Danish on the go Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Mar 31, 2022
Hej! Hvordan har du det? Jeg håber du har det godt… (Hi, how are you doing? I hope you’re doing fine…) Learning any language takes a lot of time and work. Sometimes it gets a little too technical with all the details you need to remember: Grammar, udtale (pronunciation) and what not. Below is a…
Joys of Danish Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Feb 28, 2022
Since you read this blog last month, a horrible krig [kreey] (war) has broken out in the midst of Europa. Let’s all hope and wish it will end as soon and as peacefully as humanly possible. Verden har brug for fred. (The world needs peace.) And we need to be able to communicate respectfully and…
Commas-in-chief Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Jan 31, 2022
Kommaer er underlige. (Commas are strange.) Man skriver dem, men man kan ikke høre dem. (You write them, but you can’t hear them.) Well, sometimes you do hear them, as little pause/r (breaks) when people talk. In Denmark, people have been discussing the correct use of commas for ages, and most people are fed up…
Christmas in Denmark Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Dec 24, 2021
Hurra, så er det jul! (Hooray, then it’s Christmas!) For billions of people, that means glæde (joy) and spending time with familien (the family). But what is special about the højtid (feast, literally ’high time’) in Denmark? Jul [yool] is a very old tradition in Danmark – in fact, even the Vikings had a party…
Danes and Cold Water Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Nov 30, 2021
Danes just can’t stay away from vandet (the water) – even with temperatures approaching frysepunktet (the freezing point), they jump into havet (the sea)… Vil du med ud at vinterbade? (Wanna go ”winter-bathing”?) The last few years, the Danes’ interest in vinterbadning (winter bathing) has just exploded. For example, there were 25.000 organised vinterbadere (winter…
Adding Endings Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Oct 19, 2021
One of the funny things about Danish is that you can’t avoid adding endings to words. Well, of course English learners also sometimes get confused – how do you add a plural -s to box? But generally, as long as you know how to add an -s to words, you don’t have to worry about…
Queen of Scandinavia Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on Sep 30, 2021
Did you know Danmark, Norge (Norway) and even Sverige (Sweden) were once united – and ruled by a kvinde (woman)? This month, Margrete den Første (Margrete the First), a film starring the Danish ”movie queen” Trine Dyrholm, is making its rounds in danske biografer (Danish cinemas). Let’s take a look at this important historisk skikkelse…