help! Hjælp! (Yelp) Look out! Pas på! (Pass poh) Good morning (before roughly 10am) Godmorgen (good' morgen) Good morning (after 10am, but before noon) Godformiddag (good'formidhae) Good evening Godaften (good'hafden) Good night Godnat (good'hnad) Good night (sleep well) Sov godt (saw'oo got). I don't understand. jeg forstår ikke (Yaye for-store 'ee'eh). Where is the toilet? Hvor er toilettet? (War ayer toiledet)
Problems Leave me alone. Lad mig være i fred (Ladh ma'ee ware i fredh). Don't touch me! Rør mig ikke! (Rawr ma'ee 'eek'e) I'll call the police. Jeg ringer efter politiet (Ya'ee rang'ehr ef-tuh po'lee'teet). Police! Politi (Po'lee'tee)! Stop! Thief! Stop tyven (Stop tee'ven)! I need your(sg)/your(pl) help. Jeg har brug for din/jeres hjælp (Ya'ee har bro' for deen/Y'ayers yelp). It's an emergency. Det er et nødstilfælde (Day air ed need'steel'fell'eh). I'm lost. Jeg er faret vild (Ya'ee air far'red veel.). I lost my bag. Jeg har mistet min taske (Ya'ee har mis'ted mean task'eh). I lost my wallet. Jeg
本指南改寫自 Wikivoyage （CC BY-SA）