Christoph: Started article

2005-12-21T00:39:14Z

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<small>^ [[Danish Tutorial|Contents]] ^</small>
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In Danish there are two genders of nouns, but they aren't "masculine" and "feminine" like other European languages. They're called common and neuter gender, and they're inflected differently. Every noun is associated with one gender, and the gender should be learned when learning the noun.

About 75% of Danish nouns are ''common'' gender, and if the noun is a living thing such as '''hund''' (dog) chances are it's going to be common gender.

===Singular nouns===
The Danish word for ''a'' is '''en'''. '''en''' is
the common gender indefinite article. The neuter article is '''et'''. Thus you say:

*'''en dreng''' = ''a boy''
*'''en pige''' = ''a girl''
*'''et hus''' = ''a house''
*'''et æble''' = ''an apple''

In English, when you want to refer to one particular person or item, you use
the article ''the'' instead of ''a'' or ''an''. In Danish you do this by
inflecting the nouns:

*'''drengen''' = ''the boy''
*'''pigen''' = ''the girl''
*'''huset''' = ''the house''
*'''æblet''' = ''the apple''

Example sentences:

*'''Jeg ser en dreng.''' = ''I see a boy.''
*'''Jeg ser drengen.''' = ''I see the boy.''
*'''Jeg læser en bog.''' = ''I read a book.''
*'''Jeg læser bogen.''' = ''I read the book.''
*'''Jeg spiser et æble.''' = ''I eat an apple.''
*'''Jeg spiser æblet.''' = ''I eat the apple.''

===Plural nouns===
Indefinite:
*'''drenge''' = ''boys''
*'''piger''' = ''girls''
*'''huse''' = ''houses''
*'''æbler''' = ''apples''

Definite:
*'''drengene''' = ''the boys''
*'''pigerne''' = ''the girls''
*'''husene''' = ''the houses''
*'''æblerne''' = ''the apples''

Here is the table for inflections of nouns:

<table border=1>
<tr><th rowspan=2>Gender<th colspan=2>Singluar<th colspan=2>Plural
<tr><th>Indefinite<th>Definite<th>Indefinite<th>Definite
<tr><td>Common gender<td>en dreng<td>drengen<td>drenge<td>drengene
<tr><td>Neuter<td>et æble<td>æblet<td>æbler<td>æblerne
</table>

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<small>^ [[Danish Tutorial|Contents]] ^</small>
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Danish:Nouns - Revision history

Christoph: Started article