Politely finding the end of the line | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Undskyld, jeg tror, at køens ende er bag os.

   Excuse me, I think the end of the line is behind us.

   Undskyld

   Excuse me; sorry

   tror

   think; believe

   køens

   the line’s

   ende

   end

   bag os

   behind us

   More detail

   Undskyld is a polite way to apologize or get someone's attention. In this utterance, Excuse me is the fitting meaning. Example: Undskyld, hvor er stationen? — “Excuse me, where is the station?” tror is the present-tense form of tro, “to think” or “to believe.” With jeg, jeg tror means “I think.” Danish present-tense verbs generally do not change for the subject: jeg tror and de tror both use tror. The following at introduces the content of the thought, much like “that” in English. Example: Jeg tror, at han kommer. — “I think that he is coming.” køens means “the line’s” or “of the line.” It is formed from kø (“line” or “queue”) with the definite form køen (“the line”) plus possessive -s: køen → køens. This -s marks the relation between the line and its end; it does not mean that the line owns something in a human sense. ende means “end.” Here it is the noun in the phrase køens ende, literally “the line’s end,” meaning “the end of the line.” Danish can use a possessive phrase before the noun it specifies. The noun ende is not itself in the definite form here because the possessive phrase already specifies which end is meant. Example: Bogens ende er beskadiget. — “The end of the book is damaged.” bag os means “behind us.” bag expresses a position behind something, and os is the object form of the first-person plural pronoun: vi means “we” as a subject, while os means “us” after a preposition such as bag. The source and translation support os referring to the speaker together with at least one other person, without specifying who else that is. Example: Bilen står bag os. — “The car is behind us.” Together, jeg tror, at ... introduces the speaker’s belief, køens ende identifies what is being located, and er bag os places it behind the speaker and the accompanying group. The whole utterance therefore means: “Excuse me, I think the end of the line is behind us.”

2. Undskyld, jeg lagde ikke mærke til, hvor den sluttede.

   Sorry, I did not notice where it ended.

   Undskyld

   Sorry / excuse me

   jeg lagde ikke mærke til

   I did not notice

   hvor

   where

   den

   it

   sluttede

   ended

   More detail

   Undskyld is a common Danish apology or attention-getting expression: “sorry” or “excuse me.” It can stand alone, as it does here, or introduce an apology. jeg lagde ikke mærke til means “I did not notice.” The reusable expression is lægge mærke til = “to notice, pay attention to.” Here lagde is the past form of lægge, and ikke makes the statement negative. The expression is built with til before what is noticed; for example, Jeg lagde mærke til skiltet. means “I noticed the sign.” hvor introduces a place-related embedded question: “where.” In hvor den sluttede, it introduces the information being noticed, rather than asking a separate direct question. A useful contrast is hvornår = “when,” which asks about time instead. den is a singular Danish pronoun used for a referent with common grammatical gender. Its specific referent is not identified by the fixed sentence, translation, or supplied context, so here it is best understood simply as “it.” Danish uses det for a singular neuter referent and de for plural referents; this choice reflects the referent’s grammatical class, not its physical location. sluttede means “ended” here. It is the past form of slutte and describes the endpoint of something. For example, Filmen sluttede sent. means “The film ended late.” The form sluttede is used with past-time meaning; the present form is slutter. Together, hvor den sluttede means “where it ended.” The negative past expression jeg lagde ikke mærke til then says that the speaker did not notice that information. With the opening apology, the whole utterance means: “Sorry, I did not notice where it ended.”

3. Skiltene er svære at se herfra.

   The signs are hard to see from here.

   Skiltene

   the signs

   svære

   hard

   at se

   to see

   herfra

   from here

   More detail

   Skiltene means “the signs” here. It is the definite plural of skilt: et skilt = “a sign,” skilte = “signs,” and skiltene = “the signs.” The ending -ene marks definite plural in this noun. Example: Skiltene er tydelige. — “The signs are clear.” svære describes the signs as difficult to see. The adjective is in its plural form because it describes plural skiltene; it is not the comparative form “harder.” Its basic form is svær, with neuter singular svært and plural or definite-form svære. Example: Det er svært at se. — “It is hard to see.” at se means “to see.” at introduces the infinitive, and se is the infinitive form of the verb. In the reusable pattern være svær(e) at + infinitive, the phrase says that doing something is difficult: Det er svært at forstå. — “It is hard to understand.” herfra means “from here.” It is a single adverb meaning that the starting point is the speaker’s or contextually established location. Example: Man kan se havet herfra. — “You can see the sea from here.” Together, Skiltene er svære at se herfra says that the signs are difficult to see when viewed from here: “The signs are hard to see from here.”

4. Skal jeg stille mig bag personen i den grå frakke?

   Should I move behind the person in the gray coat?

   Skal jeg

   Should I

   stille mig

   move myself

   bag

   behind

   personen

   the person

   grå

   gray

   frakke

   coat

   More detail

   Skal jeg begins a yes/no question. skal is the present form of skulle; with an infinitive it can express what the speaker should or is expected to do, giving “Should I…?” here. jeg means “I” and is the subject. In this construction, the infinitive follows the subject: Skal jeg vente? — “Should I wait?” stille mig is the infinitive phrase “position myself” or “place myself.” stille is the infinitive of stille, while mig is the reflexive object corresponding to the subject jeg; it refers back to the speaker. The phrase can naturally describe moving into a position, so it fits the translation “move behind.” Compare Han stiller sig ved døren — “He positions himself by the door.” bag is a preposition meaning “behind.” A reusable pattern is bag + noun phrase, as in bag huset — “behind the house.” personen means “the person.” The base noun is person; personen is its definite singular form, literally the form used for “the person.” Danish commonly marks definiteness on the noun with an ending, rather than using a separate word in this form. The supplied sentence identifies this person further with the phrase that follows. grå means “gray.” It is an adjective describing frakke. In den grå frakke, grå has the form used with a singular common-gender noun; its form does not show the noun’s definiteness by itself. A useful contrast is en grå frakke — “a gray coat” and et gråt tæppe — “a gray blanket”: the adjective changes to gråt with the neuter noun tæppe. frakke means “coat.” It is a common-gender noun, and in this sentence it appears after the adjective in the noun phrase den grå frakke, “the gray coat.” Together, stille mig bag personen means “position myself behind the person,” and i den grå frakke identifies the person by the coat they are wearing: “in the gray coat.” The complete question is therefore “Should I move behind the person in the gray coat?”

5. Ja, gør det venligst. Alle har ventet et stykke tid.

   Please do; everyone has been waiting a while.

   Ja

   yes

   gør

   do

   det

   it

   venligst

   please

   Alle

   everyone

   ventet

   waited; been waiting

   et stykke tid

   a while

   More detail

   Ja means “yes” and gives an affirmative response to the preceding question or request. Danish uses ja as a general affirmative response. gør is the imperative of gøre, “to do.” The imperative gives a direct instruction: Gør det! means “Do it!” Here the instruction is softened by venligst. det is a neuter singular pronoun meaning “it” here. It refers to the action being requested without naming that action again. Its precise grammatical role depends on the sentence; in this utterance it is the object of gør. venligst means “please” and makes the instruction more polite. It can occur with an imperative, as in Vent venligst (“Please wait”). Alle means “everyone” or “all [people].” It is the subject of the following clause. Danish finite verbs do not change form for subject number, so har has the same form with alle as with a singular subject. ventet is the past participle of vente, “to wait.” With the auxiliary har, it forms the perfect construction har ventet. In this context, that construction presents the waiting as occurring before the current point and relevant now; the context supports the translation “has been waiting.” A reusable example is Jeg har ventet — “I have waited” or “I have been waiting.” et stykke tid is a common time expression meaning “a while” or “some time.” The noun stykke means “piece,” but in this expression the whole phrase denotes a period of time. et is the indefinite article used with the neuter noun stykke; it does not by itself assert a count of one object. Together, Alle har ventet et stykke tid means “Everyone has been waiting a while.” The complete utterance is an affirmative, polite instruction: “Please do; everyone has been waiting a while.”

6. Jeg ville ikke snige mig ind i køen.

   I did not mean to cut in.

   Jeg ville

   I intended to

   ikke

   not

   snige mig ind

   sneak in

   køen

   the queue

   More detail

   Jeg ville means “I intended to” here. ville is the past form of vil and is followed by an infinitive: jeg vil snige mig ind = “I intend to sneak in,” while jeg ville snige mig ind places that intention in the past. In this sentence, the fixed translation makes the intended reading clear: the speaker says that cutting in was not their intention. Depending on context, ville can also express “would,” but that is not the best meaning here. ikke is the negation. In Jeg ville ikke ..., it says that the speaker did not intend or want to do the following action. The negation applies to the intention expressed by ville, not to the existence of the queue. snige mig ind is the infinitive construction “sneak in.” snige is the infinitive of snige; the reflexive object mig means “myself” for jeg, and ind adds movement inward. The related forms change with the subject: jeg sniger mig ind = “I sneak in,” while du sniger dig ind = “you sneak in.” In the full expression snige mig ind i køen, the action is entering the queue stealthily, hence the context-appropriate translation “cut in.” køen means “the queue.” Its base form is kø, and køen is its singular definite form. The preposition i connects the movement with its destination: ind i køen means “into the queue.” Whole utterance: Jeg ville ikke + snige mig ind + i køen gives “I did not mean to sneak into the queue,” naturally rendered by the fixed translation as “I did not mean to cut in.”

7. Det sker, når der bliver så mange mennesker her.

   It happens when the area gets this crowded.

   Det

   it

   sker

   happens

   når

   when

   der

   there (in an existential construction)

   bliver

   gets, becomes

   så mange

   so many

   mennesker

   people

   her

   here

   More detail

   Det is the neutral Danish pronoun used here for the situation or event: “it.” In Det sker, it does not identify a particular person or object. Danish also uses det in other grammatical roles, so its exact function comes from the construction. sker is the present-tense form of ske, “to happen.” The useful chain is ske → sker; the present form describes what happens or what occurs. Example: Hvad sker der? — “What is happening?” når means “when” and introduces the condition or time at which something happens. It links the main clause to the following clause: når ... = “when ...”. der is a non-referential subject used in the Danish existential pattern der bliver .... Here it does not mean a place such as “there”; it helps introduce the situation in which the number of people becomes large. Do not confuse this use with place-related der in another context. bliver is the present-tense form of blive, “to become” or “to get” in a change-of-state expression. The chain is blive → bliver. In this sentence, bliver presents an increase leading to a crowded situation, rather than simply locating people somewhere. Example: Det bliver varmt. — “It gets warm.” så mange means “so many.” så intensifies the quantity expressed by mange; it is not the same as så meaning “then” in every context. mange is used with plural countable nouns, such as people or objects. Example: Der er så mange biler. — “There are so many cars.” mennesker means “people” and is the plural form of menneske, “person” or “human being.” The plural form is appropriate because the sentence refers to a large number of people. Example: Mange mennesker venter. — “Many people are waiting.” her means “here,” referring to the location relevant in the utterance. It modifies the situation as a whole: the crowding occurs here, not necessarily everywhere. Example: Der er stille her. — “It is quiet here.” Together, Det sker gives “It happens.” The subordinate clause når der bliver så mange mennesker her says when it happens: “when there get to be so many people here.” In natural English, the fixed translation expresses the resulting situation as “when the area gets this crowded.” The reusable pattern is Det sker, når ... — “It happens when ...”.

8. Jeg går om bag i køen nu.

   I'll head to the back now.

   Jeg

   I

   går

   go; head

   om bag

   to the back

   køen

   the queue

   nu

   now

   More detail

   Jeg means “I” and is the first-person singular subject pronoun. It identifies the speaker as the person carrying out the action. For example, Jeg venter. means “I am waiting.” går is the present-tense form of gå, “to go” or “to walk.” In this sentence, gå is used in the natural sense “head/go,” not necessarily to emphasize walking. The present form can describe an action happening now or an immediate movement. For example, Jeg går hjem. means “I’m going home.” om bag is a directional expression meaning “to the back” or “behind.” It is a useful pattern for movement toward a position: gå om bag ... means “go/head to the back of ...”. Here it introduces the place associated with køen. køen means “the queue” or “the line.” Its base form is kø, “queue/line”; the ending -en marks the definite singular form, “the queue.” The form refers to the queue as a specific, identifiable place in this situation. For example, Jeg står i køen. means “I am standing in the queue.” nu means “now.” It places the movement at the present moment. For example, Vi går nu. means “We are leaving now.” Together, Jeg går om bag i køen nu. means “I’ll head to the back now.” The subject is Jeg (“I”), går expresses the immediate movement, om bag i køen specifies the destination as the back of the queue, and nu marks when it happens. In the fixed sentence, the present-tense verb naturally conveys an immediate intention or action in progress in context.