Planning a safe hike | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Bjergstien ser smuk ud, men den kan være for vanskelig for begyndere.

   The mountain trail looks beautiful, but it may be too difficult for beginners.

   Bjergstien

   the mountain trail

   ser … ud

   looks

   smuk

   beautiful

   den

   it

   kan være

   may be

   for

   too

   vanskelig

   difficult

   begyndere

   beginners

   More detail

   Bjergstien means “the mountain trail” here. It is a definite singular noun: sti means “trail,” and stien is its definite form. The first part, bjerg-, specifies the type of trail. Example: Stien er lang. — “The trail is long.” ser ... ud is a reusable Danish pattern meaning “looks” or “appears.” ser is the present-tense form of se (“to see”), while ud is the particle that completes this meaning. The adjective describing the subject comes between them: Huset ser gammelt ud. — “The house looks old.” smuk means “beautiful.” In this sentence it describes how the trail appears. It is an adjective; the comparative form is smukkere (“more beautiful”), and the superlative is smukkest (“most beautiful”). Example: Udsigten er smuk. — “The view is beautiful.” den is a third-person singular pronoun for a common-gender noun in this use. It refers to the trail identified by Bjergstien, matching the intended “it” in the fixed translation. The pronoun itself does not mean “trail”; its reference comes from the surrounding sentence. kan være combines present-tense kan, from kunne (“can/may”), with the infinitive være (“to be”). Here it expresses possibility: the trail may be too difficult. After a modal verb such as kan, the following verb stays in the infinitive. Example: Det kan være svært. — “It may be difficult.” for means “too” before an adjective when a quality exceeds a suitable limit. This use is different from for meaning “for” in a recipient or purpose phrase. In for vanskelig, it modifies the adjective vanskelig. vanskelig means “difficult.” It describes the level of difficulty of the trail. Its comparative form is vanskeligere (“more difficult”), and its superlative is vanskeligst (“most difficult”). Example: Opgaven er vanskelig. — “The task is difficult.” begyndere means “beginners.” Its singular base form is begynder (“beginner”), and the ending -e marks the plural here. With for, the phrase for begyndere means “for beginners,” identifying the group for whom the trail may be too difficult. The connective men means “but” and contrasts the two parts. First, Bjergstien ser smuk ud says that the mountain trail looks beautiful. Then men den kan være for vanskelig for begyndere says that it may nevertheless be too difficult for beginners. Together: “The mountain trail looks beautiful, but it may be too difficult for beginners.”

2. Lad os tjekke afstanden, højdeforskellen og vejrudsigten, før vi beslutter os.

   Let's check the distance, elevation, and weather forecast before we decide.

   Lad os

   let’s

   tjekke

   check

   afstanden

   the distance

   højdeforskellen

   the elevation difference

   vejrudsigten

   the weather forecast

   før

   before

   beslutter os

   decide

   More detail

   Lad os is a reusable Danish way to suggest a joint action: “let’s …”. Lad is the imperative of lade (“let/allow”), and os is the object form meaning “us” here. The following verb is in the infinitive. Example: Lad os gå. — “Let’s go.” tjekke is the infinitive of tjekke, “to check”. After Lad os, Danish uses this infinitive: Lad os tjekke means “let’s check”. afstanden is the definite singular form of afstand, “distance”: afstand → afstanden. The definite ending -en makes it “the distance”. Example: Vi måler afstanden. — “We measure the distance.” højdeforskellen is the definite singular form of the compound noun højdeforskel, “elevation difference” or “difference in height”. Its parts are højde (“height”) and forskel (“difference”), but the observed word is one compound noun; the ending -en marks it as definite: “the elevation difference”. vejrudsigten is the definite singular form of vejrudsigt, “weather forecast”: vejrudsigt → vejrudsigten. The ending -en again marks “the …”. før introduces a time clause meaning “before”. The clause after it gives the action that has not yet happened at the relevant point: før vi ... means “before we …”. beslutter os means “decide” in this sentence. Beslutter is the present-tense form of beslutte; Danish present tense does not change according to the subject’s person or number. Os is a reflexive object pronoun here, referring back to the subject vi (“we”): Danish commonly uses beslutte sig (“decide oneself”), with the reflexive form changing according to the subject. For vi, that form is os. Example: De beslutter sig i morgen. — “They decide tomorrow.” The sentence assembles as Lad os tjekke (“let’s check”) + the three definite objects afstanden, højdeforskellen and vejrudsigten (“the distance, the elevation difference and the weather forecast”) + før vi beslutter os (“before we decide”). The complete meaning is: “Let’s check the distance, elevation, and weather forecast before we decide.”

3. Det er en ret lang rute.

   It is a fairly long route.

   Det er

   it is

   ret

   fairly

   lang

   long

   rute

   route

   More detail

   Det er means “it is” here. er is the present-tense form of være (“to be”); the same form is used with singular and plural subjects in the present tense. Det is the Danish form used for a neuter singular pronoun and also in impersonal or presentational patterns. In this sentence, the fixed translation supports the reading “it is,” without identifying any more specific referent for det. Example: Det er svært. — “It is difficult.” ret means “fairly” here and modifies the adjective that follows. It is a degree adverb, so it makes the description moderate rather than changing the noun. In other contexts, ret can have other meanings, but “fairly” is its intended meaning in this utterance. lang describes the route as having considerable length. Its useful Danish adjective forms are lang (common-gender singular), langt (neuter singular), and lange (plural or definite contexts). Here lang agrees with the common-gender singular noun rute in the indefinite phrase en ... rute. Example: en lang vej — “a long road.” rute means “route” and is a common-gender noun: en rute (“a route”), definite ruten (“the route”), and plural ruter (“routes”). The article en marks an indefinite common-gender singular noun; it does not by itself add a separate numerical claim. Together, Det er supplies the “it is” frame, ret lang says that the route is fairly long, and rute identifies what is being described. The complete meaning is: “It is a fairly long route.”

4. Vejrudsigten siger let regn om eftermiddagen.

   The forecast says light rain in the afternoon.

   Vejrudsigten

   the forecast

   siger

   says

   let

   light

   regn

   rain

   om eftermiddagen

   in the afternoon

   More detail

   Vejrudsigten means “the forecast” here. It is the definite singular form of vejrudsigt (“weather forecast”): vejrudsigt is “a weather forecast,” while vejrudsigten refers to a specific forecast. Danish commonly marks definiteness at the end of the noun. siger is the present-tense form of sige (“to say”). It can introduce the content of a statement, as in Hun siger, at hun kommer. — “She says that she is coming.” Here, the forecast is presented as the source of the information. let describes the rain as not heavy. It is the adjective let; with a singular common-gender noun such as regn, this form is used in let regn. In a definite phrase, the adjective can appear as lette, as in den lette regn — “the light rain.” regn means “rain.” It is a mass noun, so let regn describes an amount or occurrence of rain without asserting a count of separate items. The phrase meget regn means “a lot of rain,” while kraftig regn means “heavy rain.” om eftermiddagen is a time expression meaning “in the afternoon.” eftermiddagen is the definite form of eftermiddag (“afternoon”): en eftermiddag is “an afternoon,” and eftermiddagen is “the afternoon.” In this expression, om marks the time period. Together, Vejrudsigten siger gives the source and reporting verb, let regn gives the forecasted weather, and om eftermiddagen specifies when it is expected. The complete meaning is: “The forecast says light rain in the afternoon.”

5. Så skal vi starte tidligt og have en plan B.

   Then we need an early start and a backup plan.

   Så

   then

   skal vi

   we need to

   starte

   start

   tidligt

   early

   have

   have

   plan B

   backup plan

   More detail

   Så means “then” here and links the sentence to the situation just mentioned. Danish så can also mean “so” in other contexts, but this sentence uses the time/sequence reading. skal vi combines skal with vi. Vi is the first-person plural pronoun “we”. Skal is the present form of skulle; here it expresses necessity or a practical requirement, giving the intended meaning “we need to”. Because Så comes first, Danish places the finite verb skal before the subject vi: Så skal vi .... This is a reusable pattern for a clause beginning with an element other than the subject. starte is the infinitive of starte, “to start”. After the modal skal, the following verb stays in the infinitive: Vi skal starte = “We need to start”. tidligt is an adverb meaning “early”. It describes when the starting takes place. Compare the adjective tidlig (“early”) with the adverb tidligt; the -t form is used here because it modifies the verb starte, not a noun. have is the infinitive of have, “to have”. In skal ... have, it is coordinated with starte, so both verbs depend on skal: Vi skal starte ... og have ... = “We need to start ... and have ...”. plan B means “backup plan” here. Plan is a noun meaning “plan”, and B identifies it as the alternative or backup plan. The preceding en is an indefinite article: en plan B means “a backup plan”; it does not by itself specify a numerical count beyond presenting the noun as indefinite. Together, Så skal vi starte tidligt og have en plan B means “Then we need an early start and a backup plan.” More literally, it says “Then we need to start early and have a backup plan.” The two infinitives starte and have are coordinated after skal, and tidligt specifies the timing of starte.

6. Der er en kortere rute, som fører tilbage til den samme station.

   There is a shorter route that returns to the same station.

   Der er

   there is

   kortere

   shorter

   rute

   route

   fører

   leads

   tilbage

   back

   samme

   same

   station

   station

   More detail

   Der er is the standard Danish existential pattern meaning “there is/there are.” Here, der is a formal subject in the construction, while er is the present-tense form of være (“to be”); the pattern introduces en kortere rute. The indefinite article en marks rute as a singular common-gender noun, but does not by itself state a numerical count. Example: Der er en løsning. — “There is a solution.” kortere means “shorter” here. It is the comparative form of the adjective kort (“short”): kort → kortere (“shorter”) → kortest (“shortest”). The comparison is understood from the context: this route is shorter than another relevant route, without specifying the exact distance. rute means “route” or “path to follow.” Its base form is rute; with the indefinite article it appears as en rute, and the definite singular form is ruten (“the route”). Example: Vi vælger en anden rute. — “We choose another route.” fører means “leads” in this sentence. It is the present-tense form of føre (“to lead” or “take someone/something somewhere”): fører can be used with a route as the subject, as in Ruten fører til byen. — “The route leads to the town.” tilbage means “back,” indicating a return toward a previous place or point. In fører tilbage til ..., it combines with til (“to”) to express leading back to a destination. Example: Denne vej fører tilbage til landsbyen. — “This road leads back to the village.” samme means “same.” It identifies station as the station previously relevant in the intended meaning, rather than a different station. Danish uses samme in forms such as den samme station; the form does not change between singular common-gender and singular neuter nouns, and it is also used with plural nouns. Example: Vi mødes på samme sted. — “We meet at the same place.” station means “station.” It is a common-gender noun: en station (“a station”), stationen (“the station”). In den samme station, den and samme form the noun phrase “the same station.” The relative clause som fører tilbage til den samme station describes the route: som refers back to the route, and fører says that the route leads back to the same station. Together, Der er en kortere rute and this relative clause produce: “There is a shorter route that returns to the same station.”

7. Det lyder mere sikkert, hvis stiforholdene bliver glatte.

   That sounds safer if the trail conditions become slippery.

   lyder

   sounds

   mere sikkert

   safer

   stiforholdene

   the trail conditions

   bliver

   become

   glatte

   slippery

   More detail

   lyder is the present-tense form of lyde, “to sound.” With det as its subject, Det lyder ... is a reusable way to give an impression or evaluation: “It/That sounds ...” The form is present tense; it does not itself say that the sounding happened in the past. mere sikkert means “safer” here. sikker is the base adjective “safe,” and sikkert is its neuter form, agreeing with neuter det in this construction. mere marks the comparison: sikker → mere sikker / mere sikkert (“safer”). Danish can also form a comparative with sikrere, but the fixed utterance uses mere sikkert. stiforholdene means “the trail conditions.” Its base noun is stiforhold; -ene marks the definite plural, so it refers to the conditions as a plural set. The noun is not the base of either adjective: sikker and glat are separate words. bliver is the present-tense form of blive, “to become” or “to get.” In the conditional clause introduced by hvis (“if”), it presents a possible change: the conditions become slippery. Present tense in this pattern does not require the change to be happening now. glatte is the plural form of glat, “slippery.” It agrees with plural stiforholdene; for example, vejene bliver glatte means “the roads become slippery.” The connector hvis introduces the condition. The main clause Det lyder mere sikkert gives the evaluation, and stiforholdene bliver glatte states the possible condition being evaluated. Together, the utterance means: “That sounds safer if the trail conditions become slippery.”

8. Skal vi sige til alle, at de skal tage ordentlige sko og vand med?

   Should we tell everyone to bring proper shoes and water?

   Skal vi

   Should we…?

   sige til

   tell; inform

   alle

   everyone

   at

   that

   de

   they

   skal

   should; must

   tage

   take; bring

   ordentlige

   proper; suitable

   sko

   shoes

   vand

   water

   med

   along; with

   More detail

   Skal vi opens a yes/no question. skal comes before the subject vi here, giving the question order “should we…?” rather than the ordinary statement order vi skal …. The modal skal expresses the proposed obligation or intended action in this sentence; it is not simply a past-tense form. Example: Skal vi gå? — “Should we go?” sige til means “tell” someone or communicate something to them. The verb is sige (“say/tell”), an irregular infinitive; its present form is siger. The following til identifies the people being addressed, while the content follows in the at clause. Example: Jeg siger det til hende. — “I tell her that.” alle means “everyone” here. It is an indefinite pronoun referring to all the relevant people as a group. In the supplied translation and the following context, this is the group later referred to by de and “they.” at introduces the content of what should be told. In this use it corresponds to “that,” not to the preposition “at.” A useful pattern is sige til nogen, at … — “tell someone that …”. de means “they” in the subordinate clause and refers to alle. Danish de is the plural third-person pronoun; it does not identify individual members of the group. Its grammatical role here is the subject of skal tage. skal is the modal verb used again inside the reported instruction. With the infinitive tage, it expresses what the people are expected or instructed to do: “should/must bring.” The repeated modal belongs to this subordinate clause, so de skal tage means “they should bring,” whereas the opening Skal vi asks whether the speaker and others should give that instruction. tage is the infinitive of tage, “take.” Danish commonly uses tage ... med for taking or bringing something along. The infinitive follows the modal skal, so it has no infinitive marker such as at in this clause. Example: De skal tage en jakke med. — “They should bring a jacket.” ordentlige describes the shoes as suitable or proper for the situation. Its base form is ordentlig; ordentlige is the form used with the plural noun sko here. The adjective itself carries this plural form; sko is the noun being described. Example: Vi har brug for ordentlige støvler. — “We need suitable boots.” sko means “shoes.” It is plural in this sentence; the common singular form is en sko, while the plural is sko. The adjective ordentlige agrees with this plural noun. vand means “water.” It is a mass noun here, so the sentence names water without specifying a number of containers or portions. Example: Husk vand. — “Remember water” or, naturally, “Remember to bring water.” med means “along/with” in the construction tage ... med. It completes the idea of bringing something along rather than merely taking it in another direction. Because the items come before med, the full construction is discontinuous: tage ordentlige sko og vand med. Together, Skal vi sige til alle asks whether the speakers should tell everyone something. The at clause gives that content: de skal tage ordentlige sko og vand med — they should bring suitable shoes and water along. The whole utterance therefore means “Should we tell everyone to bring proper shoes and water?” It is a suggestion framed as a yes/no question.

9. De bør tage begge dele med.

   They should bring both.

   De bør

   they should

   tage … med

   bring along

   begge dele

   both things

   More detail

   De bør means “they should.” Here De is the third-person plural pronoun “they,” as established by the fixed translation. Bør is the present-tense form of the modal verb burde; it expresses advice or what is expected. With a following infinitive, the reusable pattern is de bør + infinitive: “they should …” tage means “take” or, in this context, “bring.” It is the infinitive of tage; useful forms include tager “takes/is taking,” tog “took,” and taget “taken.” After the modal bør, Danish uses the infinitive directly, without an equivalent of English “to.” begge dele means “both things” or “both of them.” Begge means “both,” while dele is the plural of del, “part” or “item.” In the supplied exchange, this phrase refers to the two items mentioned in the preceding question. Begge is for exactly two; alle means “all” and is used for a larger group or for all members of a group. The construction tage ... med means “bring/take along.” It is split here because begge dele comes between tage and med. Together, de bør + tage ... med + begge dele produces the whole meaning: “They should bring both.”

10. Vi bør gøre det klart, at vi vender om, hvis det bliver nødvendigt.

    We should make it clear that we will turn back if needed.

    Vi bør

    we should

    gøre

    make; do

    klart

    clear

    vender om

    turn back

    hvis

    if

    bliver

    becomes

    nødvendigt

    necessary

    More detail

    Vi bør means “we should” here. bør is the present form of the modal verb burde, expressing advice or obligation; it does not change for person or number. After this modal, Danish uses the infinitive without an infinitive marker: Vi bør vente means “We should wait.” gøre is the infinitive of gøre, “make” or “do.” In gøre det klart, it has the causative meaning “make something clear,” rather than the general meaning “do.” Example: Hun gør planen klar. — “She makes the plan clear.” klart is the neuter singular form of the adjective klar, “clear.” It agrees with det in the construction gøre det klart; the following at-clause states what is being made clear. The related forms are klar (common gender), klart (neuter), and klare (plural or definite contexts). vender om is the verb phrase meaning “turns/turn back.” Its base form is vende om; vender is its present form, and Danish verb forms do not change for person or number. Example: Vi vender om ved broen. — “We turn back at the bridge.” In this sentence, the present form is understood as a planned or expected future action inside the statement being made clear; it is not a separate future inflection. hvis introduces a condition and means “if.” It connects the possible condition det bliver nødvendigt with the action vi vender om. bliver is the present form of blive, “become” or “get.” Here it forms bliver nødvendigt, literally “becomes necessary.” Danish uses the present form in this conditional clause even though the condition concerns a possible future situation. nødvendigt is the neuter singular form of nødvendig, “necessary.” It agrees with det in det bliver nødvendigt. The phrase therefore means “if it becomes necessary,” which the fixed translation renders more compactly as “if needed.” Together, Vi bør gøre det klart means “We should make it clear.” The at-clause identifies the content that should be made clear: vi vender om, “we will turn back” in the intended plan. The condition hvis det bliver nødvendigt limits that action to the situation in which turning back becomes necessary. Thus the whole utterance means: “We should make it clear that we will turn back if needed.”

11. Jeg deler rutekortet og mødetidspunktet i aften.

    I will share the route map and meeting time tonight.

    Jeg

    I

    deler

    share

    rutekortet

    the route map

    mødetidspunktet

    the meeting time

    i aften

    tonight

    More detail

    Jeg is the first-person singular pronoun, meaning “I.” It identifies the speaker as the person carrying out the action. A useful contrast is jeg “I” versus vi “we”; the latter appears in the preceding context and refers to more than one speaker. deler means “share” here. It is the present-tense form of dele “to share”: jeg deler = “I share.” Danish present tense can also describe a planned or expected future event when a time expression makes the timing clear. Here, i aften gives that future timing, so the fixed translation naturally uses “will share.” Example: Jeg deler planen i morgen. — “I will share the plan tomorrow.” rutekortet means “the route map.” It is the definite singular form of the noun rutekort “route map”: rutekort → rutekortet. The ending -et marks a definite singular noun in this form. Example: Rutekortet er klart. — “The route map is ready.” mødetidspunktet means “the meeting time.” It is the definite singular form of mødetidspunkt “meeting time”: mødetidspunkt → mødetidspunktet. The noun refers to the scheduled time of a meeting, rather than to the meeting itself. Example: Jeg kender mødetidspunktet. — “I know the meeting time.” i aften is the time expression “tonight,” literally referring to the evening that is relevant from the time of speaking. It is written as two separate words and functions together as a time adverbial. Example: Vi mødes i aften. — “We are meeting tonight.” Together, Jeg deler gives the subject and action, rutekortet og mødetidspunktet names the two things being shared, and i aften places the sharing in the evening. Thus the whole utterance means: “I will share the route map and meeting time tonight.”

12. Det burde hjælpe alle med at forberede sig og beslutte, om de kan tage med.

    That should help everyone prepare and decide if they can join.

    Det burde

    That should

    hjælpe

    help

    alle

    everyone

    med at

    to, after a verb of helping

    forberede sig

    prepare

    beslutte

    decide

    om

    if, whether

    de

    they

    kan

    can, be able to

    tage med

    join, come along

    More detail

    Det burde: Here det means “that” and refers to the preceding plan of sharing the route map and meeting time. burde is the form of bør used for “should/ought to”; it often expresses an expected or advisable result rather than past time. Example: Det burde virke. — “That should work.” hjælpe: This is the infinitive of hjælpe, “to help.” With a person or group, a useful pattern is hjælpe nogen med at + infinitive: “help someone to do something.” alle: This means “everyone” here, referring to all the people concerned. It is a collective pronoun, so English uses a singular form in “everyone,” while Danish does not add a separate singular marker to alle. med at: After hjælpe, this introduces the activity being helped with. The two infinitives forberede and beslutte are coordinated under this pattern: hjælpe alle med at forberede sig og beslutte ... — “help everyone prepare and decide ...”. forberede sig: forberede means “prepare,” and sig is the reflexive form used when the people preparing are also the ones being helped. The infinitive pattern is forberede sig; for example, De forbereder sig. means “They are preparing.” beslutte: This is the infinitive “to decide.” A decision can be followed by om plus a clause: beslutte, om ... — “decide whether ...”. In this sentence, beslutte is coordinated with forberede, so both activities belong to what everyone is helped to do. om: In this position, om introduces an indirect yes/no question and means “whether” or “if.” Example: Jeg ved ikke, om han kommer. — “I do not know whether he is coming.” de: This is the plural pronoun “they,” used for the people referred to by alle. Its form is plural; it does not itself identify the people by name. kan: This is the present-tense form of kunne, “can” or “be able to.” It expresses ability or possibility here: de kan tage med means “they can join.” Example: Jeg kan komme. — “I can come.” tage med: This means “come along” or “join” in this context. tage is the infinitive of tage, “take,” while med adds the sense of accompanying or going along; together they form the reusable expression tage med. After the modal kan, the verb remains in the infinitive: kan tage med, not a finite form. Together, Det burde gives “That should,” and hjælpe alle med at introduces the activities that the plan is expected to support. forberede sig og beslutte, om de kan tage med means “prepare and decide whether they can join.” The complete meaning is: “That should help everyone prepare and decide if they can join.”