{"id":1861,"date":"2019-12-30T11:09:26","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T11:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=1861"},"modified":"2019-12-30T11:09:26","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T11:09:26","slug":"all-has-been-perfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2019\/12\/30\/all-has-been-perfect\/","title":{"rendered":"All has been perfect"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hvem har \u00e5bnet kassen?<\/strong> (Free image from Pixabay; no copyright.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Har du f\u00e5et nogle fine julegaver? <\/strong>(Have you got some nice Xmas presents?) With the festive days fresh in mind, the time has come<\/em> to look at the perfect tense.<\/p>\n

Have you ever thought about the perfect tense? It\u2019s used to talk about a span of time that includes both the present moment and the past. (That\u2019s why I didn\u2019t ask: Did <\/em>you ever think about\u2026) Notice the difference between \u201dIt has been raining all day\u201d and \u201dYesterday it was raining\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Danish, the perfect tense is called either perfektum<\/strong> or f\u00f8rnutid<\/strong> (meaning \u201dbefore-now-tense\u201d). Most of the time you make it using the verb \u201dto have\u201d \u2013 as in English \u2013 followed by the perfect participle (the third one in the row \u201dsee \u2013 saw \u2013 seen\u201d).<\/p>\n

Vi har fundet n\u00f8glerne.<\/strong> (We\u2019ve found the keys.)<\/p>\n

Hvem har spist risengr\u00f8den? <\/strong>(Who has eaten the Christmas rice porridge?)<\/p>\n

De har ventet i flere timer.<\/strong> (They have been waiting for several hours.)<\/p>\n

Hun har kastet bolden over muren.<\/strong> (She\u2019s thrown the ball across the wall.)<\/p>\n

Han har boet p\u00e5 F\u00e6r\u00f8erne. <\/strong>(He\u2019s been living on the Faroe Islands.)<\/p>\n

I har v\u00e6ret til stor hj\u00e6lp!<\/strong> (You\u2019ve been of great assistance\/really helpful!)<\/p>\n

As you can see, the perfect participle ends in -et<\/strong> (and a few times just in -t<\/strong>, as in spist<\/strong>, eaten<\/em>). This mirrors the English ending -ed<\/em> (as in I have push-ed<\/em> \u2013 neat, huh?)<\/p>\n

Asking a question in the perfect tense is very straightforward in Danish, as is adding the word \u201dnot\u201d (ikke<\/strong>) to negate a phrase.<\/p>\n

Har du set en lille, gul hund?<\/strong> (Have you seen a small, yellow dog?)<\/p>\n

Vi har ikke v\u00e6ret p\u00e5 ferie i \u00e5r. <\/strong>(We haven\u2019t been on holiday this year.)<\/p>\n

Har I ikke set hende? <\/strong>(Have you not seen her? = Haven\u2019t you [plural] seen her?)<\/p>\n

WAIT, there is more to it. \ud83d\ude42 For a handful of Danish verbs, the perfect tense is made using \u201dto be\u201d (at v\u00e6re<\/strong>) rather than \u201dto have\u201d (at have<\/strong>). This is a bit unusual for an English speaker, but is quite common in for example German. Rule of thumb: Use er <\/strong>(am\/is\/are) with verbs that denote<\/p>\n