Basic Danish Phrases All Students Can Handle

Hello, and welcome to our Welcome Series. We are making this group of blogs and videos to help all the new ERASMUS students coming to Denmark. However, if you have just arrived in Denmark for your full degree, to work, or any other reason, you should find value here as well. So just sit back, relax and let us show you the basic phrases in Danish, you will need in your first weeks.

Oh Danish, what a language. On one side not so difficult from the grammatical standpoint, on the other hand, a nightmare when it comes to spoken word and listening. I have to confess that even after quite some time of living in Denmark and learning a bit It is still a struggle. However, this is not to blog about me, this blog is about the necessary basic you should know before going out to the city.

I would also like to mention, that even though knowledge of Danish is important, as a student you can survive without it. According to studies, 86% of Danes can speak English to some degree, which is usually quite high. They can thank for it to their education, but also the fact that they watch foreign tv shows and movies without dabbing, only with subtitles. This allows them to absorb the language better than in some other countries.

Essentials

You might have noticed that we didn't include any word for, please. The thing is, that the Danish language doesn't really use it. And even though it seems really rude, Danes are using the word "tak" a lot. If you want to ask for a beer, you say ‘En øl, tak’, which is one beer, please or one beer, thank you.

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Basic phrases

If you know all of these, by the hearth, you should be able to handle all the basic communication in Danish, or at least till you manage to switch into English and get into the real conversation. But despite how good are Danes with their English, it is always a good idea to sign for the Danish classes. As a student you are able to get a Danish education with big discounts.

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Numbers

These should be more than enough. I am pretty sure that you will not get over thousand while shopping in your local supermarket. At least not during your first couple of weeks. The only thing that might confuse you are the prices which aren't rounded up to krona. You might face a price which is "elleve kroner og halv", which is eleven krona and half.

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Days of the week and more

When you are looking at the days of the week in Danish, you can clearly see that some of them resemble the days in English. Aside from that, it is visible that both English and Danish finish with the word "day" or "dag". This is one of the many similarities, between these two languages.

The more you will learn the more similarities you will discover.

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Anyway, this is everything for our blog with the basic Danish phrases and a word you might need in your first couple of weeks. By this, i would like to encourage you to also learn Danish. It is true that the language isn't easy, but if you wish to stay and work in Denmark, you will eventually need it. And the sooner you start, the bigger advantage you will have over your peers.

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We hope that you learned something new. Next time we will speak in detail about transportation around Denmark.