h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi JJ42, it's Riccardo here (from biker conversation). Do you mind if I try to write something in Danish to you from time to time? That way I'll learn quicker

Farvel!

That is quite alright, got a girl from Glasgow in the house, she picked up a Danish phrase-book before coming to visit my in-laws with my wife and me. She did quite well, and she was only staying for a weekend.

I will, however, have problems writing in Danish from work, got the wrong kind of keyboard and don't quite remember if it is possible to use code to get the last three letters of the Danish alphabet.

Så bare gå igang med det danske (there is always cut&paste of course)

Oh, and why exactly do you want to learn our esteemed language, heard that it is not the easiest one to learn.

I suppose 2 reasons, as I said I have friends there and I've been twice and just love the place, secondly - I just like the sound of it!
Being half Italian but not speaking fluent Italian has always been annoying for me. My Dad only spoke to me in English when I was young which is a real shame. So now I really want to learn a second language, and it may as well be Danish .

Here are some first attempts: Jeg hedder Riccardo, jeg kommer fra Skotland met jeg bol på London.

...and say hello to your friend from Glasgow for me!

OK, just let me correct you a bit then:

< Jeg hedder Riccardo, jeg kommer fra Skotland >
That bit is good and correct


Should be:

men jeg bor i London.

The two first corrections are spelling mistakes, 'på' means 'on' and the correct here is 'i' which means 'in'.

Keep up the good work and I will give it a try to help you as much as possible.

Cheers JJ42 - I appreciate that

Hej Henrik,
Hvordan har du det? Det er godt at se dig igen!

Sorry for not writing for a while, I've not had the chance to learn much Danish lately - here's a few more "attempts"

Jeg er etteotyve år og "software engineer(?)". Jeg er 180cm høj og har blå øjne og rød hår. Jeg er skotsker!!!

How's that

Well, I do understand it, but Danish is a tricky language at times.

21 is 'enogtyve', literally 'one and twenty'.

And now you 'force' me to try and explain Danish grammar, heck, I only grew up with the language, I don't know it!

Blue and red is correctly blå and rød, but....

When the noun is 'a hair' it is 'et hår' in Danish, and then 'the hair' becomes 'håret' and the adjective 'rød' must have a 't' added, so you get rødt hår. And, as you may well know, there are no rules for when you use 'en' or 'et'

'Eyes' are plural and the adjective should have an 'e' added, but when the adjective is 'blå' that is not the case, as it already ends in a vowel. Had your eyes been red it would in Danish be 'røde øjne'.

'I am Scottish' should be 'jeg er skotte' or 'jeg er skotsk', the former being (slightly) more correct as this denotes your nationality, the latter is more used for objects of Scottish origin, such as whisky.

Example: 'He is Scottish and drinks Scotch Whisky' becomes 'Han er skotte og drikker skotsk whisky.'

So, hopes this is clear as mud, and if it wasn't for the time being so early, I would go and get a whisky.

Hej Henrik,
Hvordan går det?

I've not learned any Danish for ages, our whole department is being made redundant so I've been a bit preoccupied! By the way I'm 28 not 21 - how do you say 28?

Anyway - hope you're well, speak to you later
Riccardo

Jeg har det godt, tak.

OK, the numbers:
1 = en or et
2 = to
3 = tre
4 = fire
5 = fem
6 = seks
7 = syv
8 = otte
9 = ni
10= ti
20= tyve
30= tredive
40= fyrre
50= halvtreds
60= tres
70= halvfjerds
80= firs
90= halvfems
100=et hundrede

When combining you say the ones first and then the tens:
42 = toogfyrre (literally two and forty)
66 = seksogtres
183= ethundredetreogfirs

thus 28 becomes otteogtyve.

Hey, you just aged seven years in two weeks, at least from my point of view, happy birthdays must be in order