Learn some basic phrases

Key phrases
As a point of departure, let’s listen to a casual Danish conversation and break down some of the key phrases you’ll need to get started. What do you say when you meet a Dane, how do you interact and how do you say goodbye? Don’t think too much about what’s being said, just listen a few times:

A dialogue

Tamara:	Hej!
Kristian:	Hej!
Tamara:	Hvordan går det?
Kristian:	Det går godt, hvad med dig?
Tamara:	Fint.
	Undskyld, hvad er det nu du hedder?
Kristian:	Jeg hedder Kristian.
Tamara:	Ja, det er også rigtigt
Kristian:	Er det dit første dansekursus?
Tamara:	Nej, jeg har gået på 14 kurser.
Kristian:	Hvor kommer du fra?
Tamara:	Jeg er fra Brasilien. Hvad med dig?
Kristian:	Jeg er fra Slagelse.
Tamara:	Nå, jeg bliver nødt til at smutte nu.
Kristian:	Det var hyggeligt at møde dig,
Tamara:	Tak, i lige måde
Kristian:	Vi ses!
Tamara:	Ja.
Kristian:	Hej, hej!

Hej (Hi)

This informal greeting is widely used. Not just among young people, friends and family, but it is also common to say “hej” when you enter, for example, a restaurant, a shop or even if you show up for a job interview. A more formal version of hello in Danish is “goddag”, which literally means ‘good day’. This more official version is unlikely used by a waiter or salesperson who wants to greet customers with a touch of politeness. But, while historically the use of these two phrases, “hej” and “goddag”, have depended on factors such as social status and age, they are now used interchangeably. Most (young) people, though, simply go with the informal hej and it is valid in more or less every situation.

“God morgen” (good morning) and “god aften” (good evening) are both formal and informal greetings we use depending on what time it is. God morgen is roughly before 10-11am and ”god aften” after 6 pm. As you can tell, the two words are very similar to the words in English (and in German and the other Scandinavian languages for that matter).

Hvordan går det?

When you meet people, you tend to start with some causal interaction that doesn’t mean a whole lot. Often you say: Hvordan går det? which means ‘How are you doing’. You are not actually supposed to answer. You just nod and say: “Jo tak, hvad med dig selv.” ‘Yes thanks, how about you?’. And from there you start talking.

Hej, hej (Bye)

If you want to say goodbye in Denmark just add another “hej” to the hej. This, “hej hej”, is the informal Danish phrase to use for saying goodbye. If you for some reason feel like being more formal, you say “farvel” (goodbye, farewell).

Vi ses (See you soon)

And after having said “hej, hej” or “farvel” we often add on Vi ses, which literally means ‘see you’.

Tak (Thank you)

Ja/Nej (Yes/No)

Undskyld, mig (Excuse me, please)

Is it often said that we don’t have a word for please in Danish. This is not quite true. The thing is, we tend to use other phrases like, “undskyld, mig, men skulle du kunne, which means something like ‘excuse me, could/would you’)

Hvor er…? (Where is…?)

This is a particularly useful phrase to master when you want to orient yourself. “Where is the museum/the metro/the restaurant?” Danish has a whole plethora of words starting with hv, but in all such formations, the h is completely silent. Many Danish words starting with hv are interrogative words, used to ask questions, and thus quite central to the language. Other important hv-words to know are hvem (who), hvad (what) and hvornår (when). We will get back to those.

Jeg er fra… (I am from…)

You strike up a conversation with a Dane, and sooner or later the they will ask: “Where are you from?” This is Hvor komer du fra? in Danish. The correct answer to that question would be Jeg er fra… (I am from…).

Jeg hedder (My name is)

Another answer to an inevitable question: Hvad hedder du?

Det var rigtigt hyggeligt (It was very hygge)

For those who’ve never heard of the Danish term hygge, this expression is used by Danes in order to describe a cosy evening, often spent with friends or family. The term, which pins Denmark in just one word, was added to the Oxford English Dictionary 2017.

Skål (Cheers)

The Danish word skål literally translates as ‘bowl’ or “container without a lid and originates from a time when Danes would raise the bowl from which they drank as a way to salute one another. Due to the impressive drinking habits of Danes, you will soon familiarise yourself with this word when meeting Danes.

Danish alphabet

We got the Latin alphabet in the twelfth century where it replaced the runic writing of the Vikings. To make the new alphabet fit the way Danes spoke they had to add three more letters, æ, ø and å. You can find the Danish alphabet here:

Alphabet Game