Basic needs and preferences | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Jeg har brug for hjælp.

   I need some help.

   Jeg

   I

   har brug for

   need

   hjælp

   help

   More detail

   Jeg means “I” and is the subject pronoun for the speaker. It is the first-person singular form; for example, Jeg har tid. means “I have time.” har brug for is a fixed Danish construction meaning “need.” Its literal parts are not normally translated separately in this use: har is the present-tense form of have, while brug for completes the expression. Reuse the pattern Jeg har brug for + noun: Jeg har brug for vand. means “I need water.” hjælp means “help.” In this sentence it refers to help as an uncountable need, so the English translation naturally uses “some help”; the Danish sentence itself does not state a specific quantity. The word can also occur in other patterns, such as Tak for hjælpen (“Thanks for the help”), where its form is different. Together, Jeg + har brug for + hjælp gives “I need some help.”

2. Jeg har brug for vand.

   I need some water.

   Jeg

   I

   har brug for

   need

   vand

   water

   More detail

   Jeg means “I” here: it is the first-person singular subject pronoun. It identifies the speaker, and Danish uses jeg for this role regardless of the speaker’s gender. Example: Jeg vil have den her. — “I want this one.” har brug for is the fixed Danish construction meaning “need” in this sentence. har is the present-tense form of have; the following brug for completes the idiomatic meaning, so the construction should be learned as a unit rather than translated word by word. The pattern is Jeg har brug for + [thing]. Example: Jeg har brug for hjælp. — “I need some help.” vand means “water.” It is a mass noun here, so the sentence does not state a particular numeric amount. Danish can also use noget vand when “some water” is expressed more explicitly, but vand alone is natural in this construction. Together, Jeg har brug for vand. follows the pattern “I need + thing” and means “I need some water.”

3. Jeg vil have den her.

   I want this one.

   Jeg

   I

   vil have

   want

   den her

   this one

   More detail

   Jeg means “I” here, the first-person singular subject pronoun. It identifies the speaker as the one who wants something. The corresponding object form is mig (“me”), as in Hun ser mig — “She sees me.” vil have is the reusable expression “want” in this sentence. vil is the present form of ville; with the infinitive have, it commonly expresses wanting to have something. have itself means “have” in other contexts, but together with vil here the intended meaning is “want,” not merely a prediction about possessing something. For example, Jeg vil have kaffe means “I want coffee.” den her means “this one.” den is a singular demonstrative pronoun used for a common-gender referent, while her means “here” and makes the demonstrative indicate something near the speaker. The phrase can stand alone when the specific item is understood from the situation. In the supplied next sentence, den der provides the useful contrast “that one”: der points farther away than her in that contrast. Together, Jeg (the speaker) + vil have (wants) + den her (this one) gives: “I want this one.”

4. Jeg vil have den der.

   I want that one.

   Jeg

   I

   vil have

   want

   den der

   that one

   More detail

   Jeg means “I” here, the first-person singular subject. It identifies the speaker as the person who wants something. Danish uses jeg for this role regardless of the speaker’s gender. vil have means “want” in this sentence. The verb vil is the present form of ville, “to want” (and in other contexts, “will”); have is the infinitive “to have.” Together, vil have is a reusable way to express wanting or choosing something: Jeg vil have kaffe. — “I want coffee.” The subject comes before this verb expression in the fixed sentence. den der means “that one.” den is the common-gender singular form of the pronoun used for a specific thing, while der points to the thing as being over there or otherwise distinct from the one indicated by den her (“this one”). The exact object is not named in the supplied sentence; the phrase identifies it demonstratively rather than by noun. Assembled, Jeg vil have den der. means “I want that one.” The speaker (Jeg) expresses a want with vil have, and den der identifies the selected object as the one indicated at a distance or contrasted with a nearer option. Danish normally places a full stop at the end of this statement.

5. Jeg kan lide den her.

   I like this one.

   Jeg kan

   I can

   lide

   like

   den her

   this one

   More detail

   Jeg kan combines jeg (“I”) with kan, the present-tense form of kunne (“can; be able to”). Here kan is part of the fixed expression kan lide, which means “like”; it is not expressing physical ability. Danish modal verbs such as kan are followed by an infinitive, so lide remains in its infinitive form. lide means “like” in this construction. The reusable pattern is jeg kan lide + [something] = “I like [something].” For negation, ikke is placed after the verb phrase: Jeg kan ikke lide den. = “I do not like it.” den her is a demonstrative expression meaning “this one.” den is the singular common-gender form used here, while her means “here” and helps indicate something near the speaker or currently indicated. A contrasting expression is den der = “that one,” as in the preceding example. The particular thing referred to is not named in the sentence. Together, Jeg kan lide den her. means “I like this one.” The structure is subject + kan lide + demonstrative: “I like” + “this one.”

6. Jeg kan ikke lide den.

   I do not like it.

   Jeg

   I

   kan

   can

   ikke

   not

   lide

   like

   den

   it; that one

   More detail

   Jeg means “I” here. It is the first-person singular subject pronoun. The subject form stays jeg whether the speaker is male or female; Danish does not change this pronoun for the speaker’s gender. kan is the present-tense form of kunne, “can” or “be able to.” In this sentence it appears in the fixed Danish construction kan lide, which means “like”; it is not best understood as a separate claim about ability. After a modal such as kan, the following verb is normally the infinitive without at: Jeg kan lide ... = “I like ...”. ikke means “not.” It supplies the negation here and comes between the modal kan and the verb lide: kan ikke lide = “do not like.” lide is the infinitive form used in the construction kan lide. On its own, lide has other uses and meanings, but in this pattern the complete expression means “like.” Compare the positive and negative patterns: Jeg kan lide den. = “I like it.” Jeg kan ikke lide den. = “I do not like it.” den means “it” or “that one” here. It is a singular pronoun used for a common-gender referent; the particular referent is supplied by the context rather than identified by this word alone. A neuter singular referent uses det instead, while plural referents use dem as an object pronoun. Together, Jeg gives the subject, kan ... lide gives the meaning “like,” and ikke reverses that meaning. Thus Jeg kan ikke lide den. means “I do not like it.”