Danish houses are commonly made of bricks. (Free image from Pixabay; no copyright.)

Ding dang! Døren går op. (The door opens.) Velkommen til et meget gennemsnitligt dansk hus! (Welcome to a very average Danish house!) Because of klimaet (the climate), a lot of family & social life in Denmark happens indoors. Let’s go for a walk in the different værelser (rooms).

Entréen (the hallway) is where you – let’s listen to the word – enter… There are often a knagerække (coat rack) where you can hænge dit tøj (hang your clothes). It’s customary to take off your sko (shoes) before proceeding…

Gangen (the corridor) links the various rum (another word for rooms). Some houses have flere etager (more than one floor), and may have a trappe (staircase) leading down to a kælder (cellar, basement) or up to a loft (loft).

Stuen (the living room) is were you’ll probably spend most of your time as a gæst (guest). There’s a gulvtæppe (”floor carpet”) and various møbler (pieces of furniture) – a sofa, a couple of lænestole (armchairs), a bord [bor] (table), a bogreol (bookcase), a fjernsyn (tv). The room is full of pynt (decorations) such as planter (plants) and billeder (images). Danish stuer are typically very bright with hvide vægge (white walls), design lamper (lamps) hanging down from loftet (the ceiling), and often a pejs (fireplace) as well.

Køkkenet (the kitchen)… Well, there’s so much going on in a kitchen, that I’ll save it for a follow-up post! 🙂

Soveværelset (the sleeping room) is where you go to – you guessed it – sove (sleep). (As a guest, you’ll maybe be lodged in a gæsteværelse – guest room.) There’s a seng (bed) and maybe some skab/e (cupboard/s) such as a garderobe (wardrobe). In sengen (the bed) you sleep on a lagen (sheet) and a pude (pillow) beneath a dyne (duvet).

Badeværelset (the bathroom) is the place to take a brusebad (shower) or a karbad (”tub bath”) in a badekar (bathtub). You shower with sæbe (soap) and shampoo. When you’re done, you tørrer yourself with a badehåndklæde (bath towel). Of course, on the wall there’s also a spejl (mirror) for you.

Lots of homes even have a have (garden), a garage for bilen (the car), an altan (balcony) and maybe a barneværelse (nursery, kid’s room). Hvor er wc’et? (Where’s the toilet?) Sorry, how could I forget? In Denmark, as anywhere else in the world, the room you often need most urgently is the wc [veh seh] or toilet.