Snow, icy streets, and buses | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Det sneede meget i løbet af natten.

   It snowed a lot during the night.

   Det

   it

   sneede

   snowed

   meget

   a lot

   i løbet af

   during

   natten

   the night

   More detail

   Det is the subject form used here in the weather expression. In this use, it does not identify a particular thing; Danish uses det as a formal subject for weather and similar impersonal statements. Compare the reusable pattern Det regner. — “It is raining.” sneede means “snowed” here. It is the past-tense form of sne (“to snow”): sne → sneede. The ending -ede is a common way to form the past of some Danish verbs, but past formation is not identical for every verb. Example: Det sneede i går. — “It snowed yesterday.” meget means “a lot” and intensifies the amount of snowing. It can also modify an adjective or another adverb, as in meget kold (“very cold”), but here it modifies the verb phrase and describes a large amount or degree of snowing. i løbet af is a reusable time expression meaning “during” or “over the course of.” It introduces the period within which something happens. Example: Hun læste i løbet af aftenen. — “She read during the evening.” The words form a fixed multiword construction here; løbet should not be understood as the ordinary main meaning “the run” in this expression. natten means “the night.” It is the definite singular form of nat (“night”): en nat means “a night,” while natten means “the night.” The definite ending is attached to the noun rather than expressed by a separate word. Example: Natten var kold. — “The night was cold.” Together, Det sneede meget says “It snowed a lot,” and i løbet af natten specifies the time period: “during the night.” The complete utterance therefore means “It snowed a lot during the night.”

2. Fortovene kan være isglatte her til morgen.

   The sidewalks may be icy this morning.

   Fortovene

   the sidewalks

   kan

   may

   være

   be

   isglatte

   icy

   her

   here

   til morgen

   this morning

   More detail

   Fortovene means “the sidewalks” here. Its base noun is fortov (“sidewalk”); -ene marks the definite plural, so it refers to sidewalks as a known plural set. Compare et fortov (“a sidewalk”) and fortovene (“the sidewalks”). kan expresses possibility in this sentence: the sidewalks may be icy. It is the modal verb kan, whose present form is used with all subjects; after it, Danish normally uses an infinitive. This is different from skal, which commonly expresses obligation or a strong expectation. Example: Det kan regne i morgen. — “It may rain tomorrow.” være is the infinitive “be.” It follows the modal kan, giving the pattern kan + infinitive. Here it links the sidewalks to their possible condition. Example: Vejen kan være farlig. — “The road may be dangerous.” isglatte means “icy/slippery from ice” here. The base adjective is isglat; isglatte is the form used with the plural noun fortovene in this construction. Compare singular et isglat fortov (“an icy sidewalk”) with plural isglatte fortove (“icy sidewalks”). The adjective describes the condition that may hold, rather than asserting that it definitely holds. her means “here,” identifying the relevant place without naming it more specifically. It is an adverb and does not change for number or gender. Example: Det er koldt her. — “It is cold here.” til morgen is the time expression intended here as “this morning.” It places the possible icy condition in the morning period. In the full sentence, her til morgen combines place and time: “here this morning.” Together, the subject Fortovene, the possibility pattern kan være, the adjective isglatte, and the modifiers her til morgen state that the sidewalks may have an icy condition at this place and time: “The sidewalks may be icy this morning.”

3. Så bør jeg tage støvler på med bedre greb.

   Then I should wear boots with better grip.

   Så

   then

   bør

   should; ought to

   jeg

   I

   tage … på

   put on; wear

   støvler

   boots

   bedre

   better

   greb

   grip

   More detail

   Så means “then” here: it links the conclusion to the situation already established. It can also mean “so” in other contexts, but “then” is the intended meaning in this utterance. bør expresses advice or what is advisable: “should” or “ought to.” It is the present-tense form of burde, and it does not change for the subject: jeg bør (“I should”), du bør (“you should”). After bør, Danish uses an infinitive without at: Jeg bør gå. — “I should walk.” jeg is the first-person singular pronoun, “I.” In jeg bør, it identifies the person who should do the action. The form for “you” is du, as in du bør (“you should”). tage ... på is a two-part verb construction meaning “put on” or, in this context, “wear.” The object can occur between the verb and på: Jeg tager jakken på. — “I put on the jacket.” Here, tage is the infinitive required after bør; på remains after the object støvler. støvler means “boots.” It is the plural form of støvle, “boot”: en støvle — “a boot,” støvler — “boots.” The plural fits the item being worn as a pair, but the word itself does not state a numerical count. bedre means “better” and modifies greb. It is the comparative form related to god (“good”): god — “good,” bedre — “better,” bedst — “best.” The comparative presents the boots as having grip that is better than some understood alternative or standard; the comparison is not stated explicitly. greb means “grip” or “traction” here: the ability of the boots to hold the surface. It is the noun greb, which can also refer to a physical grasp in other contexts. In bedre greb, bedre describes the quality of the grip. Together, jeg bør means “I should,” tage støvler på means “put on or wear boots,” and med bedre greb means “with better grip.” The complete utterance is therefore: “Then I should wear boots with better grip.”

4. Du bør også gå mere forsigtigt end normalt.

   You should also walk more carefully than usual.

   Du bør

   you should

   også

   also

   gå

   walk

   mere forsigtigt

   more carefully

   end normalt

   than usual

   More detail

   Du bør means “you should”: du is the second-person singular pronoun, and bør is the present form of the modal verb associated with burde. In this construction, bør expresses advice or recommendation. A modal such as bør is followed directly by an infinitive, without at: Du bør hvile. — “You should rest.” også adds another relevant action or recommendation and means “also” here. Its scope is understood with the rest of the sentence: the walking is an additional thing the person should do. gå is the infinitive of “to walk” or “to go”; the fixed translation selects “walk” in this sentence. After bør, it remains in the infinitive form. For example, Du bør gå nu. means “You should leave/walk now,” with the precise sense supplied by context. mere forsigtigt describes how the walking should be done. forsigtigt is the adverb “carefully/cautiously” here, modifying gå; mere makes it comparative, “more carefully.” The useful pattern is mere + adverb, as in Kør mere forsigtigt. — “Drive more carefully.” end normalt completes the comparison. end introduces the standard of comparison, “than,” while normalt means “normally/usually” here. Together, the phrase means “than usual.” In a comparative sentence, end links the compared degree to its reference point: Hun arbejder hurtigere end normalt. — “She works faster than usual.” Putting the parts together, Du bør gives the recommendation, også adds this recommendation to the surrounding advice, gå names the action, and mere forsigtigt end normalt specifies that the walking should be more careful than it ordinarily is. The whole utterance therefore means: “You should also walk more carefully than usual.”

5. Tror du, at busserne bliver forsinkede?

   Do you think buses will be delayed?

   Tror

   think

   du

   you

   busserne

   the buses

   bliver

   become; will be

   forsinkede

   delayed

   More detail

   Tror is the present form of tro, “to think” or “to believe.” Danish present forms do not change between singular and plural subjects here: jeg tror, du tror, and de tror. In this question, it introduces a judgment about a possibility, not a statement that the buses are certainly delayed. du means “you” and is the subject of tror. It is the singular or plural second-person pronoun; the form itself does not identify whether one person or more than one person is addressed. busserne means “the buses.” The base noun is bus; busser is its plural, and the ending -ne marks the definite plural: busser = “buses,” busserne = “the buses.” bliver is the present form of blive, “to become” or “to get.” Danish commonly uses the present tense with a future-time meaning when the context supplies that time reference; the form itself is not a special future form. Here, bliver combines with forsinkede to express the buses becoming or getting delayed. forsinkede means “delayed” here. It is the form used with the plural definite subject busserne. The adjective’s base form is forsinket; compare singular indefinite en forsinket bus (“a delayed bus”) with plural or definite forms such as forsinkede busser and den forsinkede bus. The question pattern is Tror du, at ...? — “Do you think that ...?” After at (“that”), the clause busserne bliver forsinkede keeps the buses as the subject and says that they get delayed. Together, the utterance asks whether the addressee thinks the buses will be delayed. Danish expresses the future-time interpretation through the present bliver here rather than through a separately inflected future form.

6. Sandsynligvis, fordi trafikken bevæger sig langsomt i snevejr.

   Probably, because traffic moves slowly in snow.

   Sandsynligvis

   probably

   fordi

   because

   trafikken

   the traffic

   bevæger sig

   moves

   langsomt

   slowly

   snevejr

   snowy weather

   More detail

   Sandsynligvis means “probably.” It is an adverb expressing that the speaker considers the statement likely, not certain. A useful contrast is måske (“perhaps/maybe”), which presents possibility without the same suggestion of likelihood. fordi introduces the reason for something: “because.” It begins a subordinate clause. In this sentence, the reason follows the initial likelihood statement. trafikken means “the traffic.” The base noun is trafik; -en marks the definite singular form, referring to traffic as the relevant flow of vehicles in this situation. Danish often uses the definite form for an understood, contextually relevant phenomenon such as traffic. bevæger sig means “moves.” This is the present-tense form of bevæge sig (“to move”), a verb construction with the reflexive pronoun sig. The form bevæger carries the present-tense marking; sig belongs to the construction and does not identify a separate participant here. Example: Bilen bevæger sig langsomt. — “The car is moving slowly.” langsomt means “slowly.” It is the adverb related to the adjective langsom (“slow”) and describes how the traffic moves. Compare Toget er langsomt (“The train is slow”) with Toget kører langsomt (“The train travels slowly”): langsom describes a noun, while langsomt describes an action. snevejr means “snowy weather” or “snow weather.” It is a compound noun formed from sne (“snow”) and vejr (“weather”). Here it appears without an article in the general circumstance expression i snevejr, meaning “in snowy weather.” Together, Sandsynligvis gives the likelihood, and fordi trafikken bevæger sig langsomt i snevejr gives the reason: “Probably, because traffic moves slowly in snow.”

7. Lad mig tjekke transportappen, før jeg tager af sted.

   Let me check the transport app before leaving.

   Lad mig

   let me

   tjekke

   check

   transportappen

   the transport app

   før

   before

   tager af sted

   leave / set off

   More detail

   Lad mig is the Danish construction “let me …”. Lad is the imperative of lade (“to let/allow”), and mig is the object pronoun “me”. The construction is followed by an infinitive to state the action the speaker proposes to do: Lad mig tjekke = “Let me check.” tjekke means “to check” here. It is the infinitive form, recognizable by at in many ordinary infinitive contexts, as in Jeg vil tjekke appen (“I want to check the app”). After the imperative construction Lad mig, Danish uses the infinitive directly, without at. transportappen means “the transport app”. It is a compound noun: transport specifies the type of app, while the ending -en marks the definite singular form of app in this compound. The observed form is not an adjective; it is a noun with definiteness marked at the end. A useful contrast is en app (“an app”) versus appen (“the app”). før means “before” and introduces the event that must occur later in the sequence. Here it introduces the clause jeg tager af sted (“I leave”). For example, Ring, før du går means “Call before you go.” jeg means “I”. It is the first-person singular subject pronoun. Danish uses jeg for the speaker as subject; the corresponding object form is mig, as in Lad mig …. tager af sted is the fixed expression “leave” or “set off”. tager is the present-tense form of tage (“to take”), but in this expression the whole phrase means “leave/set off”, rather than literally “take”. af sted is written as two words here. For a different subject, the present form remains tager: Hun tager af sted means “She leaves/sets off.” Together, Lad mig tjekke transportappen gives “Let me check the transport app”. The clause før jeg tager af sted adds the time relation “before leaving”, with jeg as the subject of tager af sted. Thus the whole utterance means: “Let me check the transport app before leaving.”

8. Det kan måske spare dig tid.

   That may save you time.

   Det

   That

   kan

   may

   måske

   perhaps

   spare

   save

   dig

   you

   tid

   time

   More detail

   Det means “that” here and functions as the subject of the sentence. Danish det can also mean “it” in other contexts; the fixed translation supports “that” here. Its form is not a marker of grammatical gender in this use. kan is the modal verb “can” used here with a possibility meaning, so the translation is “may.” After a modal verb, the following verb normally appears in the infinitive without at: kan spare = “may/can save.” The present form kan is used with different subjects; it does not change for person or number. Example: Det kan hjælpe. — “That may help.” måske means “perhaps” or “maybe.” It adds uncertainty to the possibility expressed by kan; it does not itself mean “may.” Together, kan måske presents the saving as a possible outcome rather than a certainty. spare is the infinitive of the verb “to save” in the sense of saving someone time. Here it describes the possible action after kan. The same verb can have other meanings in other contexts, such as saving money or sparing someone effort. Example: Det kan spare os penge. — “That may save us money.” dig is the second-person singular object form, “you.” It marks the person who benefits from or experiences the saving. The corresponding subject form is du: Du sparer tid. — “You save time.” tid means “time.” In this sentence it is an uncounted resource, so Danish uses the noun without an indefinite article. The phrase spare dig tid is a reusable pattern meaning “save you time”; the person is expressed by an object form such as dig. The sentence assembles as Det (“that”) + kan måske (“may/perhaps can”) + spare (“save”) + dig (“you”) + tid (“time”). Its complete meaning is: “That may save you time.”