Danish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Tom Lundskaer-Nielsen, Philip Holmes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781136980732
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Danish: A Comprehensive Grammar presents a fresh and accessible description of the language, concentrating on the real patterns of use in modern Danish. The volume is organized to promote a thorough understanding of Danish grammar. It offers a stimulating analysis of the complexities of the language, and provides full and clear explanations.

This edition has been fully updated to reflect changes in grammar, cultural changes and the impact of modern technology. All sections have been systematically revised, and a new section on phrases and an up-to-the-moment account of the use of the comma have been added. The examples and grammar explanations have been improved throughout.

Features include:

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• a wealth of examples from present-day Danish
• particular attention to areas of confusion and difficulty
• Danish-English parallels highlighted throughout the book
• an extensive index and clear paragraph numbering for easy navigation
• cross-references in all parts of the book.

Danish: A Comprehensive Grammar is the most comprehensive and detailed Danish grammar available in English and is an essential reference source for the learner and user of Danish at all levels. It is ideal for use in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes of all types.

Chapter 1
Nouns

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 Different types of noun

Proper nouns: Esbjerg; Kirsten; Politiken (newspaper); Tyskland, Germany

Common nouns: hus, house; kat, cat; pige, girl; stol, chair

Types of common noun are:

Count nouns, i.e. concrete things and creatures: kage, cake; lærer, teacher; træ, tree

• – Some abstracts are count nouns: farve, colour; glæde, joy; sygdom, illness

Non-count nouns, i.e. substances: benzin, petrol; luft, air; vand, water

• – Some abstracts are non-count nouns: hvidhed, whiteness; lykke, happiness; musik, music

1.1.2 Genders

Danish nouns have two genders, common and neuter (some grammars use the term ‘non-neuter’ for common gender). Common gender nouns take the indefinite article en and the end article (definite article) –(e)n (see 1.9):

en hånd, a hand	hånden, the hand
en pige, a girl	pigen, the girl

Neuter nouns take the indefinite article et and the end article –(e)t:

et hus, a house	huset, the house
et æble, an apple	æblet, the apple

1.1.3 Indefinite plural forms

Danish nouns form their indefinite plural in three main ways, by adding the endings –(e)r, –e or –zero (i.e. no plural ending) (see 1.4.1–1.4.6 below):

en by – byer, town – towns; en krone – kroner, crown – crowns; en stol – stole, chair – chairs; et sprog – sprog, language – languages

For plurals of foreign nouns see 1.4.7–1.4.10.

1.1.4 Cases

There are two cases for Danish nouns: a basic (unmarked) case, and a genitive ending in –s (see 1.8):

en pige, a girl	en piges hånd, a girl’s hand
pigen, the girl	pigens hånd, the girl’s hand
piger, girls	pigers hænder, girls’ hands
pigerne, the girls	pigernes hænder, the girls’ hands

1.2 Gender rules

1.2.1 Introduction

About 75 per cent of all nouns are common gender. Whilst it is clearly advisable to learn each noun with its gender, the following guidelines should provide some help in predicting gender (for the gender of loan words see 1.3.2). In many cases either the meaning of the noun or its suffix may provide a clue to its gender.

Gender also determines the form of the adjective and of some pronouns, as these agree in gender and number with nouns (see 2.3.1, 4.1):

en stor bil	et stort hus
a big car	a big house
bilen er stor	huset er stort
the car is big	the house is big

Note – Old Danish had masculine, feminine and neuter gender, and remnants of this system are occasionally found in poetry and hymns:

dagen – han, the day...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Symbols and abbreviations used in the text
• Chapter 1 Nouns
• Chapter 2 Adjectives
• Chapter 3 Numerals
• Chapter 4 Pronouns
• Chapter 5 Verbs
• Chapter 6 Adverbs
• Chapter 7 Prepositions
• Chapter 8 Interjections
• Chapter 9 Conjunctions
• Chapter 10 Sentence structure and word order
• Chapter 11 Word formation
• Chapter 12 Punctuation
• Chapter 13 Orthography
• Linguistic terms
• Latin, Danish and English linguistic terms
• Short bibliography
• Index