Danish grammar
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Danish grammar is either the study of grammar in the Danish language, or the grammatical system itself in the Danish language.
Contents |
[edit] Nouns
[edit] Declension
There are two genders of nouns in Danish: Common and Neuter. The common nouns use the en article and the neuter ones use et. They are often informally called n-words and t-words.
Here are some examples of regular declension
| Gender | Singular | Plural | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | ||
| Common | en dreng en sag en kvinde en ske |
drengen sagen kvinden skeen |
drenge sager kvinder skeer |
drengene sagerne kvinderne skeerne |
"boy" |
| Neuter | et fængsel et æble et lyn |
fængslet æblet lynet |
fængsler æbler lyn |
fængslerne æblerne lynene |
"jail" |
Neuter monosyllabics are unchanged in plural. Other nouns take either -e or -er. Otherwise there is little correspondence between declension and gender or sense and gender. In order to correctly decline a noun, one must look it up in a dictionary or memorise the declension form and the gender.
Note that if the final syllable ends in unstressed -e, -el, -en, or -er, the e will disappear if a grammatic ending starting with an e is added. E.g. the declension of "fængsel" above is quite regular. This is known as the Danish apocope.
There are many nouns with irregular plural. Here are some typical examples:
| Gender | Singular | Plural | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | ||
| Common | en mand en bonde en drink en sten en risiko |
manden bonden drinken stenen risikoen |
mænd bønder drinks sten risici |
mændene bønderne drinksene stenene risiciene |
"man" |
| Neuter | et barn et hus et våben |
barnet huset våbnet |
børn huse våben |
børnene husene våbnene |
"child" |
Some have the "wrong" regular form, some have vowel change with or without a suffix, and some are foreign words using their native plural. In all cases it is only the plural indefinite that is irregular. Singular definite always just adds -en or -et. Plural definite adds -ne to the indefinite if it has a standard plural suffix, -ene if not.
[edit] Grammatical case
There are no case declensions in Danish nouns, except the genitive, which is normally applied as an -s ending, or simply with an apostrophe when the noun ends with an s already. Pigens hus ("the girl's house"); et hus' beboere ("the inhabitants of a house"). Thus, one does not distinguish between persons and things in the genitive, as in English. The order of the genitive and the governed word is always the same as in English.
When the noun governed by the genitive can be considered part of the governing noun physically, the genitive is often replaced by a prepositional phrase, e.g. låget på spanden "the lid of the bucket", bagsiden af huset "the back of the house" rather than spandens låg, husets bagside, which are not incorrect but more formal.
Older case forms exist as relics in phrases like i live "alive" (liv = "life"), på tide "in due time" (tid = "time"), på fode "on his foot" (fod = "foot"). Similarly, the genitive is used in certain fossilised prepositional phrases (with til "to"): til fods "on foot", til vands/søs "by water/sea", gå til hånde "assist" (hånde being an old genitive plural of hand "hånd", now replaced by hænders).
[edit] Articles
The indefinite article, en, et, is prepositive like in all European languages that have an indefinite article, and the origin of the word is the same as in the other Germanic languages, namely the numeral én, ét "one". There is no indefinite article in the plural.
The definite article, -en, -et, -(e)ne, is postpositive like in the other Scandinavian languages save the West Jutlandic dialect of Danish, which has the prepositive æ (inflexible). The postpositive article probably comes from an old pronoun, Old Norse inn, "that", related to English yon and German jener. The point of departure may be expressions like ormr inn langi > ormrinn langi "the long worm". Yet, Danish only uses the postpositive article when the noun does not carry an attributive adjective or a genitive, in which case a prepositive den, det, de is used instead (whereas Norwegian uses the prepositive and the postpositive articles at the same time in such cases):
| Indefinite article | No article | Definite article | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postpositive | Prepositive | |||
| Common | en bog en billig bog |
Lones bog Lones billige bog |
bogen |
den billige bog |
| Neuter | et hus et stort hus |
Peters hus Peters store hus |
huset |
det store hus |
| Plural | bøger billige bøger |
Lones bøger Lones billige bøger |
bøgerne |
de billige bøger |
[edit] Pronouns
| Nominative case | Oblique case | Possessive | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | Neuter | Plural | |||||
| Singular | |||||||
| First person | jeg | mig | min | mit | mine | I | |
| Second person | informal1) | du | dig | din | dit | dine | you |
| polite1) | De | Dem | Deres | ||||
| Third person (personal) |
masculine | han | ham | hans | he | ||
| feminine | hun | hende | hendes | she | |||
| Third person (impersonal) |
commune | den | den | dens | it | ||
| neuter | det | det | dets | ||||
| Reflexive2) | - | sig | sin | sit | sine | him, her, it | |
| Plural | |||||||
| First person | vi | os | vor3) | vort3) | vore3) | we | |
| vores | |||||||
| Second person | informal1) | I | jer | jeres | you (all) | ||
| polite1) | De | Dem | Deres | ||||
| Third person | de | dem | deres | they | |||
| Reflexive2) | - | sig | deres | ||||
1) Since the 1970s, the polite form De (cf. German Sie) is no longer the normal form of addressing adult strangers. It is only used in formal letters or when addressing old people or members of the royal family. It is sometimes used by shop assistants and waiters to flatter their customers. As a general rule, one can use du almost in every situation without offending anyone.
2) The reflexive pronoun is used when the object or possessive is identical to the grammatical subject of the sentence: manden slog sin kone ihjel "the man killed his (own) wife" ~ manden slog hans kone ihjel "the man killed his (somebody else's) wife". It is also used when referring to the subject of an infinite nexus, e.g. an accusative with infinitive: Rødhætte bad jægeren hilse sin kone "Little Red Riding Hood asked the hunter to greet his wife", where sin refers to the hunter. This difference is often not observed by Jutlandic speakers.
3) Vores is the most commonly used form in the spoken language; vor, vort and vore are more formal or solemn.
[edit] Verbs
In Modern Danish the verb has nine distinct forms, as shown in the chart below.
| Non-finite forms | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active forms | Passive forms | |||
| Infinitive | (at) vente | to wait/expect | (at) ventes, (at) blive ventet | to be expected |
| Verbal noun | venten | a waiting | ||
| Present participle | ventende | waiting/expecting | ||
| Past participle | ventet | waited/expected | ||
| Finite forms | ||||
| Present tense | venter | wait(s)/expect(s) | ventes, bliver ventet | am/is/are expected |
| Past tense | ventede | waited/expected | ventedes, blev ventet | was/were expected |
| Imperative | vent | wait/expect | bliv ventet | be expected |
[edit] Person and number
Verbs do not vary according to person or number: jeg venter, du venter, han, hun, den, det venter, vi venter, I venter, de venter. However, until the beginning of the twentieth century, it was normal to inflect the present tense in number in educated prose. There existed also a special plural form in the imperative. These forms are not used anymore, but one will find them in older prose and in the psalms:
| weak verbs | strong verbs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |||
| Present | venter | vente | wait(s) | tager | tage | take(s) |
| Past | ventede | ventede | waited | tog | toge | took |
| Imperative | vent! | venter! | wait | tag! | tager! | take |
E.g. Søger, saa skulle I finde "Seek, and ye shall find" (Mt. 7:7, Lc. 11:9); in the 1992 translation Søg, så skal I finde.
[edit] Tenses
Like in other Germanic languages, the conjugation of verb tenses is divided into two groups: The first group, the so-called weak verbs, indicates the past tense by adding the suffixes -ede or -te. The second, called strong verbs, forms the past tense with a zero ending and, in most cases, certain vowel changes.
The future tense is formed with the modals verbs vil or skal and the infinitive, e.g. tror du, det vil regne, "do you think it's going to rain", vi skal nok komme igen i morgen, "we'll come again tomorrow". Often the present tense is also used as future, only with the addition of a time specification i morgen køber han en bil, "tomorrow he'll buy a car".
In the perfect tense, the word har ("have, has") is placed before a the past participle: han har købt en bil, "he has bought a car". In certain words implying a movement, however, er ("am, are, is") is used instead: han er gået sin vej, "he has gone" (like German er ist gegangen or French il est allé). In such cases har is used for the activity, while er is used if the result is what is interesting. Han har rejst meget, "he has traveled a lot". Han er rejst, "he is gone", he is not here anymore.
Similarly, the pluperfect tense is formed with havde or var: han havde købt en bil, han var gået sin vej. NB. The perfect tense is used in many cases where English would have a simple preterite.
[edit] Moods
In Danish, there are two moods, indicative and subjunctive, the indicative portrayed above, with the verb after the subject.
There are two different subjunctives in Danish:
- The old Germanic present subjunctive, which has become identical in form to the infinitive in Modern Danish, is restricted to certain fixed phrases like leve kongen, det være hermed gjort.
- The old Germanic preterite subjunctive, which has become identical in form to the preterite indicative in Modern Danish, is vivid in various applications:
- Potential
- Conditional phrases that express a possibility has the preterite in the subordinate clause and either the preterite or, more often, the verb ville + the infinitive in the main clause. E.g. hvis jeg var rig, byggede jeg et palads / ville jeg bygge et palads, "if I were rich, I would build a palace". NB the subordinate clause may be constructed without a conjunction and with a reverse word order (making it formally a main clause), e.g. var jeg rig, byggede jeg et palads.
- Desiderative
- A wish is normally expressed with a phrase introduced by the words gid or bare + the preterite. E.g. Gid jeg havde en elefant, "I wish I had an elephant", Bare det aldrig var sket, "if only it had never happened". A wish may also be expressed with an elliptic conditional clause (like in English); it will normally include adverbs like bare or blot. E.g. Hvis jeg da bare havde en elefant!, Var det bare aldrig sket! (without hvis, cf. a)).
- Imaginative
- In children's play a kind of "oblique" preterite may be used when reproducing the thoughts or acts of the imagined persons of the play.
[edit] Voice
Like the other Scandinavian languages, Danish has a special inflection for the passive voice with the suffix -s, which is historically a reduced enclitic form of the reflexive pronoun sig ("himself, herself, itself, themselves"), e.g. han kalder sig "he calls himself" > han kaldes "he is called".
Danish has a competing periphrastic form of the passive formed with the verb blive ("to remain, to become").
In addition to the proper passive constructions, the passive also denotes:
- a reciprocal form (only with the s-passive): Hans og Jørgen mødtes på gaden "John and Paul met on the street", vi ses på onsdag "we'll see each other on Wednesday", I må ikke slås "you shall not fight" (literally "beat each other").
- an intransitive form (a lexicalised s-passive): der findes / fandtes mange grunde til at komme "there are / were many reasons why one should come" (literally: "are / were found").
- an impersonal form: der kæmpes / bliver kæmpet om pladserne "there was a struggle for the seats".
In the preterite, the periphrastic form is preferred in non-formal speech except in reciprocal and impersonal passives: de sås ofte "they often saw each other", der fandtes en lov imod det "there was a law against it" (but real passive: de blev set af politiet "they were seen by the police", der blev fundet en bombe "a bomb was found").
The s-form of the verb can also imply habitual or repetitive action, e.g. bilen vaskes "the car is washed" (regularly) vs. bilen bliver vasket "the car is (being) washed" (right now, soon, next week, etc.)
The s-passive of the perfect participle is regular in Swedish both in the real passive and in other functions, e.g. vårt företag har funnits sedan 1955 "our company has existed since 1955", bilen har setts ute på Stockholms gator "the car has been seen in the streets of S." In Danish, the real passive has only periphrastic forms in the perfect: bilen er blevet set ude på Stockholms gader. In the lexicalised and reciprocal passives, on the other hand, we find a combination of the verb have and the s-passive preterite: e.g. mødtes "have met", har fandtes "have existed" etc. (but strangely enough, the irregular har set(e)s "have seen each other" is much more common than har sås, which is considered substandard).
[edit] Present participles
The present participle is used to a much less extent than in English. The dangling participle, a characteristic feature of English, is not used in Danish. Instead Danish uses subordinate or coordinate clauses with a finite verb, e.g. eftersom han var konge, var det ham, der måtte bestemme, "Being the king, he had the last word". The present participle is used in two circumstances:
- as an attributive adjective: en dræbende tavshed, "a boring (lit. killing) silence", en galoperende inflation, "a runaway inflation", hendes rødmende kinder, "her blushing cheeks".
- adverbially with verbs of movement: han gik syngende ned ad gaden, "he walked down the street singing"
If the present participle carries an object or an adverb, the two words are normally treated as a compound orthographically and prosodically: et menneskeædende uhyre, "a man-eating monster", en hurtig(t)løbende bold, "a fast(-going) ball", fodbold- og kvindeelskende mænd, "men loving football and women".
[edit] Past participles
The past participle is used primarily in the periphrastic constructions of the passive (with blive) and the perfect (with være). It is often used in dangling constructions in the solemn prose style: Således oplyst(e) kan vi skride til afstemning, "Now being informed, we can take a vote", han tog, opfyldt af had til tyrannen, ivrig del i forberedelserne til revolutionen, "filled with hatred of the tyrant, he participated eagerly in the preparations for the revolution", velankomne til Kastrup Lufthavn gik de næste par timer med indcheckning, "having arrived to Copenhagen Airport well, the next couple hours were spent in the check-in".
The past participle of the weak verbs has the ending -et or -t. The past participle of the strong verbs verbs originally had the ending -en, neuter -et, but the common form is now restricted to the use as an adjective (e.g. en bunden opgave), and it has not been preserved in all verbs. When it is combined with er and har to form passive and perfect constructions, the neuter form, which happens to be identical to the ending of the weak verbs, is used. In the Jutlandic dialects, -en is frequently used in such constructions.
As to the voice of the past participle, it is passive if the verb is transitive, and active if it is intransitive.
[edit] Infinitive and verbal nouns
The infinitive may be defined as a verb form that is equivalent to a noun syntactically. The Danish infinitive may be used as the subject or object of a verb like in English: at rejse er at leve "to travel is to live", jeg elsker at spise kartofler "I love to eat potatoes". Furthermore, the Danish infinitive may also be governed by a preposition (where English normally has the gerund): han tog livet af sig ved at springe ud af et vindue "he killed himself by jumping out of a window".
The infinitive normally has the marker at, pronounced ɑd̥ or in normal speech ʌ, thereby being homonymous with the conjunction og "and", with which it is sometimes confused in spelling. The bare infinitive is used after the modal verbs kunne, ville, skulle, måtte, turde, burde.
A rarer form is the verbal noun with the ending -en (not to be confused with the definite article) which is used when the infinitive carries a pronoun, an indefinite article or an adjective: hans evindelige skrigen var enerverende, "his never-ending crying was enervating", der var en løben og råben på gangene, "people ran and cried in the hall". This use has a connotation of something habitual and is often used in a negative sense. It is used in formal information like Henstillen af cykler forbudt, "It is prohibited to leave your bike here." Whereas the infinitive is accompanied with adjectives in the neuter (det er svært at flyve, "it is difficult to fly"), the verbal noun governs the common gender. Due to the rarity of this form, Danes often mistakenly write Henstilling af cykler forbudt (lit. "Recommendation of bikes prohibited") instead, using a more familiar word form.
Verbal nouns like viden "knowledge" (literally: "knowing") or kunnen "ability" (literally: "being able") have become lexicalised due to the influence of German (Wissen, Können). Like the proper verbal noun, these forms have no plural, and they cannot carry the definite article; so, when English has the knowledge, Danish must use a pronoun or a circumlocution: e.g. hans viden, denne viden, den viden man havde.
Danish has various suffixes for turning a verb into a real noun:
- the suffix -(n)ing: hængning "hanging" (: hænge), samling "collection" (: samle). The suffix, which is still productive, is related to the German -(n)ung and the English -ing. The German type takes the feminine gender, and as one would expect, the Danish words take the common gender. The variant without -n- is used after stems ending in n, nd, r and consonant + l.
- the suffix -else: bekræftelse "confirmation" (: bekræfte). The suffix, which is still productive, takes the common gender.
- the suffix -sel: fængsel "jail" (: fange), fødsel "birth" (: føde"). The suffix is used to form both concrete nouns (in the neuter) and abstract nouns (in the common).
- the verbal stem with no ending: fald "fall" (: falde), tab "loss" (: tabe), kast "throw" (: kaste), håb "hope" (: håbe). They are all neuter (contrary to the rule of German: der Fall).
- the verbal stem with some change of vowel or consonant: gang "walk(ing)" (: gå), stand "state" (: stå), sang "song" (: synge), dåb "baptism" (: døbe). They normally have the common gender.
- the suffix -(e)st: fangst "catching" (: fange), ankomst "arrival" (: ankomme), hyldest "ovation" (: hylde). The type takes the common gender.
- the suffix -tion, -sion: funktion "function" (: fungere), korrektion "correction" (: korrigere), eksplosion "explosion" (: eksplodere). This type is restricted to stems of Latin origin (which normally have the suffix -ere in the verbal forms, cf. German -ieren). They take the common gender.
[edit] Numerals
[edit] Overview
The Danish numbers are:
| Number | Cardinal numbers | Ordinal numbers | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spelling | Pronunciation | Spelling | Pronunciation | |
| 1 | en : et | [ˈe:ˀn] : [ed̥] | første | [ˈfɶ(ɐ)sd̥ə] |
| 2 | to | [ˈtˢo:ˀ] | anden : andet | [ˈann̩] : [ˈanəð̪] |
| 3 | tre | [ˈtˢʁa:ˀ] | tredje | [ˈtˢʁað̪jə:ˀ] |
| 4 | fire | [ˈfi:ɐ] | fjerde | [ˈfjɛ:ɐ] |
| 5 | fem | [ˈfɛmˀ] | femte | [ˈfɛmd̥ə] |
| 6 | seks | [ˈsɛg̊s] | sjette | [ˈɕɛ:d̥ə] |
| 7 | syv | [ˈsyʊ̯ˀ] | syvende | [ˈsyʊ̯ˀnə] |
| 8 | otte | [ˈɔ:d̥ə] | ottende | [ˈʌd̥nə] |
| 9 | ni | [ˈni:ˀ] | niende | [ˈni:ˀnə] |
| 10 | ti | [ˈtˢi:ˀ] | tiende | [ˈtˢi:ˀnə] |
| 11 | elleve | [ˈɛlʋə] | ellevte | [ˈɛlfd̥ə] |
| 12 | tolv | [ˈtˢʌlˀ] | tolvte | [ˈtˢʌld̥ə] |
| 13 | tretten | [ˈtˢʁɑd̥n̩] | trettende | [ˈtˢʁɑd̥nə] |
| 14 | fjorten | [ˈfjoɐ̯d̥n̩] | fjortende | [ˈfjoɐ̯d̥nə] |
| 15 | femten | [ˈfɛmd̥n̩] | femtende | [ˈfɛmd̥nə] |
| 16 | seksten | [ˈsajsd̥n̩] | sekstende | [ˈsajs(d̥)nə] |
| 17 | sytten | [ˈsød̥n̩] | syttende | [ˈsød̥nə] |
| 18 | atten | [ˈad̥n̩] | attende | [ˈad̥nə] |
| 19 | nitten | [ˈned̥n̩] | nittende | [ˈned̥nə] |
| 20 | tyve | [ˈtˢy:ʊ] | tyvende | [ˈtˢy:ʊ̯nə] |
| 21 | enogtyve | [ˈe:ˀnɐˌtˢy:ʊ] | enogtyvende | [ˈe:ˀnɐˌtˢy:ʊ̯nə] |
| 22 | toogtyve | [ˈtˢo:ˀɐˌtˢy:ʊ] | toogtyvende | [ˈtˢo:ˀɐˌtˢy:ʊ̯nə] |
| 30 | tredive | [ˈtˢʁɑð̪ʋə] | tredivte | [ˈtˢʁɑð̪fd̥ə] |
| 40 | fyrre (arch. fyrretyve) | [ˈfɶ:ɐ] ([ˈfɶ:ɐˌtˢy:ʊ]) | fyrretyvende | [ˈfɶ:ɐˌtˢy:ʊ̯nə] |
| 50 | halvtreds (arch. halvtredsindstyve) | [halˈtˢʁas] ([halˈtˢʁasn̩sˌtˢy:ʊ]) | halvtredsindstyvende | [halˈtˢʁasn̩sˌtˢy:ʊ̯nə] |
| 60 | tres (arch. tresindstyve) | [ˈtˢʁas] ([ˈtˢʁasn̩sˌtˢy:ʊ]) | tresindstyvende | [ˈtˢʁasn̩sˌtˢy:ʊ̯nə] |
| 70 | halvfjerds (arch. halvfjerdsindstyve) | [halˈfjä(ɐ)s] ([halˈfjä(ɐ)sn̩sˌtˢy:ʊ]) | halvfjerdsindstyvende | [halˈfjä(ɐ)sn̩sˌtˢy:ʊ̯nə] |
| 80 | firs (arch. firsindstyve) | [ˈfiɐ̯ˀs] ([ˈfiɐ̯ˀsn̩sˌtˢy:ʊ]) | firsindstyvende | [ˈfiɐ̯ˀsn̩sˌtˢy:ʊ̯nə] |
| 90 | halvfems (arch. halvfemsindstyve) | [halˈfɛmˀs] ([halˈfɛmˀsn̩sˌtˢy:ʊ]) | halvfemstyvende | [halˈfɛmˀsn̩sˌtˢy:ʊ̯nə] |
| 100 | hundred(e), et hundred(e) | [ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̪(ð̪), (ˈed̥) ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̪(ð̪)] | hundrede, et hundrede | [ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̪(ð̪), (ˈed̥) ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̪(ð̪)] |
| 101 | (et) hundred(e) (og) en | [(ˈed̥) ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̪ (ɐ) ˈe:ˀn] | (et) hundred(e) (og) første | [(ˈed̥) ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̪ (ɐ) ˈfɶ(ɐ)sd̥ə] |
| 200 | to hundred(e) | [ˈtˢo:ˀ ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̪(ð̪)] | to hundrede | [ˈtˢo:ˀ ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̪(ð̪)] |
| 1,000 | tusind, et tusind | [ˈtˢu:ˀsn̩, ˈed̥ ˈtˢu:ˀsn̩] | tusinde, et tusinde | [ˈtˢu:ˀsnə, ˈed̥ ˈtˢu:ˀsnə] |
| 1,100 | et tusind et hundred(e) | [ˈed̥ ˈtˢu:ˀsn̩ ˈed̥ ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̪(ð̪)] | et tusind et hundrede | [ˈtˢu:ˀsnə ˈed̥ ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̪(ð̪)] |
| 2,000 | to tusind | [ˈtˢo:ˀ ˈtˢu:ˀsn̩] | to tusinde | [ˈtˢo:ˀ ˈtˢu:ˀsnə] |
| 1,000,000 | en million, en million | [ˈe:ˀn mil(i)ˈjo:ˀn] | millonte | [mil(i)ˈjo:ˀnd̥ə] |
| 2,000,000 | to millioner | [ˈtˢo:ˀ mil(i)ˈjo:ˀnɐ] | to millonte | [ˈtˢo:ˀ mil(i)ˈjo:ˀnd̥ə] |
| 1,000,000,000 | en milliard | [ˈe:ˀn mil(i)ˈjɑ:ˀd̥] | milliardte | [mil(i)ˈjɑ:ˀd̥ə] |
| 2,000,000,000 | to milliarder | [ˈtˢo:ˀ mil(i)ˈjɑ:ˀd̥ɐ] | to milliardte | [ˈtˢo:ˀ mil(i)ˈjɑ:ˀd̥ə] |
[edit] Vigesimal system
Counting above forty is in part based on a base 20 number system, called vigesimal: halvtred-s(inds-tyve) = 2½ x 20, tre-s(inds-tyve) = 3 x 20, halvfjerd-s(inds-tyve) = 3½ x 20, fir-s(inds-tyve) = 4 x 20, halvfem-s(inds-tyve) = 4½ x 20 (halvtredje, halvfjerde and halvfemte (lit. "halfthird", "halffourth" and halffifth") being old words for 2½, 3½ and 4½). This is unlike Swedish and Norwegian, both of which use a decimal system.
The word fyrre / fyrretyve = "40" does not belong to the vigesimal system. The optional second part of the word is not the number tyve, "20", but an old plural of ti, "ten" (like in English forty, German vierzig); the first part is a variant of the number fire, "four". Similarly, tredive is a compound of tre, "three", and a weakened form of the old plural of ti, "ten".
Vigesimal systems are known in several European languages: French, Breton, Welsh, Albanian language, and Basque. Some scholars speculate that the system belongs to an "Old European" (i.e. pre-Indo-European) substratum, whereas others argue that the system is a recent innovation of the Middle Ages. See Vigesimal.
[edit] Sequence of numbers
The ones are placed before the tens with an intervening og ("and"): toogfyrre (42), seksoghalvfjers (76). The ones and the tens are placed after the hundreds with an optional og: to hundred (og) femoghalvfjers. Thi system is similar to that of German (zweiundvierzig, zwei Hundert fünfundsiebzig), but unlike that of Swedish (fyrtio två, två hundra sjutio fem).
[edit] Adjectives and adverbs
[edit] Declension
There are three forms of the adjective in Danish:
- basic form or common, used with singular words of the common gender ("n-words").
- en billig bog, "a cheap book"; en stor dreng, "a big boy"
- t-form or neuter, used with singular words of the neuter gender ("t-words") and as an adverb.
- et billigt tæppe, "a cheap carpet"; et stort hus, "a big house"
- han bor billigt, "he has a low rent (lit. lives cheaply)"
- e-form or plural / definite, used in the plural and with a definite article, a pronoun or a genitive.
- den billige bog, "the cheap book"; hans store hus, "his big house"
- billige bøger, "cheap books"; store huse, "big houses"
Only words ending in a consonant takes -e. Only words ending a consonant or the vowel å take -t. Others are unchanged.
[edit] Agreement
The adjective must agree with the word that it qualifies in both gender and number. In accordance with most languages, but contrary to German, this is the general rule also when the adjective is used predicatively: huset er stort, "the house is big", or bøgerne er billige, "the books are cheap" (cf. German das Haus ist groß, die Bücher sind billig).
An exception to the rule of agreement are the superlative and, in regular prose, the past participle when used in the verbal meaning (e.g. børnene er sluppet løs, "the children have been let out", but børnene er løsslupne, "the children are unrestrained").
[edit] Definite form
The definite e-form is historically identical to the so-called weak declension of the Germanic adjective, cf. German ein großes Haus, "a big house" ~ das große Haus, "the big house". But whereas the German definite form is not used after a genitive (Peters großes Haus) or the endingless forms of the possessive and indefinite pronouns (mein, kein großes Haus), and conversely, it is used after the indefinite pronoun in the forms that have an ending (meinem, keinem großen Haus = dem großen Haus), the Danish definite form is used in all instances after any determiner save the indefinite article:
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite form | Definite form | Indefinite form | Definite form |
| en billig bog bogen er billig |
Lones billige bog hendes billige bog min billige bog den billige bog |
billige bøger bøgerne er billige |
Lones billige bøger hendes billige bøger mine billige bøger de billige bøger |
| et stort hus huset er stort |
Peters store hus hans store hus mit store hus det store hus |
store huse husene er store |
Peters store huse hans store huse mine store huse de store huse |
| basic form t-form |
e-form | ||
[edit] Three degrees of comparison
The Danish adjectives and adverbs are inflected according to the three degrees of comparison. The comparative has the ending -ere (sometimes -re) and the superlative has the ending -st (sometimes -est): e.g. hurtig, hurtigere, hurtigst, "quick, -er, -est"; fræk, frækkere, frækkest, "impertinent, audacious"; lang, længere, længst (with umlaut), "long, -er, -est". The choice between -st and -est is determined by the syllable structure (to avoid uncomfortable consonant clusters), whereas the variant -re is used only in a few frequent comparatives.
In many cases, especially in longer words and words of a Latin or Greek origin, the comparative and superlative are formed with the adverbs mere and mest instead: e.g. intelligent, mere intelligent, mest intelligent.
The comparative is inflexible, and it is not used with the definite article (in which case Danish uses the superlative instead). The conjunction of comparison is end, "than".
The superlative is inflected like the positive (the t-form being identical to the n-form); længst, længste. When used as a predicate, the basic form is used instead of the e-form: hans ben er længst, "his legs are the longest".
[edit] Irregularities
The inflection of some adjectives is irregular:
- Ny (new) and fri (free) take -t and optionally -e, even though they end in vowels.
- Several common adjectives with the suffix -s (historically the ending of the genitive) are inflexible, e.g. fælles, "common" (: fælle, "fellow"); ens, "identical" (: en "one"); træls, "annoying" (: træl, "slave") (one also hears trælst, trælse).
- Adjectives with the very common -sk ending are special. If they are polysyllabic or refer to a country, geographic area or ethnic group, they never take -t. Et klassisk stykke (a classical piece), et svensk hus (a Swedish house). Otherwise the -t is optional. Et friskt pust, or et frisk pust (a breath of fresh air).
- Some words never take the t-ending: stems ending in another -t (e.g. mat, "weak"; sort, "black") stems ending in -et (-ed) [-əð̪] (e.g. tobenet, "biped"; elsket, "loved"; fremmed, "foreign").
- The t-form sometimes undergoes phonetical changes that are not reflected orthographically, especially shortening of the preceding vowel or assimilation of a preceding consonant: e.g. god [g̊o:ˀ(ð̪)] : godt [g̊ʌd̥]; ny [ny:ˀ] : nyt [nyd̥]; syg [sy:ˀ(j)] : sygt [syg̊d̥]. The adjectives ending in -en (originally past participles of the strong verbs) have either -ent [-ənd̥] or -et [-əð̪] in the t-form: e.g. et sunke(n)t skib, "a sunken ship"; et give(n)t antal, "a given number" (the choice is often a matter of style or tradition).
- Adjectives in -vis have an optional -t in the t-form: et gradvis(t) salg, "a phased sale".
- Some adverbs may be formed with the basic form instead of the t-form, especially those ending in -ig and -lig -vis: det forstår han selvfølgelig ikke, "of course, he doesn't understand"; The t-less form of such adverbs is obligatory when the adverb is isolated (i.e. with no corresponding adjective) or the meaning of the adverb is essentially different from that of the adjective (e.g. endelig, "finally, at last" ~ endeligt, "definitively"). In other cases, the t-less form is preferred when the adverb qualifies an adjective (e.g. væsentlig(t) større, considerably larger").
- The comparative and superlative of some frequent adjectives have umlaut: e.g. lang, længere, længst, "long, longer, longest"; ung, yngre, yngst, "young, younger, youngest; stor, større, størst, "big, bigger, biggest.
- One adjective is suppletive: lille, "little, small" (n- and t-form and definite e-form) ~ små (plural e-form), småt (adverb t-form). Six adjectives are suppletive in the three degrees of comparison: god, bedre, bedst, "good, better, best"; dårlig, værre, værst, "bad, worse, worst"; gammel, ældre, ældst, "old, older, oldest", mange, flere, flest; "many, more, most"; megen/-et, mere, mest, "much, more, most"; lille / lidt, mindre, mindst "little, less / smaller, least / smallest". Irregular, but not suppletive are få, færre, færrest, "few, fewer, fewest" and nær, nærmere, nærmest, "close, closer, closest".
