Rescheduling an appointment | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Jeg skal flytte min aftale til en anden dag.

   I need to move my appointment to another day.

   Jeg skal

   I need to

   flytte

   move

   min

   my

   aftale

   appointment

   til

   to

   anden

   another

   dag

   day

   More detail

   Jeg skal uses skal, the present-tense form of skulle, with jeg (“I”). Here skal expresses a need or obligation: “I need to,” matching the fixed translation. After this modal verb, Danish uses the infinitive directly, without at: Jeg skal flytte = “I need to move.” flytte means “move” here, specifically move the appointment to a different day. It is the infinitive form, used after skal. The same verb can also describe moving a person or object from one place to another; the surrounding words specify the relevant object and destination here. min aftale means “my appointment.” min is the possessive form used with a singular common-gender noun. Danish possessives agree with the noun they modify: compare mit with a singular neuter noun and mine with a plural noun. aftale can mean an appointment or an agreement; in this utterance, the fixed translation selects “appointment.” With a possessive such as min, Danish normally does not add the separate definite article before the noun. til introduces the destination or endpoint of the change: “to.” In this sentence, it marks the day to which the appointment is being moved. anden dag means “another day.” anden is the common-gender singular form of the adjective meaning “other/another,” agreeing with dag, which is a common-gender singular noun. Its other basic agreement forms include andet with a singular neuter noun and andre with a plural noun. dag means “day”; for example, en dag means “a day.” The utterance assembles as Jeg skal (“I need to”) + flytte min aftale (“move my appointment”) + til en anden dag (“to another day”). Together, it means: “I need to move my appointment to another day.” This is a straightforward, neutral way to state the need to reschedule.

2. Jeg kan tjekke kalenderen for dig.

   I can check the calendar for you.

   Jeg kan

   I can

   tjekke

   check

   kalenderen

   the calendar

   for dig

   for you

   More detail

   Jeg kan means “I can” here. Jeg is the first-person singular pronoun “I”, and kan is the present form of kunne, “can/be able to”. In Danish, kan is followed by an infinitive without at: Jeg kan hjælpe means “I can help.” tjekke means “check”. It is the infinitive form, used after the modal verb kan. The same form can be reused after other modal verbs, for example Jeg skal tjekke kalenderen — “I have to check the calendar.” kalenderen means “the calendar”. kalender is the noun’s common-form singular indefinite form, “a calendar”; kalenderen is its singular definite form, “the calendar”. The ending -en marks definiteness for this noun. For example, Jeg åbner kalenderen means “I open the calendar.” for dig means “for you”. dig is the object form of the second-person singular pronoun corresponding to du, “you”. The preposition for marks the benefit or intended recipient here: the checking is done for you. For example, Jeg gør det for dig means “I do it for you.” Together, Jeg kan tjekke kalenderen for dig means “I can check the calendar for you.” The speaker presents checking the specifically identified calendar as something they are able to do for the addressee.

3. Er der noget senere på ugen?

   Is there anything later this week?

   Er der

   is there

   noget

   anything

   senere

   later

   ugen

   the week

   More detail

   Er der is a common Danish existential question pattern: er is the present-tense form of være (“to be”), and der is an introductory element used in this construction. The pattern asks whether something exists or is available; it is different from an ordinary location question. Example: Er der kaffe? — “Is there coffee?” noget means “anything” here: it refers to an unspecified thing or amount in this question. In an affirmative sentence, the same form can mean “something,” as in Jeg har noget. — “I have something.” Nogen is a commonly contrasting form for an unspecified person or people, so it is not the form used for the thing referred to here. senere means “later” here. It is the comparative form of the adjective sen (“late”); sent is its neuter form, while senere expresses a later time. Example: Vi kan tale senere. — “We can talk later.” ugen is the definite singular form of uge (“week”): uge → ugen. Together with på, it forms the time expression på ugen in senere på ugen; in this sentence, the full expression means “later this week.” Together, Er der noget asks whether anything exists or is available, and senere på ugen specifies a later time within the week. The complete utterance means: “Is there anything later this week?”

4. Der er en ledig tid om eftermiddagen senere på ugen.

   There is an afternoon opening later this week.

   Der er

   there is / there are

   ledig

   available; free

   tid

   time; appointment slot

   eftermiddagen

   the afternoon

   senere

   later

   ugen

   the week

   More detail

   Der er is the Danish existential construction used to introduce something that exists or is available in a situation. It corresponds to “there is” or “there are”; the choice in English depends on the noun that follows, while the Danish construction itself is the same here. Example: Der er kaffe. — “There is coffee.” ledig means available or free here. It is an adjective, and its form can change to agree with the noun: en ledig tid (“an available time slot”), but et ledigt tidspunkt (“an available time”). The observed form ledig belongs with the common-gender noun tid. tid means “time” in general, but in this scheduling context it means an available time or appointment slot. Example: Har du tid i morgen? — “Do you have time tomorrow?” In a booking context, en tid can therefore refer to a scheduled appointment time without asserting that meaning in every context. eftermiddagen means “the afternoon.” The definite form is built from eftermiddag (“afternoon”) with the definite ending -en; the ending marks the noun as definite. By contrast, en eftermiddag means “an afternoon.” senere means “later.” It is a time adverb and does not inflect for the noun tid or eftermiddagen. In this sentence it places the opening at a later time rather than identifying a specific clock time. Example: Vi ses senere. — “We’ll see each other later.” ugen means “the week.” It is the definite form of uge (“week”), again with the definite ending -n: en uge is “a week,” while ugen is “the week.” senere på ugen is a reusable time expression meaning “later in the week.” The preposition på is part of this expression; it is not included in the selected senere or ugen entries. The indefinite article en in en ledig tid marks the noun phrase as indefinite; it does not by itself assert a numerical count. Together, Der er introduces an available item, en ledig tid identifies it as an available appointment slot, om eftermiddagen places it in the afternoon, and senere på ugen places it later in the week. The complete meaning is: “There is an afternoon opening later this week.”

5. Det passer mig.

   That works for me.

   Det

   that

   passer

   works; suits

   mig

   me

   More detail

   Det means “that” here and points to the proposed option or time under discussion. It is the neuter singular form of the third-person pronoun; Danish pronouns have forms such as det and den, chosen according to the grammatical gender of what they refer to. The form det itself does not identify a person. passer comes from passe and is the present-tense form meaning “fits,” “suits,” or, in this context, “works.” Danish verbs do not change their present-tense form for different subjects, so passer can be used with both singular and plural subjects. Example: Det passer mig godt. — “That suits me well.” mig is the object form of the first-person pronoun; its base pronoun is jeg (“I”). Use mig when “me” is affected by or benefits from the verb, as in Det passer mig (“That suits me”). Example: Hun hjælper mig. — “She helps me.” Together, Det passer mig literally presents the proposed option as something that suits the speaker, producing the natural meaning “That works for me.” In the surrounding context, the option is the afternoon opening, followed by the speaker’s statement that they can come that afternoon.

6. Jeg kan komme den eftermiddag.

   I can come that afternoon.

   Jeg kan

   I can

   komme

   come

   den

   that

   eftermiddag

   afternoon

   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.” In Danish, a modal such as kan is followed directly by an infinitive: Jeg kan komme = “I can come.” komme means “come” here. It is the infinitive/base form, used after kan; the modal carries the present-tense marking. A useful contrast is kommer, the present form used without a modal: Jeg kommer. — “I am coming” or “I come.” den means “that” here and identifies the following noun as a particular afternoon. In this use it is a demonstrative determiner agreeing with the singular common-gender noun eftermiddag; it is not the pronoun “that” standing alone. Danish also uses den in other determiner contexts, so its exact meaning is supplied by the surrounding noun and context. eftermiddag means “afternoon.” It is a singular common-gender noun. The same noun can occur in the indefinite form en eftermiddag (“an afternoon”) and the definite form eftermiddagen (“the afternoon”). With the demonstrative den, Danish uses den eftermiddag for “that afternoon.” Together, Jeg kan + komme expresses ability or availability, while den eftermiddag specifies the time: “I can come that afternoon.”

7. Jeg opdaterer aftalen.

   I will update the appointment.

   Jeg

   I

   opdaterer

   will update

   aftalen

   the appointment

   More detail

   Jeg means “I” here: the speaker is the actor. It is the Danish first-person singular subject pronoun. The same form is used whether the speaker is male or female; it does not change for that distinction. opdaterer means “will update” in this sentence. Its base form is opdatere, “to update”; opdaterer is the present-tense form. Danish present tense can describe a future action when the time or situation makes that reading clear, so the fixed translation uses “will update.” For example, Jeg opdaterer planen i morgen. means “I will update the plan tomorrow.” aftalen means “the appointment” here. The indefinite form is en aftale, and the definite singular form is aftalen; the ending -en marks definiteness for this common-gender noun. Aftale can refer to an appointment or an agreement depending on context; the fixed translation identifies the intended sense here as “appointment.” Together, Jeg opdaterer aftalen has the pattern subject + present-tense verb + definite noun: “I will update the appointment.” The present-tense verb supplies the action, while aftalen refers to one specific appointment already identifiable in the situation.

8. Skal jeg tage de samme dokumenter med?

   Should I bring the same documents?

   Skal jeg

   should I

   tage … med

   bring along

   samme

   same

   dokumenter

   documents

   More detail

   Skal jeg means “Should I …?” Here skal is the present form of skulle, used as a modal verb for asking whether the speaker is expected or supposed to do something. jeg is the first-person singular pronoun “I”. After a modal verb, Danish normally places the following verb in the infinitive without at. tage means “take” in its infinitive form. In this sentence it combines with the separated particle med to form the reusable pattern tage ... med, “take/bring something along.” The object can occur between the verb and med, as in tage dokumenterne med. Example: Skal jeg tage paraplyen med? — “Should I bring the umbrella?” med contributes the sense “along” in this construction. It is not the main lexical verb here; its meaning is completed by tage and the object between them. Danish can therefore place the particle after the object: tage bogen med — “bring the book along.” samme means “same.” In de samme dokumenter, it identifies the documents as matching documents already understood from the situation. The form samme is used in this expression with both singular and plural nouns; for example, den samme bog means “the same book,” while de samme bøger means “the same books.” dokumenter means “documents.” It is the plural form of dokument; the singular is dokument, and the plural is dokumenter. The plural noun is part of de samme dokumenter, literally “the same documents,” where de and samme together identify the plural set. Together, Skal jeg asks whether the speaker should do something, tage ... med expresses bringing something along, and de samme dokumenter supplies the object. The complete meaning is: “Should I bring the same documents?”

9. Tag venligst dit kort og den udfyldte formular med.

   Please bring your card and the completed form.

   Tag

   bring

   venligst

   please

   dit

   your

   kort

   card

   den

   the

   udfyldte

   completed

   formular

   form

   med

   along

   More detail

   Tag is the imperative of tage (“to take”). In this sentence, tage ... med means “bring ... along,” so the imperative makes this a polite request or instruction. The related present-tense form is tager: Jeg tager kortet med means “I am bringing the card along.” venligst means “please” and softens the instruction. It is a useful polite marker that can accompany an imperative: Vent venligst means “Please wait.” dit means “your” here. It is the possessive form used with a singular neuter noun, and kort (“card”) is neuter in this sense: et kort, hence dit kort. Compare din with a common-gender singular noun, as in din formular (“your form”), and dine with plural nouns, as in dine kort (“your cards”). kort means “card” here. Its plural is kort, so the form itself does not show singular or plural; the singular meaning here is supported by dit and the intended translation. A useful example is Jeg har et kort — “I have a card.” den is the common-gender definite article, meaning “the” before a singular common-gender noun. In den udfyldte formular, it introduces the specific form referred to by the sentence’s meaning. It is not the neuter article; neuter uses det, as in det udfyldte dokument (“the completed document”). udfyldte describes the form as completed or filled out. It is the definite attributive form of udfyldt (“completed/filled out”): before a definite noun phrase, the adjective normally has the -e form, as in den udfyldte formular. Example: Jeg afleverer den udfyldte formular — “I am handing in the completed form.” formular means “form.” It is a common-gender noun: en formular, definite formularen. Its gender explains the use of den in den udfyldte formular. med means “along” in this position. Together with tage, it forms the reusable pattern tage [something] med, “bring [something] along.” It can also mean “with” in other contexts, but here it completes the bring-along construction. Together, Tag venligst gives the polite instruction “Please bring.” The two requested objects are dit kort (“your card”) and den udfyldte formular (“the completed form”). The final med applies to the whole object phrase, producing: “Please bring your card and the completed form.”