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Kr\u00f8lle-r-ne p\u00e5 hale-r-ne p\u00e5 gris-e-ne\u2026<\/strong> (The curls on the tails on the pig[let]s\u2026) Endings are an essential part of the Danish language. (Illustrative photo by Gerhard G.<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a>; no copyright.)<\/p><\/div>One of the funny things about Danish is that you can\u2019t avoid adding endings to words. Well, of course English learners also sometimes get confused \u2013 how do you add a plural -s to box<\/em>? But generally, as long as you know how to add an -s1<\/a><\/sup>and a few other common endings, such as -ing, -ed and -ly<\/span> to words, you don\u2019t have to worry about endings in English. Danish is more complex, mainly because \u2013 and I\u2019m sure you learnt this early \u2013 the<\/em> is an ending! Yeah, Danes don\u2019t go to \u201dthe party (fest<\/strong>)\u201d, but rather to \u201dparty-the\u201d <\/em>(fest-en<\/strong>).<\/p>\n The main challenge is knowing which word takes which ending.<\/p>\n \u2022 Plurals<\/a> of many Danish nouns (by, tr\u00e6, kvinde, system <\/strong>\u2013 city, tree, woman, system) are made with -er<\/strong>, while many other nouns (hund, kat, ost, hus <\/strong>\u2013 dog, cat, cheese, house) take the ending -e<\/strong>, or, in the case of just a few words (\u00e5r, sv\u00e6rd <\/strong>\u2013 year[s], sword[s]), no ending. (And yes, the plurals of some words imported into Danish from other languages2<\/a><\/sup>predominantly English, but you\u2019ve also got Spanish plurals such as tapas<\/em> sneaking into Danish! \ud83d\ude42<\/span> even end in -s<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n \u2022 Singular the<\/em> varies according to the noun\u2019s gender<\/a> \u2013 you have to know whether the word you\u2019re about to use has the common (the <\/em>= -en<\/strong>) or neuter (-et<\/strong>) gender.<\/p>\n Once you know a noun\u2019s endings (-er\/-e\/-\/-s<\/strong>; -en<\/strong> or -et<\/strong>), you simply add one:<\/p>\n tr\u00e6<\/strong>–er, hund<\/strong>–e, ost<\/strong>–en, hus<\/strong>–et.<\/strong> But what if a word already ends in -e<\/strong> \u2013 do you really write kvinde<\/em><\/strong>–er<\/strong><\/em>? \ud83d\ude42 Naturally, you just remove the -e<\/strong>, then add the ending \u2013 kvinder<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Easy, right?<\/p>\n The plural the<\/em> is -ne<\/strong>3<\/a><\/sup>Could also be analysed as -e(r)ne<\/strong>, but I find the -ne<\/strong> breakdown easier.<\/span> \u2013 you simply attach it to the regular plural:<\/p>\n kvinder<\/strong>–ne, huse<\/strong>–ne, byer<\/strong>–ne <\/strong>(the women, the houses, the cities)<\/p>\n If the preceding word ends in a consonant, you insert an extra -e-<\/strong>4<\/a><\/sup>Originally this was done for pronunciation\u2019s sake; nowadays Danish pronunciation is so blurred that it\u2019s mostly a spelling convention! \ud83d\ude00 There\u2019s hardly any difference between \u00e5rene<\/strong> or \u00e5r\u2019ne<\/strong>, for instance.<\/span>:<\/p>\n m\u00e6nd<\/strong>–e<\/strong>–ne, \u00e5r<\/strong>–e<\/strong>–ne<\/strong>, drinks<\/strong>–e<\/strong>–ne <\/strong>(the men, the years, the drinks)<\/p>\n NB1! Some words already end in -er <\/strong>in the singular. Very often, these nouns denote persons \u2013 such as bager<\/strong> (baker) or svensker<\/strong> (Swede). Even though they do have -e<\/strong> plurals (bager<\/strong>–e, svensker<\/strong>–e<\/strong>), the -ne<\/strong> is added to their basic form: bager<\/strong>–ne, svensker<\/strong>–ne<\/strong>.<\/p>\n NB2! A few short words end in -p<\/strong>, -t<\/strong> or -k<\/strong>. This letter is always doubled<\/a> before endings:<\/p>\n top > toppen <\/strong>(the top), flot karakter > flotte karakterer <\/strong>(nice grades), tak<\/strong> > jeg takker jer<\/strong> (I thank you!)<\/p>\n One of the funny things about Danish is that you can\u2019t avoid adding endings to words. Well, of course English learners also sometimes get confused \u2013 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\u2019t have to worry about…<\/p>\n