What to bring | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Hvad skal jeg tage med?

   What should I bring with me?

   Hvad

   what

   skal jeg

   should I

   tage med

   bring along

   More detail

   Hvad means “what” here: it asks for the identity of an unspecified thing. It is the Danish question word used when the answer is an object or other non-person information. Example: Hvad læser du? — “What are you reading?” skal jeg combines the modal verb skal with the first-person singular pronoun jeg. In this sentence, skal expresses what the speaker ought to do, matching “should”; depending on context, skal can also express obligation or a planned action. After a Danish modal verb such as skal, the following verb is normally in the infinitive without at: skal tage, “should bring.” Jeg means “I” and is the subject of the question. tage med means “bring along” in this sentence. Tage is the infinitive of the irregular verb tage; useful forms include present tager, past tog, and past participle taget. Med adds the sense of taking something along with the speaker. In a statement, the item can come between the verb and med: Jeg tager en bog med. — “I’m bringing a book along.” Together, Hvad asks which thing, skal jeg asks what the speaker ought to do, and tage med specifies bringing an item along. The complete utterance therefore means “What should I bring with me?” A reusable Danish pattern is Hvad skal jeg tage med? (“What should I bring?”); with a named item, use tage [item] med, as in Jeg skal tage et tæppe med. (“I should bring a blanket.”)

2. Tag et lille tæppe med, tak.

   Please bring a small blanket.

   Tag … med

   bring along

   lille

   small

   tæppe

   blanket

   tak

   please

   More detail

   Tag ... med is the reusable Danish construction meaning “bring/take along.” Tag is the imperative of tage (“to take”); med adds the idea of taking something along. In this sentence, the two parts are separated by the object: Tag [et lille tæppe] med. Example: Tag paraplyen med. — “Bring the umbrella along.” lille means “small” here and describes tæppe. It is the singular form used with both common-gender and neuter nouns. In the plural, the form is små: små tæpper — “small blankets.” tæppe is the noun “blanket.” Its plural is tæpper: et tæppe — “a blanket”; to tæpper — “two blankets.” The article et marks this noun as neuter singular; here it does not by itself assert a numeric count. tak is “thanks/please.” After a request, as here, it makes the request polite. It is also used independently to accept or acknowledge something: Tak! — “Thanks!” Together, Tag et lille tæppe med, tak. means “Please bring a small blanket.” The imperative Tag makes it a request, et lille tæppe is the thing to bring, and med specifies that it should be brought along.

3. Skal vi også have drikkevarer med?

   Do we need drinks too?

   Skal vi

   do we need / shall we

   også

   also; too

   have

   have

   drikkevarer

   drinks; beverages

   med

   along; with

   More detail

   Skal vi starts a yes/no question. skal is the present form of skulle; with an infinitive it commonly expresses what someone is to do or needs to do. Here, vi is the subject “we,” and the intended question is whether bringing drinks is needed. The same pattern is reusable: Skal vi gå? — “Shall we go?” også means “also” or “too.” It adds this item to something already relevant, without changing who is responsible for the action. have is the infinitive of at have, “to have.” After the modal skal, Danish uses the infinitive without at: skal have. In this utterance, have ... med means having or bringing something along, rather than simple possession. For example, Vi skal have mad med. — “We need to bring food.” drikkevarer is the plural of drikkevare, “beverage” or “drink.” The plural form refers to drinks as a category or to multiple drinks. A singular example is en drikkevare — “a beverage.” med means “along” or “with” here. At the end of this construction, it works with have to express taking or bringing something along: have noget med — “have/bring something with you.” Together, skal ... have drikkevarer med asks about the need to bring drinks, while også marks drinks as an additional item. Thus the whole utterance means: “Do we need drinks too?”

4. Det ville være rart med en kold drik.

   A cold drink would be nice.

   Det ville være

   it would be

   rart

   nice; pleasant

   med

   with

   kold

   cold

   drik

   drink

   More detail

   Det ville være forms a reusable conditional pattern: “it would be …”. Here det is an impersonal subject, so the sentence does not identify a particular thing that det refers to. ville is the past-tense form of vil, used here to express a conditional or tentative idea, and være is the infinitive “be.” Compare: Det ville være godt. — “That would be good.” rart means “nice” or “pleasant” here. It is the neuter singular form of the adjective rar, matching the neuter subject det. Useful forms include rar with a common-gender singular noun, rart with a neuter singular noun, and rare in plural or definite contexts. Example: En rar dag. — “A nice day.” med normally means “with.” In the pattern det ville være rart med + noun phrase, it introduces what would be nice to have or include: “it would be nice with …” or, more naturally in English, “... would be nice.” kold means “cold.” It is the basic singular indefinite form used here with the common-gender noun drik; the adjective itself is not the noun’s base form. Compare the neuter form koldt and the plural/definite form kolde. Example: koldt vand — “cold water.” drik means “drink” and is a common-gender singular noun. Its plural is drikke. The preceding en is the common-gender indefinite article; in this sentence it introduces drik but does not by itself add a separate numerical emphasis. Together, Det ville være rart med en kold drik. means “A cold drink would be nice.” The structure is det ville være rart med + noun phrase, with en kold drik as the thing whose availability or inclusion would be pleasant. The wording is a natural, everyday way to express this suggestion or preference.

5. Jeg kan tage nogle kopper med.

   I can bring some cups.

   Jeg kan

   I can

   tage

   take; bring

   nogle

   some

   kopper

   cups

   med

   along

   More detail

   Jeg kan means “I can.” Jeg is the first-person singular pronoun “I”. kan is the present-tense form of kunne (“can; be able to”) and expresses ability or possibility here. After kan, Danish uses the infinitive without at: Jeg kan tage means “I can bring/take.” tage is the infinitive of tage (“take”). With med after it, tage med is the reusable construction “bring/take along”; the intended meaning here is “bring”. The infinitive stays the same after the modal kan. Example: Jeg kan tage en bog med. — “I can bring a book.” nogle means “some” before the plural noun kopper. It indicates an unspecified amount rather than a specific number. Danish also uses noget with many singular mass or neuter contexts, but nogle is the form used here with plural kopper. kopper means “cups”. It is the plural of kop (“cup”); the plural ending is -er. Example: Der står to kopper på bordet. — “There are two cups on the table.” med means “along” in this construction. Together, tage ... med means to take or bring something along. Here it completes the meaning of tage: tage nogle kopper med — “bring some cups along.” As a whole, Jeg kan supplies the subject and ability, tage is the infinitive after kan, nogle kopper is the unspecified plural object, and med marks that the cups are brought along. The complete utterance therefore means “I can bring some cups.”

6. Det ville hjælpe, tak. Vi kan dele dem.

   That would help, thanks. We can share them.

   Det ville

   That would

   hjælpe

   help

   tak

   thanks

   Vi kan

   We can

   dele

   share

   dem

   them

   More detail

   Det ville introduces the intended meaning “That would …”. Here Det refers to the action or proposal under discussion, without identifying a new concrete object. ville is the past-tense form of the verb whose infinitive is ville and whose present form is vil; in this construction, it expresses the conditional meaning “would.” hjælpe means “to help.” After the modal ville, the verb is in the infinitive: ville hjælpe. The same pattern occurs after other modal verbs, as in kan hjælpe (“can help”). Example: Det ville hjælpe meget. — “That would help a lot.” tak is the short expression “thanks” or “thank you.” It can be added after a statement to show appreciation: Det hjælper, tak. — “That helps, thanks.” Vi kan means “we can.” vi is the first-person plural subject pronoun, and kan is the present form of kunne, “can” or “be able to.” A modal such as kan is followed by an infinitive: Vi kan dele — “We can share.” dele means “to share.” It is an infinitive here, following kan. The construction kan + infinitive expresses ability or possibility; the fixed translation supports the meaning “can share.” dem means “them” as a third-person plural object pronoun. The fixed translation and the bounded context identify the referent as the cups. Danish distinguishes subject de (“they”) from object dem (“them”): De kan være i min taske. — “They can fit in my bag.” Together, Det ville hjælpe, tak. means “That would help, thanks.” Then Vi kan dele dem. has the structure subject + modal + infinitive + object: vi + kan + dele + dem, meaning “We can share them.”

7. De kan være i min taske.

   They can fit in my bag.

   De

   they

   kan

   can

   være

   be

   i

   in

   min

   my

   taske

   bag

   More detail

   De is the subject pronoun meaning “they” here. It is a plural form; the fixed translation identifies the referent as plural items, while the word itself does not identify exactly which items. kan is the modal verb “can” and expresses possibility or capability. In Danish, a modal is followed by an infinitive without at: De kan være ... means “They can be ...”. Compare De kan komme (“They can come”). være is the infinitive of “be”. After kan, it remains in the infinitive rather than taking a present-tense ending. In this sentence, kan være i describes the possibility that the items are accommodated inside the bag, hence the natural translation “can fit in”. i is the preposition “in” and marks the inside location of the bag. min means “my” before a singular common-gender noun. Danish possessive forms agree with the possessed noun: min taske (“my bag”), but mit is used with a singular neuter noun and mine with plural nouns. The possessive expresses ownership or association; it does not itself indicate how many bags there are beyond the singular form of taske. taske is the noun “bag”. Its base form is the singular indefinite form; the definite singular is tasken, and the plural is tasker. Together, De kan være gives “They can be / fit”, and i min taske gives “in my bag”. The complete utterance means: “They can fit in my bag.”

8. Så er vi klar.

   Then we're ready.

   Så

   then

   er

   are

   vi

   we

   klar

   ready

   More detail

   Så means “then” here and places the utterance in sequence with something already established. It can also have other meanings in Danish, but this sentence uses the time/sequence meaning. Example: Så går vi. — “Then we leave.” er is the present-tense form of være, “to be.” The construction vi er means “we are”; er is not a separate word meaning “are” in every context, but the present form of the verb. Example: Vi er her. — “We are here.” vi is the first-person plural pronoun, “we.” It presents the speaker together with at least one other person as the subject. The form does not identify exactly who else is included. klar is an adjective meaning “ready” in this sentence. Danish also uses related adjective forms such as klart and klare in other grammatical environments, but the observed form here is exactly klar; do not silently replace it. In the expression være klar, the adjective describes a state of readiness. Example: Jeg er klar. — “I am ready.” Together, Så er vi klar means “Then we're ready.” The order is Så + er + vi + klar: placing Så first gives the sequence meaning “then,” and the verb comes before the subject in this main-clause order. The sentence states that the speaker and the other people included by vi are ready at that point.