{"id":2100,"date":"2022-01-31T23:55:02","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T23:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=2100"},"modified":"2022-02-01T13:32:56","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T13:32:56","slug":"commas-in-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2022\/01\/31\/commas-in-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Commas-in-chief"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Photo courtesy of Michael Hiemstra at Flickr<\/a>, CC<\/a> Licence, no copyright.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Kommaer er underlige.<\/strong> (Commas are strange.) Man skriver dem, men man kan ikke h\u00f8re dem.<\/strong> (You write them, but you can\u2019t hear them.) <\/span>Well, sometimes you do hear them, as little pause\/r<\/strong> (breaks) when people talk. In Denmark, people have been discussing the correct use of commas for ages, and most people are fed up with kommakrigen<\/strong> (the comma war). The current<\/a> rules are, however, not very difficult. Let\u2019s take a look!1<\/a><\/sup>Please note that my use of commas in English might not be ideal. \ud83d\ude09<\/span> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

As in English, you use commas in order to avoid having multiple \u201dands\u201d in lists. Instead of \u201dboller og sm\u00f8r og syltet\u00f8j og kakao og fl\u00f8deskum\u201d <\/strong>(buns and butter and jam and hot chocolate and whipped cream) you replace every og,<\/em><\/strong> except for the last one, with a comma:<\/p>\n

boller, sm\u00f8r, syltet\u00f8j, kakao og fl\u00f8deskum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please note that it\u2019s one separator or the other \u2013 \u201dJylland, Fyn, og Sj\u00e6lland\u201d <\/em><\/strong>is wrong in Danish.2<\/a><\/sup>We don\u2019t have the English \u201dOxford comma\u201d. \ud83d\ude42<\/span> It should be: Jylland, Fyn og Sj\u00e6lland.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A less whispery alternative to brackets, commas are also used to insert extra explanations or comments in phrases:<\/p>\n

Hanne kommer ogs\u00e5. <\/strong>(Hanne will also come.) > Hanne, min nabo, kommer ogs\u00e5.<\/strong> (Hanne, my neighbour, will also come.)<\/p>\n

Familien elsker strandture. <\/strong>(The family loves beach strolls.) > Familien elsker strandture, is\u00e6r om morgenen.<\/strong> (The family loves beach strolls, especially in the morning.)<\/p>\n

You can also use a comma \u2013 combined with a conjunction such as og<\/strong> \u2013 to join two sentences that would otherwise be separated by a full stop:<\/p>\n

Det bl\u00e6ser. Cyklerne v\u00e6lter. <\/strong>(It is windy. The bikes fall over.) > Det bl\u00e6ser, og cyklerne v\u00e6lter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Det er koldt. Vi hygger os. <\/strong>> Det er koldt, men vi hygger os.<\/strong> (It\u2019s cold but we\u2019re having a good time<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Some sentences can\u2019t stand on their own \u2013 they\u2019re dependent on another sentence in order to make sense. If you stay<\/em> is a full sentence (with a subject and a noun), but it calls for the help of another sentence (such as we\u2019ll be very happy<\/em>). Another example of a leds\u00e6tning <\/strong>(subordinate clause): \u2026that it\u2019s bad for your health.<\/em><\/p>\n

Once you get what a leds\u00e6tning<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>is, the comma rules are easy in Danish:<\/p>\n

\u2022 If the leds\u00e6tning<\/strong> comes before the main clause, it\u2019s followed by a comma: N\u00e5r solen skinner, nyder vi vejret. <\/strong>(When the sun is shining, we enjoy the weather.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 If the main clause comes first, YOU CHOOSE: Vi nyder vejret n\u00e5r solen skinner.<\/strong> OR: Vi nyder vejret, n\u00e5r solen skinner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The optional comma in front of leds\u00e6tninger<\/strong> is the most contentious issue in the Danish spelling wars. Skipping this comma may seem a bit progressive:3<\/a><\/sup>This is the tradition of Norwegian, English etc.<\/span> De siger at du gerne m\u00e5 v\u00e6lge den is du \u00f8nsker. <\/strong>(They say you\u2019re allowed to pick the icecream you want.)<\/p>\n

Most newspapers etc. stick to tradition, which says that every optional comma should be written:4<\/a><\/sup>This is the tradition of German, Denmark\u2019s powerful linguistic neighbour to the south.<\/span> De siger, at du gerne m\u00e5 v\u00e6lge den is, du \u00f8nsker.
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