{"id":234,"date":"2011-11-24T12:46:35","date_gmt":"2011-11-24T12:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=234"},"modified":"2011-11-24T12:46:35","modified_gmt":"2011-11-24T12:46:35","slug":"articles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2011\/11\/24\/articles\/","title":{"rendered":"Articles"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

En sol \u2013 solen. A sun \u2013 the sun. Articles are easy in Danish.<\/p><\/div>\n

You already know how to make plurals<\/a> of Danish nouns. Now the time has come to say hello to the Danish articles, they\u2019re already tripping outside in the raw November weather, anxious to be let in\u2026 What\u2019s an article?<\/span> Besides the stuff journalists write, it\u2019s a way for some languages to mark whether a noun is already known to the audience or not. The first time you hear about something (in the singular) in English, it will typically be introduced by the\u00a0indefinite article<\/em> \u2019a(n)\u2019: A<\/span> man appeared in the corridor.<\/em> Okay, now we know the guy, so the definite article \u2019the\u2019 takes over: The<\/span> man was wearing my hat!<\/em><\/p>\n

The Danish way of using articles is pretty much the same as the English one. In fact, whenever a Danish noun comes with an adjective (red, pretty, dangerous) the articles work exactly like in English: en r\u00f8d hat<\/strong> \u2019a red hat\u2019 \u2013\u00a0den r\u00f8de hat<\/strong> \u2019the red hat\u2019 \u2013 de r\u00f8de hatte<\/strong> \u2019the red hats\u2019. (Don\u2019t let the e<\/em> of r\u00f8de<\/strong> confuse you, we\u2019ll get back to that later.)<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at nouns that come without any adjectives:<\/span><\/p>\n

en mand<\/strong> \u2019a man\u2019
\nen kvinde<\/strong> \u2019a woman\u2019
\net barn<\/strong> \u2019a child\u2019<\/p>\n

manden<\/strong> \u2019the man\u2019
\nkvinden<\/strong> \u2019the woman\u2019
\nbarnet<\/strong> \u2019the child\u2019<\/p>\n

m\u00e6nd<\/strong> \u2019men\u2019
\nkvinder<\/strong> \u2019women\u2019
\nb\u00f8rn<\/strong> \u2019children\u2019<\/p>\n

m\u00e6ndene<\/strong> \u2019the men\u2019
\nkvinderne<\/strong> \u2019the women\u2019
\nb\u00f8rnene<\/strong> \u2019the children\u2019<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll probably have noticed two things:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 In Danish, the definite article is attached<\/em><\/span> to the (adjective-less) noun rather than being an independent word like English \u2019the\u2019!
\n\u2022 Danish has two classes of nouns. The \u201dcommon gender\u201d (f\u00e6llesk\u00f8n<\/strong>) takes the articles en<\/strong> and -en<\/strong>. The \u201dneuter\u201d (neutrum<\/strong>) takes the articles en<\/strong> and -et<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To make definite plural forms, you just take the ordinary plural and add the ending -ne<\/strong>, no matter the gender of the word. This ending prefers being joined to an -e<\/strong> or –er<\/strong><\/span>, so if the basic plural form ends in another sound, an extra\u00a0e<\/em><\/span>\u00a0is inserted: b\u00f8rn<\/strong> \u2019children\u2019 > b\u00f8rn<\/strong>+e<\/strong><\/span>+ne<\/strong>\u00a0> b\u00f8rnene<\/strong>\u00a0\u2019the children\u2019.<\/p>\n

Also note that ee<\/em>\u00a0isn\u2019t a good ol\u2019 Danish sound combo, so it\u2019s reduced to a single e<\/em><\/span>\u00a0in forms like kvinde<\/strong>+en<\/strong> > kvinde<\/span>n<\/strong> \u2019the woman\u2019.<\/p>\n

Pretty easy, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a few more examples:<\/p>\n

et dyr \u2013 dyret \u2013 dyr \u2013 dyrene <\/strong>\u2019an animal \u2013 the animal \u2013 animals \u2013 the animals\u2019
\nen hest \u2013 hesten \u2013 heste \u2013 hestene <\/strong>\u2019a horse \u2013 the horse \u2013 horses \u2013 the horses\u2019
\nen rotte \u2013 rotten \u2013 rotter \u2013 rotterne <\/strong>\u2019a rat \u2013 the rat \u2013 rats \u2013 the rats\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

You already know how to make plurals of Danish nouns. Now the time has come to say hello to the Danish articles, they\u2019re already tripping outside in the raw November weather, anxious to be let in\u2026 What\u2019s an article? Besides the stuff journalists write, it\u2019s a way for some languages to mark whether a noun…<\/p>\n

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