Catching up after missed classes | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Jeg er gået glip af nogle undervisningstimer på det sidste og føler mig bagud.

   I missed some classes recently and feel behind.

   gået glip af

   missed

   nogle

   some

   undervisningstimer

   class hours

   på det sidste

   recently; lately

   føler

   feel

   bagud

   behind

   More detail

   gået glip af is the fixed expression gå glip af, meaning “to miss” something. Here gået is the past participle of gå and appears with er in the perfect construction er gået glip af: “have missed.” The expression takes the missed thing after af. Example: Hun er gået glip af mødet. — “She missed the meeting.” nogle means “some” before a plural noun. It indicates an unspecified amount, without giving an exact number. The singular counterpart is often en or et, depending on the noun’s grammatical gender; nogle itself is used with plural nouns. undervisningstimer means “class hours” or, naturally here, “classes.” It is the plural of undervisningstime, a compound meaning a period or hour of teaching. The plural form is marked by -r here. på det sidste is a reusable expression meaning “lately” or “recently.” It refers to a recent period continuing up to the relevant present, rather than naming one specific time. føler is the present form of føle, “to feel.” In this sentence it is used with the reflexive pronoun mig: jeg føler mig ..., literally “I feel myself ...,” the normal Danish pattern for describing one’s own state. føle is the base form; føler is its present-tense form. Example: Jeg føler mig træt. — “I feel tired.” bagud means “behind,” especially behind in progress or work. Here it describes the speaker’s state of being behind with regard to the classes. It is not the comparative form of an adjective in this sentence; it is an adverb-like state word used after føler mig. Together, Jeg er gået glip af nogle undervisningstimer means “I have missed some classes,” and på det sidste places that missed attendance in the recent period. og føler mig bagud adds “and feel behind.” The complete utterance is therefore: “I missed some classes recently and feel behind.”

2. Du kan godt komme ajour.

   You can catch up.

   Du

   you

   kan godt

   can

   komme ajour

   catch up

   More detail

   Du means “you” and is the second-person singular pronoun in Danish. It addresses one person and does not mark grammatical gender. For example, Du lærer hurtigt means “You learn quickly.” kan godt combines kan, the present-tense form of kunne (“can, be able to”), with godt. Here it expresses positive reassurance: “can” or “are able to.” After kan, the next verb stays in the infinitive, so the pattern is kan + infinitive. Godt can have other meanings in Danish, but in this construction it strengthens the affirmative message rather than adding a separate object or action. komme ajour means “catch up” in the sense of reaching the current level or becoming up to date. Komme is the infinitive of komme (“come”); ajour is a fixed adverbial expression meaning “up to date/current.” Together, komme ajour is the useful expression for catching up with missed work, information, or progress. For example, Jeg skal komme ajour med arbejdet means “I have to catch up with the work.” Putting the parts together, Du kan godt komme ajour. means “You can catch up.” The subject is Du, kan godt presents this as a possible and reassuring outcome, and komme ajour identifies the goal of catching up. In the supplied context, that goal concerns the classes the person has missed.

3. Men hvis du prøver at lære det hele på én gang, bliver det sværere.

   But trying to learn everything at once will make it harder.

   Men

   but

   hvis du

   if you

   prøver

   try

   at lære

   to learn

   det hele

   everything

   på én gang

   all at once

   bliver

   becomes; gets

   sværere

   harder

   More detail

   Men means “but” and links this sentence to a contrasting point. It is a conjunction; a reusable pattern is men + clause, as in Jeg vil gerne, men jeg har ikke tid (“I would like to, but I do not have time”). hvis du introduces a condition: “if you.” hvis means “if,” and du is the second-person singular pronoun “you.” The following clause describes the condition, not a fact that is asserted to have happened. For example, Hvis du øver dig, bliver det lettere means “If you practise, it becomes easier.” prøver is the present-tense form of prøve, “to try.” With a person as subject, du prøver means “you try.” Danish present tense does not add a separate ending here for this subject: jeg prøver, du prøver, and de prøver can all use prøver; the subject identifies the person. prøve at + infinitive means “try to do something.” at lære means “to learn.” lære is the infinitive after at; the form at lære is not a present-tense form. In this sentence, prøver at lære means “try to learn.” A useful contrast is lære “learn” versus undervise “teach”: Hun lærer dansk means “She is learning Danish,” while Hun underviser i dansk means “She teaches Danish.” det hele means “everything” in this context, literally “the whole of it.” det is a neuter singular form of the third-person pronoun, and hele is the definite form of hel, “whole.” Together, this construction refers to the complete relevant set or subject, rather than to one unspecified item. The exact set is supplied by the sentence’s context. på én gang means “all at once” or “at the same time.” på is part of this time-related construction, and én emphasizes one single occasion or time. For example, Hun taler med to personer på én gang means “She is talking with two people at once.” bliver is the present-tense form of blive, “become” or “get.” Here it introduces a change of state: something “gets harder.” In Danish, blive commonly combines with an adjective to express a change, as in Det bliver varmt (“It gets warm”). sværere means “harder” or “more difficult.” It is the comparative form of the adjective svær (“hard/difficult”): svær → sværere. The adjective is the word carrying the comparison; det is not its base form. The corresponding superlative is sværest, “hardest.” Putting the parts together: Men marks a contrast; hvis du prøver at lære det hele på én gang gives the condition “if you try to learn everything all at once”; and bliver det sværere gives the result “it will get harder.” The complete meaning is: “But trying to learn everything at once will make it harder.” The Danish present forms can describe a general conditional result, so the English future wording does not require a separate future auxiliary in the Danish sentence.

4. Kan du fortælle mig, hvilken opgave jeg skal tage mig af først?

   Could you tell me which assignment I should handle first?

   Kan du

   can you

   fortælle

   tell

   mig

   me

   hvilken

   which

   opgave

   assignment

   jeg skal

   I should

   tage mig af

   handle

   først

   first

   More detail

   Kan du combines kan (“can”) with du (“you”). kan is the present form of kunne; here it makes a polite request about whether the listener is able or willing to provide the information. In a direct question, Danish places the finite modal before the subject: Kan du ...? (“Can you ...?”). Example: Kan du hjælpe mig? — “Can you help me?” fortælle means “to tell” and is the infinitive of fortælle. After the modal kan, the following lexical verb is normally in the infinitive: kan fortælle — “can tell.” This verb can introduce information or a person who is told something; here the information is the embedded question that follows. mig is the object form of the first-person pronoun: jeg is “I” when it is the subject, while mig is “me” when it is an object. In fortælle mig, it identifies the person who should receive the information. Example: Hun fortæller mig sandheden. — “She tells me the truth.” hvilken means “which” here. It is the singular common-gender form of the Danish question determiner: hvilken with a common-gender singular noun, hvilket with a neuter singular noun, and hvilke with a plural noun. The form agrees with the noun it determines, not with the person asking the question. opgave means “assignment” here. It is a common-gender noun: en opgave — “an assignment,” and opgaven — “the assignment.” The phrase hvilken opgave therefore asks the listener to identify one assignment from the relevant set. Example: Hvilken opgave vælger du? — “Which assignment are you choosing?” jeg skal contains jeg, “I,” and skal, the present form of skulle. In this sentence, skal expresses what the speaker is expected or instructed to do, so jeg skal ... means “I should ...” or “I am to ...”. The subject jeg is explicit, and the next verb remains in the infinitive. Example: Jeg skal læse teksten. — “I should read the text.” tage mig af is a fixed verb construction meaning “to handle” or “to take care of.” Its parts are tage (“take”), mig (“myself/me”), and af (“of/about” in this construction). The reflexive object mig refers back to the subject jeg; it is not the ordinary object pronoun meaning that someone is telling another person. The construction can be reused with another subject and matching reflexive form, for example Hun tager sig af sagen. — “She takes care of the matter.” først means “first” and places the handling of the assignment before other tasks in the relevant sequence. It is an adverb and does not change form for the subject or assignment. Example: Vi spiser først. — “We eat first.” Together, Kan du fortælle mig asks politely for information. The embedded question hvilken opgave jeg skal tage mig af først asks which assignment is the one the speaker should handle before the others. In the embedded question, jeg skal keeps the subject before the finite verb, unlike the verb-before-subject order of the opening direct question. The complete meaning is: “Could you tell me which assignment I should handle first?”

5. Den mundtlige opsummering skal snart afleveres, og arbejdsarket kan vente til senere.

   The speaking summary is due soon, and the worksheet can wait until later.

   mundtlige

   spoken

   opsummering

   summary

   skal

   is to / must

   afleveres

   be handed in

   snart

   soon

   arbejdsarket

   the worksheet

   kan

   can

   vente

   wait

   senere

   later

   More detail

   mundtlige describes opsummering as spoken/oral. Its base form is mundtlig; the -e form is used here because the adjective follows the definite element den in den mundtlige opsummering. This form is not the noun's ending. opsummering means summary. It is a singular noun here, introduced as definite by den: den ... opsummering means “the ... summary.” Example: Jeg skriver en opsummering. — “I am writing a summary.” skal is a modal auxiliary expressing that something is due or required. It is followed by the infinitive-like form afleveres, so skal afleveres means “is to be handed in” here. skal can also express a stronger obligation, but the fixed translation supports the due/required reading in this sentence. afleveres means “be handed in.” It is the passive form of aflevere (“hand in”), marked by -s. The person or people who hand it in are not stated. Example: Opgaven skal afleveres i morgen. — “The assignment must be handed in tomorrow.” snart means “soon,” referring here to the time by which the summary is due. It contrasts with a later time expression such as senere (“later”), but it does not itself specify an exact deadline. arbejdsarket means “the worksheet.” The base noun is arbejdsark; -et marks the definite singular form of this neuter noun. The definite form identifies a particular worksheet in the utterance, without stating who owns it. kan is the modal form of kunne (“can, be able to”). Here it expresses that waiting is possible or acceptable: kan vente means “can wait.” Danish modal auxiliaries are followed by the infinitive, so vente remains unchanged after kan. vente means “wait.” In arbejdsarket kan vente, the worksheet is the grammatical subject of vente; the sentence says that it can be postponed, not that someone is literally waiting for the worksheet. Example: Vi kan vente lidt. — “We can wait a little.” senere means “later.” It places the possible waiting time after the relevant current or expected time. Example: Vi gør det senere. — “We will do it later.” The sentence first states Den mundtlige opsummering skal snart afleveres: “The spoken summary is due to be handed in soon.” It then contrasts that deadline with arbejdsarket kan vente til senere: “the worksheet can wait until later.” The complete meaning is therefore: “The speaking summary is due soon, and the worksheet can wait until later.”

6. Så bør jeg begynde med den mundtlige opgave.

   Then I should start with the speaking task.

   Så

   then

   bør jeg

   I should

   begynde

   begin; start

   mundtlige

   speaking; oral

   opgave

   task; assignment

   More detail

   Så means “then” here, linking this decision to what was just mentioned. It can also mean “so” in other contexts, but the fixed translation supports the time/sequence meaning here. bør jeg combines the modal verb bør with the subject pronoun jeg. Bør expresses advice, expectation, or obligation and is followed by an infinitive: Jeg bør begynde means “I should start.” Because Så occupies the first position, Danish main-clause word order places the finite verb bør before the subject jeg; this is not a question. In a question without an initial element, the same order can also occur, but here Så and the translation establish a statement. begynde is the infinitive of begynde, “to begin” or “to start.” After a modal such as bør, Danish uses the infinitive without at: Jeg bør begynde (“I should start”). With at, the infinitive can appear in a different structure: Jeg prøver at begynde (“I try to start”). mundtlige is the definite form of the adjective mundtlig, “oral” or “spoken,” and it describes opgave here. In the noun phrase den mundtlige opgave, the definite determiner den and the adjective’s -e form mark a definite noun phrase; the adjective is not derived from or inflected by the noun’s base form. Compare en mundtlig opgave (“an oral task”) with den mundtlige opgave (“the oral task”). opgave means “task” or “assignment.” It is a common-gender noun: en opgave; its definite singular form is opgaven, “the task.” The context and fixed translation identify this particular task as the speaking task, while opgave itself names the task or assignment category. Together, bør jeg begynde gives “I should start,” and med den mundtlige opgave gives “with the speaking task.” With Så at the front, the whole utterance means: “Then I should start with the speaking task.”

7. Begynd med den, og bed læreren om noter fra de undervisningstimer, du gik glip af.

   Start there, and ask the teacher for notes from the classes you missed.

   Begynd

   start

   med den

   with that one

   bed

   ask

   læreren

   the teacher

   noter

   notes

   undervisningstimer

   class periods

   du gik glip af

   you missed

   More detail

   Begynd is the imperative of begynde (“to start”): it gives a direct instruction to begin. The imperative is useful for short instructions; for example, Begynd nu. means “Start now.” med den means “with that one/there.” Den is a singular common-gender demonstrative pronoun. In the supplied context, it points to the speaking task already mentioned, while the fixed translation presents the natural meaning as “there.” The pattern begynde med means “start with.” bed is the imperative of bede (“to ask” or “request”). A useful Danish pattern is bede nogen om noget: ask someone for something. For example, Bed hende om hjælp. means “Ask her for help.” læreren means “the teacher.” It is the definite singular form of lærer (“teacher”): en lærer is “a teacher,” while læreren is “the teacher.” The ending -en marks definiteness here; it does not itself indicate a numerical count beyond the singular form. noter means “notes.” It is the plural indefinite form of note; the singular is en note, and noter means “notes” without a definite ending. In the pattern bede læreren om noter, the teacher is the person being asked and notes are what is requested. undervisningstimer means “class periods” or “teaching hours.” It is the plural of the compound noun undervisningstime. The compound combines teaching/instruction with hour or period; the full form refers to periods of instruction, not simply any hours. du gik glip af means “you missed.” Du is “you” for one person, and gik is the past form of gå (“to go”). Together with glip af, the expression gå glip af means “to miss” or “to miss out on” something. The past form gik glip af places the missing in the past. For example, Du gik glip af mødet. means “You missed the meeting.” Here, the clause identifies the class periods that were missed: undervisningstimer, du gik glip af. The first instruction is formed by Begynd med den: “Start with that one/there.” Og joins it to the second instruction, bed læreren om noter: “ask the teacher for notes.” The final part, fra de undervisningstimer, du gik glip af, specifies which notes are wanted—notes from the class periods that you missed. Thus the whole utterance means: “Start there, and ask the teacher for notes from the classes you missed.”

8. Jeg føler mig mindre sikker, fordi de andre øvede sig sammen.

   I feel less confident because the others practiced together.

   føler

   feel

   mig

   me / myself

   mindre

   less

   sikker

   confident / sure

   fordi

   because

   de andre

   the others

   øvede sig

   practiced

   sammen

   together

   More detail

   føler is the present-tense form of føle, “to feel.” With Jeg, it means “I feel”; the present form describes the speaker’s current state here. Example: Jeg føler mig træt. — “I feel tired.” mig is the object form of the first-person pronoun and is reflexive here: the person feeling is also the person referred to by mig. The reusable pattern is jeg føler mig + adjective, as in Jeg føler mig klar. — “I feel ready.” mindre means “less” and marks a lower degree. It is the comparative form associated with lidt (“a little”): lidt → mindre → mindst (“least”). Here it modifies the adjective sikker, not a noun. sikker is an adjective meaning “confident” or “sure” in this sentence. In mindre sikker, it describes a lower level of confidence. A positive comparison can use mere sikker (“more confident”); the adjective itself is sikker, while mindre supplies the comparison. Example: Hun føler sig mere sikker nu. — “She feels more confident now.” fordi introduces the reason for the preceding statement and corresponds to “because.” In standard Danish clause order, the clause after fordi is a subordinate clause: fordi de andre øvede sig sammen means “because the others practiced together.” de andre means “the others.” de marks a plural group, and andre means “other” in its plural form here. The expression refers to other people in the relevant group, without identifying them more specifically. Example: De andre kommer senere. — “The others are coming later.” øvede sig means “practiced.” øvede is the past-tense form of øve (“to practice” or “to rehearse”), and sig is the third-person reflexive pronoun used with the third-person subject de andre. In this expression, øve sig is the Danish way to say “practice”; sig does not mean that the group practiced themselves as separate objects. øvede carries the past tense, while sig does not mark past tense or plural number. Example: Vi øvede os i går. — “We practiced yesterday.” sammen means “together.” It describes the way the practicing happened, with the group acting together rather than separately. Example: De arbejder sammen. — “They work together.” The sentence assembles as Jeg føler mig mindre sikker (“I feel less confident”) + fordi (“because”) + de andre øvede sig sammen (“the others practiced together”). The complete meaning is: “I feel less confident because the others practiced together.”

9. Vi kan gennemgå opgaven efter timen.

   We can run through the task after class.

   Vi kan

   we can

   gennemgå

   go through

   opgaven

   the task

   efter

   after

   timen

   class

   More detail

   Vi kan combines vi (“we”) with kan, the present-tense form of kunne (“can; be able to”). In this sentence, kan expresses ability or possibility, and the following verb stays in the infinitive: Vi kan gennemgå ... = “We can go through ...”. gennemgå means “to go through” or “review” something systematically. It is an infinitive, required here after the modal kan. The same verb can be used for reviewing material, checking a document, or working through a task. Example: Vi gennemgår teksten. — “We are reviewing the text.” opgaven means “the task” here. It is the definite singular form of opgave (“task”): en opgave = “a task”, opgaven = “the task”. The ending -en marks definite singular for this common-gender noun. Example: Jeg løser opgaven. — “I am solving the task.” efter is a preposition meaning “after” when it places one event later than another. The pattern efter + a noun gives a time relation, as in efter timen (“after class”). It can also introduce other kinds of sequences, but here the meaning is temporal. timen means “the class” in this context, referring to the class period. It is the definite singular form of time, which can also mean “hour” depending on context: en time = “an hour” or “a class period”, while timen = “the hour” or “the class period”. The fixed translation identifies the intended reading as “class”. Together, Vi kan gennemgå opgaven efter timen means “We can run through the task after class.” The structure is we can + infinitive verb + definite object + after + definite time expression: the speakers can review the specific task once the class period has ended.

10. Så ved du, hvad du kan forvente.

    So you know what to expect.

    Så

    so

    ved

    know

    hvad

    what

    kan

    can

    forvente

    expect

    More detail

    Så means “so” here: it links this statement to what has just been established and presents the knowing as a consequence. Danish så can also mean “then” in a time sequence, but that is not its function in this sentence. ved is the present-tense form of vide, “to know.” In the present, vide uses ved with all persons: jeg ved, du ved, and de ved. Example: Jeg ved, hvad du mener. — “I know what you mean.” hvad means “what” and introduces an embedded question: hvad du kan forvente, “what you can expect.” Unlike a direct question, this embedded clause keeps the subject before the finite verb: hvad du kan ..., not a direct-question order. Example: Jeg ved, hvad hun læser. — “I know what she is reading.” kan is the present-tense form of the modal verb kunne, “can” or “be able to.” It does not change for person or number in the present. A modal is followed by an infinitive without at, as in kan forvente. forvente is the infinitive “to expect.” The form after kan is therefore the infinitive, not a finite form. Example: Hvad kan jeg forvente? — “What can I expect?” Together, ved du means “you know.” Danish main clauses normally place the finite verb before the subject when another element, such as Så, comes first: Så ved du .... The embedded clause hvad du kan forvente means “what you can expect,” with du as the subject of kan and forvente as the action covered by that modal. The complete utterance is: “So you know what to expect.”

11. Det ville gøre det næste skridt mere overskueligt.

    That would make the next step feel more manageable.

    Det ville

    That would

    gøre

    make

    det

    the

    næste

    next

    skridt

    step

    mere overskueligt

    more manageable

    More detail

    Det ville combines det (“that”) with ville, the past form of vil used here to express a conditional result: “would.” The first Det refers to an understood situation or action, rather than identifying a particular noun in this sentence. A reusable pattern is det ville + infinitive: “that would …” gøre is the infinitive “make” or “cause,” required after ville. In this sentence, ville gøre means “would make.” Danish commonly uses gøre noget + adjective to describe the result caused in something: Det gør opgaven lettere. — “It makes the task easier.” The second det belongs with næste skridt: det næste skridt means “the next step.” Here it is the definite article, not the pronoun “that,” so it does not refer back to the first Det. næste means “next.” It is the form used in the definite phrase det næste skridt. Its spelling is næste here; it does not take a separate masculine/feminine ending in this phrase. skridt means “step.” The noun is neuter, shown by det in det næste skridt. The plural is also skridt, so the context and determiner help identify the singular definite meaning here. mere overskueligt means “more manageable” or “easier to get an overview of.” overskueligt is the neuter singular form of the adjective overskuelig, agreeing with skridt. The comparison is formed with mere + adjective: mere overskuelig or, with a neuter singular noun, mere overskueligt. overskuelig describes something that is easy to understand or organize mentally; it is not the same as simply “easy.” Together, ville gøre sets up a conditional result, det næste skridt names what would be affected, and mere overskueligt describes the resulting change. The whole utterance means: “That would make the next step feel more manageable.”

12. Det er bedre med en fokuseret øvesession end at undgå arbejdet.

    One focused practice session is better than avoiding the work.

    Det er

    it is

    bedre

    better

    fokuseret

    focused

    øvesession

    practice session

    end at

    than to

    undgå

    avoid

    arbejdet

    the work

    More detail

    Det er introduces an evaluation. Here Det is a formal subject rather than a clearly identified person or object; the following phrase gives what is being evaluated. The reusable pattern is Det er + adjective (“It is + adjective”), as in Det er vigtigt. — “It is important.” bedre is the comparative form of god (“good”): god → bedre → bedst (“good” → “better” → “best”). It marks a comparison, which is completed by end later in the sentence. Bedre describes the focused practice session as the preferable option here. fokuseret means “focused.” It is an adjective formed from the past participle of fokusere; in this noun phrase it describes the session. Example: en fokuseret indsats — “a focused effort.” øvesession is a compound noun meaning “practice session.” In en fokuseret øvesession, en marks an indefinite singular noun phrase of the common-gender type; it does not by itself assert a numerical count, even though English may naturally translate the phrase with “one.” end at introduces the option being compared with the first one: end means “than,” and at marks the following infinitive clause. The reusable comparison pattern is X er bedre end at Y — “X is better than doing Y.” undgå is the infinitive “avoid.” It is followed here by arbejdet, the thing being avoided. Example: Hun prøver at undgå fejlen. — “She is trying to avoid the mistake.” arbejdet means “the work” here. It is the definite singular form of the neuter noun arbejde: et arbejde → arbejdet. The definite ending identifies the work as specific in the intended context; it is not an inflection of undgå. Together, med en fokuseret øvesession names the preferable option, while end at undgå arbejdet names the alternative used for comparison. The full structure is Det er bedre med X end at Y: “It is better with X than to Y.” Thus the utterance means that having a focused practice session is preferable to avoiding the work.