Danish for your summer house
For a week in a holiday cottage on the North Sea, the Baltic or Bornholm: collecting the keys, when something in the house isn't working, bread rolls and bottle deposits, the beach and the weather, the neighbours and leaving with the final clean. Every phrase comes with pronunciation.
Pronunciation in six rules
Written Danish often looks a little like English or German, but it sounds quite different, because many letters are swallowed. With these rules you will understand more than you expect.
The soft d
After a vowel, d often sounds like the th in "this": mad (food) ≈ "madh", rødgrød ≈ "RURDH-grurdh".
Swallowed endings
-er at the end of a word sounds like the a in "sofa", and a final -e is just as weak: sommer = "SOM-uh", kager (cakes) ≈ "KEH-uh".
Silent letters
h before v and j is silent (hvor = "vaw", hjem = "yem"), d after l and n often is too (land = "lan"), and g likes to disappear (pige, girl, ≈ "PEE-uh").
æ, ø and å
æ is like the e in "bed", ø like the vowel in British "fur", å like the aw in "saw": Aarhus (also written Århus) = "AW-hoos", smørrebrød ≈ "SMUR-uh-brurdh".
y, u, j and v
y is an ee said with rounded lips, like the French u (by, town, = "bew"), u is oo, j is the y in "yes" and v is v.
The r and the stød
r is made in the throat, and after a vowel it almost disappears, much as in southern British English: har ≈ "hah". You don't need to master the little catch in the middle of some words, the stød; people will understand you without it.
In the transcriptions the stressed syllable is in CAPITALS, syllables are joined with "-", words are separated by spaces and "·" separates sentences. Read the r in "aw", "air" and "ur" the British way, without sounding it. eh is a long e as in "bed", ay as in "say", ur the vowel in "fur", ew an ee with rounded lips, aw as in "saw", uh the a in "sofa", ai rhymes with "eye", ow as in "cow", oy as in "boy", dh the th in "this" and y the y in "yes". Danish has many sounds between the letters, so the transcription is an approximation.
Greetings and being polite
- Hej! / Hej hej!hai · hai HAIHello! / Bye!
- Godmorgen! / Goddag!go-MAWN · go-DEHGood morning! / Hello! Good afternoon!
- Tak! / Mange tak!tak · MANG-uh takThanks! / Thank you very much!
- Undskyld.ON-skewlSorry. Excuse me.
- Jeg forstår det ikke. Taler du engelsk?yai fuh-STAW deh EG-uh · TEH-luh doo ENG-elskI don't understand. Do you speak English?
Arrival and keys
- Vi har lejet et sommerhus her.vee hah LAI-edh et SOM-uh-hoos HAIRWe've rented a summer house here.
- Hvor kan vi hente nøglen?vaw kan vee HEN-duh NOY-lenWhere can we collect the key?
- Hvornår skal vi være ude på lørdag?vaw-NAW skal vee VAIR-uh OO-dhuh po LUR-dahWhat time do we have to be out on Saturday?
When something in the house isn't working
- Der er ikke noget varmt vand.dair uh EG-uh NOH-edh vahmt VANThere's no hot water.
- Strømmen er gået.STRUM-en uh GAW-edhThe power has gone off.
- Hvor er sikringerne?vaw uh SIK-ring-uh-nuhWhere is the fuse box? (literally: where are the fuses?)
- Hvordan tænder man brændeovnen?vaw-DAN TEN-uh man BRAN-uh-ow-nenHow do you light the wood burner?
- Spabadet virker ikke.SPAH-beh-dhedh VEER-kuh EG-uhThe hot tub isn't working.
- Kan du komme forbi i dag?kan doo KOM-uh fuh-BEE ee DEHCould you come round today?
Bakery and supermarket
- Fire rundstykker, tak.FEE-uh RON-stur-guh takFour bread rolls, please.
- Har I wienerbrød?hah ee VEE-nuh-brurdhDo you have Danish pastries?
- Hvor er pantautomaten?vaw uh PANT-ow-to-meh-denWhere is the bottle return machine?
- Kan jeg betale med kort?kan yai beh-TEH-luh medh KAWTCan I pay by card?
Beach and weather
- Hvor er den nærmeste badestrand?vaw uh den NAIR-mes-tuh BEH-dhuh-stranWhere is the nearest bathing beach?
- Må man køre på stranden her?maw man KUR-uh po STRAN-en HAIRAre you allowed to drive on the beach here?
- Hvordan bliver vejret i morgen?vaw-DAN BLEE-uh VAI-udh ee MAWNWhat will the weather be like tomorrow?
Neighbours
- Vi bor i sommerhuset ved siden af.vee BOH ee SOM-uh-hoo-sedh veh SEE-dhen ahWe're staying in the summer house next door.
- Hyggeligt at møde dig.HEW-guh-leet uh MUR-dhuh daiNice to meet you.
- Tak for i dag!tak fuh ee DEHThanks for today! (This is how Danes say goodbye after spending time together.)
Leaving and final cleaning
- Skal vi selv gøre rent?skal vee SEL GUR-uh RENTDo we have to do the cleaning ourselves?
- Vi har bestilt slutrengøring.vee hah beh-STILT SLOOT-ren-gur-ingWe've booked the final clean.
- Hvor skal vi lægge nøglen?vaw skal vee LEG-uh NOY-lenWhere should we leave the key?
Doctor and pharmacy
- Jeg har brug for en læge.yai hah BROO fuh en LEH-uhI need a doctor.
- Vores søn har feber.VAW-os SURN hah FAY-buhOur son has a temperature. (Daughter: datter)
- Hvor er det nærmeste apotek?vaw uh deh NAIR-mes-tuh ah-po-TAYKWhere is the nearest pharmacy?
Emergency number throughout Denmark: 112. Outside surgery hours, the medical on-call service, the lægevagt, sees you only after you have phoned first. Take your GHIC (or a valid EHIC) and travel insurance details with you.
Good to know
Everyone says du
Danish has a formal word for you, De, but it sounds old-fashioned. Use du with everyone, including the landlord, shop staff and the doctor.
Return your bottles
Bottles and cans carry a deposit (pant). The machines are in the supermarket, and you hand in the receipt at the till.
Electricity by the meter
In many summer houses electricity, and sometimes water, is charged by the meter. A hot tub, sauna and heating all show up on the final bill.
Take the final clean seriously
If you clean yourself, you have to leave the house as you found it. Agencies check carefully and otherwise charge for cleaning afterwards.
A course for exactly your summer house holiday
A phrasebook can only guess what you're planning. In LingoTrip you tell it: two weeks in Blåvand with the kids and the dog, fishing in the harbour, fresh rolls on Sunday morning. LingoTrip builds a course around exactly those conversations, with audio, speech recognition and spaced review until you leave.
Coming soon to the App Store and Google PlayFAQ
Don't Danes speak English anyway?
Almost all of them do, and very well. Even so, Danes are very pleased to hear a tak or a hej, and at the bakery or with the neighbours a few phrases quickly open doors.
Is Danish hard?
Reading is fairly easy, because many words look like English ones, such as hus (house) or vand (water). Pronunciation is harder, because so many sounds are swallowed. That is why it pays to practise the phrases out loud.
How long does it take to learn these phrases?
For the phrases on this page, one to three weeks with a few minutes a day is enough.
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