Preparing to call a clinic about cough symptoms | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Jeg er nødt til at ringe til klinikken, fordi min hoste ikke bliver bedre.

   I need to call the clinic because my cough is not getting better.

   er nødt til

   need to

   ringe

   call

   klinikken

   the clinic

   fordi

   because

   min

   my

   hoste

   cough

   bliver

   gets; becomes

   bedre

   better

   More detail

   er nødt til means “need to” or “have to” and expresses necessity. It is a fixed construction with the verb er and the adjective-like expression nødt til; the following verb stays in the infinitive: Jeg er nødt til at ringe = “I need to call.” This expresses a need, not simply a wish. ringe is the infinitive “to call.” Danish commonly uses at before an infinitive after expressions such as er nødt til: at ringe. The same verb can also mean “to ring” a bell or telephone, but “to call” is the intended meaning here. klinikken means “the clinic.” The base noun is klinik; the ending -en marks the definite singular form, “the clinic.” Compare en klinik (“a clinic”) with klinikken (“the clinic”). fordi introduces a reason and means “because.” What follows it gives the reason for the main clause: the speaker needs to call because the cough is not improving. In Danish, fordi begins a subordinate clause. min means “my” before a singular common-gender noun. Danish possessive forms include min with common-gender singular nouns, mit with neuter singular nouns, and mine with plural nouns. Here min agrees grammatically with hoste, while the possessor is the speaker. hoste means “cough.” In this sentence it is a noun, as shown by the possessive phrase min hoste; the phrase means “my cough.” The noun is commonly used with the common-gender article: en hoste. bliver is the present-tense form of blive, “to become” or “to get.” Here it describes a change of condition: the cough is not getting better. Blive can also have other uses, so its meaning here comes from its combination with bedre. bedre means “better.” It is the comparative form related to god (“good”): god → bedre → bedst (“best”). In bliver bedre, it describes improvement, literally “becomes better.” The sentence combines Jeg er nødt til at ringe til klinikken (“I need to call the clinic”) with fordi min hoste ikke bliver bedre (“because my cough is not getting better”). ikke negates the subordinate clause, and its position before bliver gives the meaning “is not getting better.” Together, the utterance says: “I need to call the clinic because my cough is not getting better.”

2. Fortæl dem, hvad der har ændret sig, og hvad der bekymrer dig mest.

   Tell them what has changed and what worries you most.

   Fortæl

   tell

   dem

   them

   hvad

   what

   der

   that; which

   har ændret sig

   has changed

   og

   and

   hvad

   what

   bekymrer

   worries

   dig

   you

   mest

   most

   More detail

   Fortæl is the imperative of fortælle, “to tell”: it gives a direct instruction to one person. A useful pattern is Fortæl + person + ... (“Tell someone ...”). Example: Fortæl mig sandheden. — “Tell me the truth.” dem is the object form meaning “them.” It refers to the people being told, but the fixed sentence does not identify those people more specifically. Danish object pronouns include ham (“him”), hende (“her”), and dem (“them”). The first hvad introduces the content of the telling: “what ...”. In this sentence it begins an embedded clause, not a standalone question. Example: Jeg ved, hvad hun gør. — “I know what she is doing.” der works with hvad in hvad der ... to introduce the clause “what has ...”. Here it is part of the clause structure and does not identify a separate person or thing. The reusable pattern is hvad der + verb. har ændret sig means “has changed.” har is the present-tense form of have used here as an auxiliary; ændret is the past participle of ændre; and sig is the reflexive form linked to the subject of ændre. Together, ændre sig means “to change,” while har ændret sig places that change before now with present relevance. Example: Planen har ændret sig. — “The plan has changed.” The first og joins two parallel hvad-clauses: one about what has changed and one about what worries the listener. The second hvad introduces the second piece of information being requested: “what ...”. It has the same embedded-clause function as the first hvad. bekymrer is the present-tense form of bekymre, “to worry” or “to concern.” In this construction, the thing that causes concern is the grammatical subject, and the worried person is the object: X bekymrer dig means “X worries you.” Example: Arbejdet bekymrer ham. — “The work worries him.” dig is the object form meaning “you” when addressing one person informally. It is the person affected by bekymrer; it is not the subject of that verb. Compare du as the subject form (“you”) with dig as the object form (“you”). mest means “most” and modifies the extent of the worrying here. It is the superlative form associated with meget (“much” or “a lot”): meget → mere (“more”) → mest (“most”). Example: Det, jeg frygter mest, er mørket. — “What I fear most is the dark.” As a whole, Fortæl dem gives the instruction “Tell them,” and the two coordinated content clauses specify what to tell them: hvad der har ændret sig (“what has changed”) and hvad der bekymrer dig mest (“what worries you most”). The complete meaning is: “Tell them what has changed and what worries you most.”

3. Den er blevet værre, og jeg føler, at jeg har feber og er træt.

   It has gotten worse, and I feel feverish and tired.

   Den

   it

   er blevet

   has become

   værre

   worse

   føler

   feel

   har

   have

   feber

   fever

   træt

   tired

   More detail

   Den means “it” here. It is a singular third-person pronoun, but the supplied sentence does not identify exactly what it refers to. Danish also uses den with common-gender singular nouns; that grammatical fact does not by itself identify the referent. er blevet expresses “has become” or “has gotten”: er is the present form of være (“be”), and blevet is the past participle of blive (“become”). Together they form the perfect construction er blevet + adjective, describing a change with a result relevant now. Example: Det er blevet koldt. — “It has gotten cold.” værre is the comparative form of dårlig (“bad”): dårlig → værre (“worse”) → værst (“worst”). In this sentence it says that the condition has become worse, without specifying what it is being compared with. føler means “feel” here, as in experiencing or sensing a condition. It is the present form of føle; Danish verbs do not change form according to the subject, so the same present form can occur with jeg, du, or other subjects. jeg føler, at ... introduces what the speaker feels: “I feel that ...”. har is the present form of have (“have”). It is also unchanged for person and number in Danish. In har feber, it is part of the ordinary expression for having a fever; feber itself is the noun “fever”. Example: Hun har feber. — “She has a fever.” træt is the adjective “tired”. With er, it functions as a predicate describing the subject: jeg er træt — “I am tired.” The adjective agrees with the relevant noun phrase where Danish requires agreement; with first-person jeg in this sentence, the form is træt, not the plural/definite form trætte. The sentence combines two coordinated parts: Den er blevet værre (“It has gotten worse”) and jeg føler, at jeg har feber og er træt (“I feel that I have a fever and am tired”). Inside the at-clause, the same subject jeg applies to both coordinated predicates: har feber and er træt. Thus the complete meaning is: “It has gotten worse, and I feel feverish and tired.”

4. Nævn, hvornår det begyndte, og om noget har hjulpet.

   Mention when it started and whether anything has helped.

   Nævn

   mention

   hvornår

   when

   begyndte

   started

   om

   whether

   noget

   anything

   hjulpet

   helped

   More detail

   Nævn is the imperative of nævne, “to mention.” The imperative gives a direct request or instruction; the subject “you” is understood rather than written. Example: Nævn dit navn. — “Mention your name.” hvornår means “when” and introduces a clause about the time of an event. It is different from om, which introduces a yes/no issue such as “whether.” Example: Jeg ved, hvornår det skete. — “I know when it happened.” begyndte is the past-tense form of begynde, “to begin/start.” Here it describes the beginning of the situation referred to by det; the fixed translation identifies that situation as “it.” Example: Det begyndte i går. — “It started yesterday.” Together, hvornår det begyndte means “when it started.” Danish places the verb begyndte after the subject det in this embedded clause. om introduces an embedded yes/no question. In this sentence it means “whether,” not the preposition “about.” Example: Jeg ved ikke, om han kommer. — “I do not know whether he is coming.” noget means “anything” in this question-like context. Its basic meaning is “something,” but English commonly uses “anything” when translating it inside a question about whether a result occurred. Example: Har du fundet noget? — “Did you find anything?” hjulpet is the past participle of hjælpe, “to help.” With har, it forms the Danish perfect: har hjulpet, “has helped” or “have helped.” The form hjulpet itself does not mark the person or number of the helper; har carries the finite present-tense form here. Example: Det har hjulpet. — “It has helped.” Together, om noget har hjulpet means “whether anything has helped.” The clause asks if any helpful effect has occurred up to the relevant point, without specifying what caused it. The whole utterance combines the imperative Nævn with two requested pieces of information joined by og: first, the time expressed by hvornår det begyndte; second, the possible helpful effect expressed by om noget har hjulpet. Its meaning is: mention when it started and whether anything has helped.

5. Jeg har også brug for at vide, hvad jeg skal gøre, hvis det bliver værre i aften.

   I also need to know what to do if it gets worse tonight.

   Jeg

   I

   har … brug for

   need

   også

   also

   at vide

   to know

   hvad

   what

   skal

   should; is to

   gøre

   do

   hvis

   if

   det

   it

   bliver

   gets; becomes

   værre

   worse

   i aften

   tonight

   More detail

   Jeg means “I” here: the speaker is the person who needs information. It is the first-person singular pronoun. Compare du for “you” when addressing one person. har brug for is a reusable Danish construction meaning “need” or “be in need of”. Literally, it uses har (“have”) with brug for, but the full construction—not har alone—expresses the need. In the present tense, har has the same form with different subjects: jeg har, du har, and de har. Example: Jeg har brug for hjælp. — “I need help.” også adds the meaning “also” or “too”. It marks this need as an additional one, without changing who has the need. at vide means “to know” in the infinitive. vide is the infinitive form after at; its present-tense form is ved, as in Jeg ved det. — “I know it.” Do not treat vide as the ordinary infinitive of “see”; “see” is se. hvad introduces the unknown information: “what”. In hvad jeg skal gøre, it begins an embedded question, so the whole part means “what I should do”. Example: Jeg ved, hvad du mener. — “I know what you mean.” skal is a modal form used here for what the speaker is to or should do. The following verb remains in the infinitive: skal gøre. In other contexts, skal can express planned or required action, so its exact English rendering depends on the sentence. Example: Du skal vente. — “You should wait” or “You have to wait,” according to the context. gøre means “do” here and is the infinitive after skal. Its present-tense form is gør: Jeg gør det. — “I do it.” The phrase hvad jeg skal gøre is a useful pattern for “what I should do” or “what to do”. hvis introduces a condition and means “if”. It connects the possible situation to what the speaker needs to know. Example: Ring, hvis du har brug for hjælp. — “Call if you need help.” det is the pronoun “it” in the intended translation. Here it refers generally to the situation or condition that may become worse; the sentence does not name a more specific concrete object. The form det is also used for a neuter singular noun in other contexts, but its grammatical form alone does not identify a particular referent. bliver means “gets” or “becomes” here. It is the present-tense form of blive, “become/get”. With værre, it describes a change to a worse state: det bliver værre — “it gets worse”. Example: Vejret bliver bedre. — “The weather gets better.” værre is the comparative form meaning “worse”. Its base form is dårlig (“bad”), and the corresponding suppletive superlative is værst (“worst”): dårlig → værre → værst. In this sentence, værre compares the possible later state with the current or previously understood state; it does not itself identify what is worsening. i aften is the time expression “tonight”, referring to this evening. The preposition i is part of this fixed time expression; it is not the same as using only aften as a noun in every context. Together, Jeg har også brug for at vide means “I also need to know”. The embedded question hvad jeg skal gøre specifies the information needed: “what I should do”. The conditional clause hvis det bliver værre i aften adds the condition “if it gets worse tonight”. Assembled, the utterance means: “I also need to know what to do if it gets worse tonight.”

6. Spørg, hvor du skal tage hen, hvis du hurtigt får brug for hjælp.

   Ask where you should go if you need help quickly.

   Spørg

   ask

   hvor

   where

   du skal

   you should

   tage hen

   go

   hurtigt

   quickly

   får brug for

   need

   hjælp

   help

   More detail

   Spørg means “ask” here. It is the imperative of spørge (“to ask”), used for a direct instruction. For example: Spørg læreren. — “Ask the teacher.” hvor means “where” and introduces the embedded question about a place. Danish uses hvor for location; compare hvornår (“when”) for time and hvordan (“how”) for manner. In this sentence, hvor does not itself mean “which place”; it opens the question whose answer identifies the destination. du skal combines du (“you”) with skal, the present form of skulle. Here skal expresses what you should or are supposed to do, not merely a future event. The subject is du, so the clause means “you should.” For example: Du skal vente. — “You should wait.” tage hen is the movement expression “go” in the sense of going to a destination. tage is the infinitive of tage (“take/go,” depending on the construction), and hen adds movement away toward another place. After a modal such as skal, the following verb stays in the infinitive: du skal tage (“you should go”), not a past or present finite form. The full destination can be added after it, for example: Vi tager hen til lægen. — “We go to the doctor.” hurtigt means “quickly.” It is the form of hurtig (“quick”) used here to describe how the need arises. Danish adjectives can have an -t form when they modify an action or occur with a neuter singular noun; in this adverbial use, hurtigt modifies the situation or action rather than a named noun. For example: Hun løber hurtigt. — “She runs quickly.” får brug for is a fixed, reusable Danish construction meaning “need” or “come to need.” Its literal components are får (“gets”) and brug for (“use for”), but the construction should normally be learned as a unit. får is the present form of få; here it presents the need as arising. The construction can take a noun: Jeg får brug for en læge. — “I will need a doctor.” It can also take a noun phrase such as brug for hjælp (“need help”). hjælp means “help.” It is a noun, and in brug for hjælp it is the thing that is needed. The noun can also be used in a direct request: Jeg har brug for hjælp. — “I need help.” The related verb is hjælpe (“help”), but hjælp in the sentence is the noun, not that verb. Together, hvor du skal tage hen means “where you should go.” The conditional clause hvis du hurtigt får brug for hjælp means “if you quickly need help”: hvis introduces the condition, and the present-tense form får describes the possible situation. The imperative Spørg then gives the instruction: “Ask where you should go if you need help quickly.”

7. Jeg skriver de vigtigste punkter ned, før jeg ringer.

   I will write the main points down before I call.

   Jeg

   I

   skriver … ned

   write down

   vigtigste

   most important

   punkter

   points

   før

   before

   ringer

   call

   More detail

   Jeg is the first-person singular subject pronoun: “I.” It identifies the speaker as the person doing the writing. Danish subject pronouns include jeg “I,” du “you” (singular), and vi “we.” Danish present-tense verbs do not change form for these persons: jeg skriver and du skriver use the same verb form. skriver is the present form of skrive, “write.” In this sentence, Danish present tense refers to a future action, as shown by the planned sequence with før; the fixed translation therefore uses “will write.” For example, Jeg skriver brevet i morgen. means “I will write the letter tomorrow.” ned combines with skriver to form the reusable construction skrive noget ned, “write something down.” The particle adds the idea of recording information in writing. For example, Jeg skriver adressen ned. means “I write the address down.” vigtigste is the superlative form used with a definite noun phrase, related to vigtig “important,” vigtigere “more important,” and vigtigst “most important.” Here de vigtigste is “the most important,” and vigtigste describes punkter. The definite superlative uses the -e form before the noun in this phrase. punkter is the plural of punkt, “point” or “item.” In this sentence it means written points or items of information. A singular form is et punkt “a point”; the plural form is punkter. før introduces the time clause “before.” It links the writing to the later action: the writing happens before the calling. In Danish, a subordinate clause introduced by før can have its own subject and verb, as in før jeg ringer. ringer is the present form of ringe, here meaning “call.” As with skriver, the present form can refer to a future action when the context establishes a plan or sequence. Jeg ringer senere. means “I will call later.” Together, Jeg skriver ... ned means “I write ... down,” and de vigtigste punkter means “the most important points.” The clause før jeg ringer adds “before I call.” The whole utterance therefore means: “I will write the main points down before I call.”

8. Det burde gøre opkaldet tydeligere for jer begge.

   That should make the call clearer for both of you.

   Det burde

   That should

   gøre

   make

   opkaldet

   the call

   tydeligere

   clearer

   jer begge

   both of you

   More detail

   Det burde combines the subject pronoun det with burde, the form of bør used for “should” or “ought to.” Here det is understood as “that,” as confirmed by the fixed translation; the sentence does not identify that referent more specifically. In this use, burde presents the result as expected rather than certain. Danish modal verbs such as burde are followed directly by an infinitive: burde gøre, without at. Gøre is the infinitive of gøre, “to do” or “to make.” In this sentence it has the causative meaning “make,” because it causes the following object to become tydeligere. A reusable pattern is gøre + object + adjective. Example: Det kan gøre forskellen større. — “That can make the difference bigger.” Opkaldet means “the call” here. It is the definite singular form of opkald (“a call”): et opkald means “a call,” while opkaldet means “the call.” The ending marks definiteness on the noun itself. Tydeligere means “clearer” here. It is the comparative form of the adjective tydelig (“clear”); the useful chain is tydelig → tydeligere → tydeligst (“clear” → “clearer” → “clearest”). The comparative presents the call as clearer relative to an understood comparison standard; the sentence does not specify that standard. Example: Billedet blev tydeligere. — “The picture became clearer.” Jer begge means “both of you.” Jer is the plural second-person object form, used here after the preposition for; it contrasts with singular dig. Begge adds the meaning “both,” so it specifies the two addressees without changing the pronoun’s form. Example: Jeg sender det til jer begge. — “I am sending it to both of you.” Together, det burde gøre expresses “that should make,” opkaldet tydeligere expresses “the call clearer,” and for jer begge identifies the people for whom the call is expected to be clearer. The complete meaning is that the unspecified “that” is expected to make the call clearer for both addressees.