Today’s Post
While we typically share a lot of food-related blog posts on Skandibaking, we also love sharing a bit of our culture with you! In the past, we have shared several posts about hygge, Scandinavian holiday traditions, and even football culture. You can find our blog posts about Scandinavian (mostly Danish) culture at this link here. We’ve ventured into the topic of linguistics in the past too, as we shared an introduction to the Danish language last year, which you can read here. Today, we wanted to share a second installment in our “Danish Language” series, this time focusing on some useful phrases to learn if you’re visiting Denmark, as well as some fun phrases and idioms that are good to learn if you’re interested in the language.
Five Useful Phrases to Know
To start, here are some phrases that are useful to know if you’re planning to visit Denmark. While most Danish people speak English, it doesn’t hurt to learn the basics so you can greet people in the local language.
1. Hej!
This is a simple greeting to use at any time of day, simply meaning “hi.” If you enter a store or a cafe, you might hear this said to you, and you can say it back, just like you would in English. One thing that can get a bit confusing, though, is that it sometimes means “goodbye” instead of “hello.” How does this work? Well, when you hear it repeated twice in a row, “hej hej,” this means “goodbye.” Sometimes, this then gets shortened to “hej,” making it the same as the word when you greet someone. While this may seem confusing, it’s actually really convenient, as you only need to remember one word to both greet and bid farewell to someone!
2. Hvordan går det?
This phrase means “How is it going?” – another version is “Hvordan har du det?” which means “How are you doing?”. Something to note about this phrase, though, is that Danes don’t usually use this in informal conversation. They might do so sometimes, particularly in smaller towns or if they’re a bit chattier, but most people won’t say this if you’re just buying something in a store or ordering in a restaurant. Typically, this opens up a longer and larger conversation so you would ask it to acquaintances or friends. Basically, it’s not used as a greeting the same way it is in the US and UK!
3. Jeg hedder…
“My name is…” – insert your name here. This is pretty straightforward!
4. Undskyld
This is “sorry” in Danish. You can also use it to say “excuse me” if trying to squeeze past someone in a crowded space, for example. But English words have started to creep into the Danish language, and this is a prime example. Nowadays, some Danes say “sorry” in English more than they say “undskyld,” so you can feel free to use that if it’s easier!
5. Tak!
Meaning “thank you.” You can also use this at the end of a request to imply “please,” although there is no specific word for “please” in Danish. Danes love to thank each other for everything and be very polite, so you’ll hear this a lot if you visit Denmark!
Three Fun Phrases to Learn
Here are a few idioms that you can try your hand at using if you want to. Like with any language, they don’t necessarily make too much sense when translated, but hopefully our explanations can give you some context as to when you should use them!
1. “Der er ingen ko på isen”
Literally meaning “there is no cow on the ice,” this phrase actually comes from a longer one. The original phrase was “der er ingen ko på isen så længe rumpen er i land” or “there is no cow on the ice as long as the bottom is on land.” Can you guess what this means? Basically, it means don’t stress because there’s no real problem here. You might use it if you hear someone worrying about something you’ve already sorted out – “der er ingen ko på isen.”
2. “Det koster det hvide ud af øjnene”
This phrase translates to “it costs the white out of the eyes.” It’s a way of saying that something is very, very expensive! Funnily enough, a similar idiom in English is to say “it costs an arm and a leg,” so it’s not so different and is used in similar contexts.
3. “Hold da helt ferie”
This is an idiom that is used to express surprise or shock. It literally means “take a whole vacation,” but in context, it means the same as the English “no way!”. So let’s say your friend tells you something exciting or surprising, then you might respond by saying “hold da helt ferie!”
The End
We hope you enjoyed reading today’s post. Do you know any other Danish idioms that you like to use? Or would you say there are any other useful phrases that people visiting Denmark should know? Let us know down in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
