Daily Danish Pod
A language learning podcast, for beginners, focusing on everyday scenarios.
Join Victoria, your Danish teacher, and Andrew, your fellow learner, as they work through the conversations you'll actually need in everyday life. From ordering a coffee and shopping at the supermarket to introducing yourself, each episode focuses on practical, high-frequency situations you'll encounter in Denmark.
Daily Danish Pod is a language learning podcast for absolute beginners, but learners of all levels can benefit from our focus on pronunciation and word and phrase variations.
Whether you've just moved to Denmark, are planning a visit, or simply want to build confidence speaking Danish, we're here to help.
Our goal isn't to make you fluent overnight. Instead, we want to help you take those important first steps and give you the confidence to start speaking. Many people aren't ready to chat with Danish friends on day one, but you can absolutely learn how to order food, ask simple questions, and navigate daily life.
Each episode builds on the last, introducing new vocabulary while constantly revisiting previous words and phrases through repetition. You can jump into any episode, but listening in order will give you the best learning experience.
So come with us on your Danish language journey. Listen, repeat, rewind, and don't be afraid to speak. The more you hear it, the more natural it becomes.
Get talking!
If you're enjoying the podcast, we'd love to hear from you. Leave a review, share it with another Danish learner, and let us know what everyday situations you'd like us to cover next.
Daily Danish Pod
Talking about yourself: Nationality & Languages - S1 Ep5
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode, you'll learn how to talk about your nationality and the languages you speak. We'll practice asking and answering questions about where you're from and which languages you speak.
We'll also continue improving your spoken Danish by focusing on the rhythm of the language. You'll learn why some words are stressed while others are reduced or almost disappear in everyday conversation, helping you sound more natural when speaking Danish.
Words of the Day
Hvad er dit navn? - What is your name?
Dansker - Dane
Ja, det er jeg - Yes, I am
Nej, det er jeg ikke - No, I am not
Taler - Speak
Hvilke sprog taler du? - Which languages do you speak?
Lidt - A little
Main Dialogue
Victoria: Hej.
Andrew: Hej, hvordan går det?
Victoria: Det går fint, tak. Og dig?
Andrew: Også fint.
Andrew: Hvad er dit navn?
Victoria: Mit navn er Victoria.
Andrew: Er du dansker?
Victoria: Ja, det er jeg. Jeg er dansker og spanier.
Andrew: Hvilke sprog taler du?
Victoria: Jeg taler dansk, spansk, engelsk og lidt tysk og fransk.
Victoria: Hvad med dig? Hvilke sprog taler du?
Andrew: Jeg taler engelsk, italiensk og lidt dansk.
Victoria: Er du italiener?
Andrew: Nej, det er jeg ikke.
Victoria: Er du amerikaner?
Andrew: Ja, det er jeg. Jeg kommer fra USA.
Victoria: Fedt!
Words and Phrase Variations
Different ways to answer "Are you...?"
Ja, det er jeg. - Yes, I am.
Nej, det er jeg ikke. - No, I'm not.
Different ways to introduce yourself
Jeg kommer fra... - I come from...
Jeg taler... - I speak...
Jeg taler lidt... - I speak a little...
Language Names
Dansk - Danish
Engelsk - English
Spansk - Spanish
Fransk - French
Tysk - German
Italiensk - Italian
Arabisk - Arabic
Polsk - Polish
Ukrainsk - Ukrainian
Mandarin - Mandarin Chinese
Nepalesisk - Nepali
Tyrkisk - Turkish
Pronunciation Point
This episode focuses on one of the biggest differences between written and spoken Danish: sentence rhythm.
You'll practice how Danish is a stress-timed language, where the most important words receive the stress while small words are often reduced or blended together.
We'll also look at how common phrases become shorter in everyday speech, such as:
Hvad er dit navn? → Hva' dit navn?
and
Jeg er klar. → Jeg'r klar.
Listening for this rhythm will make it much easier to understand native Danish speakers.
Coming Next Time
Join us next time as we catch up with an old friend. You'll learn informal greetings, talk about family members, and continue building your confidence in everyday Danish conversations.
Vi ses!
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Hi Alsam.
Speaker 4Hey everyone. Welcome to Daily Danish Pod, a language learning podcast for beginners focusing on everyday scenarios.
Speaker 2My name is Victoria and I will be the teacher.
Speaker 4My name is Andrew and I will be the learner.
Speaker 2Hi, Sa Andrew.
Speaker 4Hi Victoria.
SpeakerGotta say that. Good to see
Intro to the Episode
Speakeryou.
Speaker 4Likewise. So Victoria, what are we going to be talking about today?
Speaker 2Today in our dialogue, we will continue our basic conversation with someone you're getting to know. You'll learn to ask and say where you're from and what languages you speak.
Speaker 4Exciting. I guess I could say spin? A word we talked about in our word and phrases variations last time.
Speaker 2So educla, Andrew.
Speaker 4Yay cla.
Speaker 2Let's
Words of the Day
Speaker 2begin.
Speaker 4We will begin this episode with words of the day. These are the new words and phrases that we will have in today's dialogue. Victoria will say the word of phrase. We will leave a space for you to repeat out loud, and then I will repeat it as well. And don't forget we put the words with their English translations in the description of today's episode.
Speaker 2The first words of the day form the question what is your name? In Danish we say vehit naun. In this question we have two new words. The key word in this question is noun. Noun means name. We also have one of the ways to say your. In Danish, depending on the gender, that would be either din or dit. So to say your name we would say dit noun D noun. Put together in a question it is vehit noun or in quick spoken Danish Veditnaun. In Danish we often squish our words together, especially with a to the point you don't even hear a anymore. Vel a dit noun just becomes bedit noun. This is not a uniquely Danish thing. You get this in English when you are becomes your or I am becomes I'm. So to recap again, when you ask what is your name in Danish we say Baditnaun. Great, but can you try to say without pronouncing the a as we would say in daily spoken Danish?
Speaker 4Badit noun.
Speaker 2Perfect, perfect. The next word we will focus on is denska. Denska means Dan, so a Danish person. The word is denska.
Speaker 4Denska.
Speaker 2A really common and versatile phrase in Danish, one you can use in many situations is yeah. It literally means yes that I am, but can be translated into yes I am when you want to confirm something. The phrase is yadiya. Pay attention here. This is how we say yes to someone who asks you a question using the verb a. So for example, if you ask edu cla an alternative instead of repeating kla again, what could you say?
Speaker 4I could say yade.
Speaker 2Yeah. And to say something you're not, we just add in the word ik. Ik means not. So na de ik means I am not. Night deik.
Speaker 4Night de yaik.
Speaker 2One verb you will encounter in this episode's dialogue is tela. It is the word for speaking in the present tense. So when you say I speak Danish, it would be Yatela Dansk. Ya Tel Dansk.
Speaker 4Ya Teledansk.
Speaker 2Some other languages could be English. That would be Englsk.
Speaker 3English.
Speaker 2Spanish would be Spensk. Spinsk French would be Fransk Fransk German Tusk and Italian Italiansk. If you want to ask someone which language they speak, you would say Vilkespro Te la tu Vilke means which Spro means languages. It has the same form in both singular and plural. Tela we know means speak and du means you. So when we put it all together the question becomes Vilke Spro Te La Du Vilkespro Te Du Great.
Test Your Listening
Speaker 2Speaker 4
So now Victoria has prepared a little dialogue of two people discussing where they come from and what languages they speak. Try to listen and see if you can recognise any of the new words we have just learned. Afterwards we will talk about the conversation and clarify any points.
Speaker 2Hi Boring ausfind. Mit navn er Victoria.
Speaker 4Er du dansker?
Speaker 2Jeg er dansker og spanier.
Speaker 4Hvilke sprouter du?
Speaker 2Jeg taler dansk, spansk, engelsk og lidt tysk og fransk. Hvad med dig? Hvilket sprog taler du?
Speaker 4Jeg taler engelsk, italiensk og lidt dansk?
Speaker 2Er du italiener?
Speaker 4Nej, det er jeg ikke.
Speaker 2Er du amerikaner?
Speaker 4Ja, der er ja. Jeg kommer fra USA Fit.
Speaker 2So how did it go? Both for you, the listener, and for you, Andrew.
Speaker 4Very well, I think. There are many of the words we just went over, but I do see you snuck in some new words. For example lit.
Speaker 2Yes. Lit means a little. And in the dialogue it was used in the context of languages. So I speak a little Danish is Yatela Lit Dansk.
Speaker 4Ya Tele Lit Dansk.
Speaker 2Precis. Exactly.
Speaker 4So Victoria, you also introduced us to quite a few words for various nationalities.
Speaker 2I did indeed. In Danish, the word for a country, a language, and a person from that country are often different, just like in English. For example, Denmark, Danish, and a Dane. Or Denmuk, Densk, Adenska. So let's do a little quiz for both the listener at home and you, Andrew. I will tell you the nationality and let's see if you can guess it.
Speaker 4Let's give it a go.
Speaker 2Okay, so the first one we have was Spitnya.
Speaker 4Spetnya. That would be someone from Spain or Spanyan.
Speaker 2Correct, correct. Here we can see that difference. Spain and Spain. Spinyan is the country, and Spain is the person from Spain. After that, in the dialogue we had Italena.
Speaker 4Italiana. That is someone from Italy.
Speaker 2Oh yes. And the last one, Amaikana.
Speaker 4Amaikana. That means American. Even if in English, I might just refer to myself as someone from the United States or USA in Danish.
Speaker 2Sudden, Andrew, and I'm sure you did a great job at home too.
English Translation
Speaker 2Now you can listen to the dialogue with breaks and an English translation. I will read out the script line for line in Danish, and then Andrew will repeat in English. Hi.
Speaker 4Hey.
Speaker 2Hi. What's gold?
Speaker 4Hey, how's it going?
Speaker 2Big old fiend tuck.
Speaker 4It's going well, thank you.
Speaker 2A di And you?
Speaker 4Also fine.
Speaker 2Very noun.
Speaker 4What's your name?
Speaker 2Midnaun er Victoria.
Speaker 4My name is Victoria.
Speaker 2Er du Dansker?
Speaker 4Are you a Dane?
Speaker 2Yeah, det er jeg.
Speaker 4Yes, I am.
Speaker 2Jeg er dansker og spanier. Hvilke sprog taler du?
Speaker 4Which languages do you speak?
Speaker 2Jeg taler dansk, spansk, engelsk og lidt tysk og fransk.
Speaker 4I speak Danish, Spanish, English and a little German and French. What about you? Which languages do you speak? I speak English, Italian and a little Danish. Are you Italian? No I'm not. Are you American?
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 4Yes, I am.
Speaker 2Ya comes.
Speaker 4I come from the US.
SpeakerFit.
Speaker 4Cool.
Pronunciation Point
SpeakerPronunciation point. Pronunciation point.
Speaker 3Pronunciation point.
Speaker 2Okay, let's do it. For today's pronunciation point, we'll begin to tackle an important part of any language. It's rhythm. A crucial part in learning a language is learning its rhythm and melody. Danish, together with other Germanic languages such as English and German are so-called stress-timed languages.
Speaker 4For most learners, myself included, there's a tendency to want to pronounce each and every word in a sentence in Danish. But in stress-timed languages, the words that hold important information end up being the emphasized words, while the others are often skipped over or meld together. This might sound confusing now, but as you listen to and hear more Danish, it will become almost second nature.
Speaker 2Yet in order to get an idea of what we're talking about, we could do a little activity. I will have Andrew read out some sentences we already know, ask you to think about what the most important word or words could be, and then I will give you the sentence with correct stress. Then we can see if we can guess which words were stressed.
Speaker 4All right. So the first sentence is A du Danska. So the stress would be on the word denska.
Speaker 2Exactly. That's the word that is the most important and that holds the most information.
Speaker 4So will you say it again for me one more time?
Speaker 2Erudenska.
Speaker 4Okay, so the next sentence we have is Vilka spro teler duke spro taladu. So would it be on spro and maybe du?
Speaker 2Yes, but mostly spro.
Speaker 4Okay. So the language is an important word in this sentence.
Speaker 2Exactly. Or in the question.
Speaker 4Or in the question. Will you say it for me one more time? So it kind of goes up on the wilkespro te la du. Yeah. So the next one you have for me here is nai deg. Okay. So there's definitely emphasis on the first word, the nail is almost even stronger. And then also on egg?
Speaker 2Yes. Essentially the emphasis on the two are on the two negations, the no and the not.
Speaker 4Okay, can you say it for us one more time?
Speaker 2For the last example, I will give you a question and a response, and let's see what you notice. What kotma ru ph and the response would be. And the question the important thing is coming from. So we put the emphasis on kotma and phr. Many words that have stress also get a st or that boxer in your voice sound. This is only possible when we rest on the word. So vo kotmar gets a little still on kotma and phrase. Whereas in the answer the stress is now on the place that the person is from. So you almost skip over or say as quickly as possible ja komma fra so you can get to the important information. It is not ja komma fra usa. It's ja komma fra usa. Since we no longer have the emphasis on neither komma nor fra, we do not need to make the still sound.
Speaker 4Since this podcast focuses on daily spoken Danish, we will come back to this again and again. But for now, try to see if you can listen for where we put the focus and listen for the rhythm.
Practice Speaking
Speaker 4In this next section, we'll go over the dialogue we have been working on up until now. Yet this time, Victoria will say the lines for both of us, and after each line, she will leave a space for you to repeat afterwards, and then I will repeat as well.
SpeakerHi.
Speaker 4Hi. Hi foring god Hi foring goda takeo fin takeo fin tag or daint hverdit navn. Hær det navn.
Speaker 2Mit navn er Victoria.
Speaker 4Mit navn er victoria.
Speaker 2Jeg er dansker og spangler.
Speaker 4Jeg er dansker og spang.
Speaker 2Hvilke sprog taler du.
Speaker 4Hvilket sprog taler du.
Speaker 2Jeg taler dansk.
Speaker 4Jeg taler dansk.
Speaker 2Engelsk.
Speaker 4Engelsk, og lidt tysk, og lidt tysk og fransk. Og fransk.
Speaker 2Hvad med dig.
Speaker 4Hvad med dig?
Speaker 2Hvilke sprog taler du?
Speaker 4Hvilke sprog taler du?
Speaker 2Jeg taler engelsk.
Speaker 4Jeg taler engelsk, italiensk, italiensk.
Speaker 2Og lidt dansk.
Speaker 4Og lidt dansk.
Speaker 2Er du italiener.
Speaker 4Er du italiener.
Speaker 2Nej, det er jeg ikke.
Speaker 4Nej, det er jeg ikke.
Speaker 2Er du amerikaner.
Speaker 4Er du amerikaner.
SpeakerJa, det er ja.
Speaker 2Jeg kommer fra USA.
Speaker 4Jeg kommer fra USA.
Culture Point
Speaker 2So Andrew, you've been learning Danish for some time now. What has your experience been speaking Danish with native speakers?
Speaker 4I think that when I first moved here, I was a little scared to speak with people in Danish. And maybe I would try to say a couple words, and then they could tell that obviously I was not comfortable. I only really say switching into English for me as a courtesy years later. I always thought that maybe they were almost being rude, but I think there's such a tendency for Danes want to want to make everyone comfortable. And so they can speak English well, so they then speak English back to you. Nonetheless, I persisted. And after maybe a year or two, really once I had asked a bunch of my Danish friends how to say, may I order this or can I order this? And I really started committing to it and trying harder and harder, then people responded in Danish. I think it was really when my attitude and my comfortability changed that I was able to start speaking in Danish with people, just putting myself out there. Now I can order in Danish, maybe at a coffee shop or at a restaurant, and they don't automatically switch back, and that's really nice. So I think they can tell that I'm not, you know, perfect in Danish, but they see I'm trying, and once I think they see that you're trying, then they will respond back. But it's taken some time, and there's still times where people will every now and again will they'll switch back into English, and I think it's always a courtesy. So with all this English that there is in Denmark and Danish companies, and especially living here in the capital city, is there any fear of it disappearing or going away? What is that like?
Speaker 2The Danish language is actually doing really well overall, but as it's very natural with increased exposure, more and more words from especially English make their way into the Danish language. No living language is static and it's forever changing and morphing. However, I did talk to one of my friends who works on the state-funded language board here in Denmark, and he said that historically the languages that have had an impact on Danish have been German and French. And when we have loaned words from them, we have changed them to fit Danish grammar and pronunciation. But we're seeing a tendency with English words that they don't get changed at all. So the Danish Language Board has actually just launched a campaign at the end of April 26th called Kevy Potensk, understood as can we say it in Danish? First of all, to see what English words Danes are actually using, which ones they are fine with having in English, and which ones they actually are longing to have replaced by Danish words, and seeing do we actually have a Danish equivalent or do we need to actually invent a new one?
Practice Listening - Real Speed
Speaker 2We will now repeat the dialogue at normal conversational speed. Hi.
Speaker 4Hi.
Speaker 2Tak og dig.
Speaker 4Ræfien. Vær det navn?
Speaker 2Mit navn er Victoria.
Speaker 4Er du dansker?
Speaker 2Ja det er. Jeg er dansker og Spanier.
Speaker 4Hvilke sprog taler du?
Speaker 2Jeg taler dansk, spansk, engelsk og lidt tysk og fransk. Hvad med dig? Hvilke sprog taler du?
Speaker 4Jeg taler engelsk, italiensk og lidt dansk.
Speaker 2Er du italiener?
Speaker 4Nej.
Speaker 2Er du amerikaner? Yeah.
Speaker 4Det kommer fra USA.
Speaker 2Fed.
Word & Phrase Variations
Speaker 4We will now have the section word and phrase variations. These are different ways you can say similar concepts and ideas related to this episode's dialogue.
Speaker 2For the phrase and word variations, we will look at some names for languages. We've selected the languages based on the countries we learned in the last episode. In some of these countries they speak several languages, but for the sake of simplicity and time we'll only mention the most widely spoken language in that country. Arabisk Arabic Arabisk Arabisk Bengali Bengali Bengali Bengali Fransk Franch Italiensk, Italien, Italiensk italiensk, mandarin, Mandarin, Mandarin, Mandarin, Nepalesisk, Nepali, Nepalesisk, Nepalesisk, Polsk, Polish, Polsk, Polsk, Polsk, Polsk, Turkisk, Turkish, Turkisk, Turkisk, Tusk, German, Tusk, Tusk, Ukrainsk, Ukrainian, Ukrainsk Ukrainsk. That's
Teaser for Next Episode
Speaker 2all for this episode. Join us next time, where we will be catching up with an old friend. We'll look at informal greetings and words to describe family relations.
Speaker 4We would love to hear from you, our listeners. Please comment whether you have ideas for how we can improve, scenarios you would like us to cover, or even just to say hi and introduce yourself. We'd love to know where you're from and your motivation for learning Danish. If you'd like to support us further, please like and subscribe. And check out our Instagram at Daily Danish Pod to get updates on our work.
Speaker 2This podcast was created and recorded at Union, the culture house in Uppo, Copenhagen, with funding from Funten Krimhouse. The pod would not be possible without both of their help. A big thank you to Chenny, Esm, and Gustavo for your ongoing support. A shout out to Omar for our logo design and Andrew Renison for creating our jingle. Hi hi.
Speaker 4See you next time.