Danish language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Danish |
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| dansk | ||||
| Native to | Denmark, Greenland, Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) | |||
| Native speakers | 5.6 million (2007) | |||
| Language family |
Indo-European
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| Writing system | Latin script (Danish alphabet) Danish Braille |
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| Official status | ||||
| Official language in |  Denmark
Minority language:  Germany Greenland Iceland |
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| Regulated by | Dansk Sprognævn ("Danish Language Committee") | |||
| Linguasphere | 52-AAA-bf & -ca to -cj | |||
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Danish is the Germanic language spoken in Denmark, the Faroe Islands, and parts of Greenland and Germany (Southern Schleswig). Around 5.5 million people speak Danish. It is used as a second language in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Danish people, or Danes, call their language dansk.
Here are some simple words in Danish:
| English | Danish |
|---|---|
| Hello | Hej |
| Goodbye | Farvel |
| Thank you | Tak |
| Where are you from? | Hvor kommer du fra? |
| With | Med |
| I | Jeg |
| Yes | Ja |
| No | Nej |
| Welcome | Velkommen |
| am/are/is | Er |
| English | Engelsk |
| If | Hvis |
| I love you | Jeg elsker dig |
| Room | Værelse |
| Copenhagen | København |
| Bill | Regning |
| Food | Mad |
| Okay | Okay |
| Umbrella | Paraply |
| Where | Hvor |
| Who | Hvem |
| Which | Hvilken/hvilket |
| The price | Prisen |
| Where is | Hvor er |
| Airport | Lufthavn |
| Road | Vej |
| Rooster | Hane |
| Chicken | Kylling |
| Fish | Fisk |
| Vegetarian | Vegetar |
| Compare | Sammenligne |
| Train | Tog |
Images for kids
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Danish label reading militærpoliti, "military police", on a police vehicle
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Language shift in the 19th century in southern Schleswig
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Learn Danish banner in Flensburg, Germany, where it is an officially recognized regional language
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A map showing the distribution of stød in Danish dialects: Dialects in the pink areas have stød, as in standard Danish, while those in the green ones have tones, as in Swedish and Norwegian. Dialects in the blue areas have (like Icelandic, German, and English) neither stød nor tones.
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The distribution of one, two, and three grammatical genders in Danish dialects. In Zealand, the transition from three to two genders has happened fairly recently. West of the red line, the definite article goes before the word as in English or German; east of the line it takes the form of a suffix.
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Danish keyboard with keys for Æ, Ø, and Å
See also
In Spanish: Idioma danés para niños
