Danish phrases everyone should know

In Denmark, you won’t find many people between the ages of 15 and 45 that don’t speak at least two languages. We start learning English in the 3rd grade, German in the 6th, and if we want we can start Spanish or French (or something else) in 1.G (kind of like freshman year of high school, and kind of not).

Because we are so used to multiple languages we (my immediate circle of friends and family, not the whole country) often switch back and forwards between the languages without really paying attention to what language we are speaking. That is until something stops us. I while ago I was trying to wish my dad ‘god arbejdslyst’, and then realized the English language doesn’t have any phrase like that. Over the years I have come across quite a few of those phrases that don’t have a counterpart in the English language. Some of these are quite useful, others are quite lovely, so I thought I would share them with you all and let you know what you are missing out on (or what you have the opportunity to steal from us).

Hygge

This one is at the top because it has to be there. This is the famous Danish word, the tourist’s first choice, and the 9th most untranslatable word in the world (according to listverse). Personally, I believe the word is best defined in the 1994 Christmas calendar Pyrus (Christmas calender =a TV show starting on the first of December with an episode a day until the 24th) where a song  defines ‘hygge’ as multiple people having a nice time at the same place at the same time in peace and quiet, and feeling a little snippet of true happiness (BTW, we also have a word for that: ‘lykke’ is above happiness but below bliss, and most accurately translated with true happiness). The original lyrics are: “når man er flere der har det rart, på samme tid, det samme sted, i ro og fred, så mærker man en lille smule lykke, bare et lille stykke, åhh det er hygge.”, you are welcome to ask google what they mean, but I don’t know if it’ll get it right.

God arbejdslyst

With ‘hygge’ out of the way, let’s go back to discussing the phrase ‘god arbejdslyst’. This literally translates to ‘good work-joy’, and means something along the lines of ‘I wish you joy at your job today’ and is a greeting we use when sending people off to work. The reason this can’t be translated into just ‘have a nice day at work’, is that the word ‘lyst’ on its own means ‘to want to’. Because of that, the phrasing gets a meaning more along the lines of ‘I hope your job is enjoyable/ fulfilling/ satisfying enough that you will want to do it (instead of doing it for the paycheck)’.

Of course, if someone has to shovel dirt around for eight hours or has a ton of paperwork waiting for them you use the phrase with a sarcastic tone sort of like a ‘haha, good luck with that’.

Overskud

This phrase literally translates to “over shot”. We use it regarding tasks, and it really means something more along the lines of having a surplus of energy – not like the bouncing off the walls kind of surplus, more like… hm… well, let’s say you have a to-do list that you need to get through within a certain time frame. “Overskud” is when you overshoot the things you do, so that suddenly you are all done and have both time and energy to spare.

English has the phrase “supermom” about mothers who somehow get everything done, we have the phrase “overskuds menneske” about people who are like that in general. And yes, they are super annoying and make us all look bad and lazy, but on those rare days where you have that mysterious “overskud” you feel like you found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow and nothing can stop you now – you are on a roll!

Overskue

Closely related to having “overskud” to be able to “overskue” things is vital to being an “overskuds menneske”. Imagine yourself standing on a tall hill, with a view spread before you so clear you can see everything and track every movement. Well, to “overskue” is kind of like that. “Over” means over (wow, right?), and to “skue” is kind of a middle ground between “look” and “scout”. To “overskue” is basically to have a full view of everything you need to do, how to get it done, and everything you need to do it. It is like having a comprehensive to do list in your brain, filled with notes deadlines.

Needless to say, both this one and “overskud” is mostly used in the negative, like “I have no overskud and I can’t overskue life anymore”.

Fyraften

The most important word in the vocabulary of the working class: the end of the working day. While this word in itself might not be so bad to miss out on (though it is nice to wish people a good fyraften), the reason it is such an important word is because without it you can not have “fyraftens bajer”. “Bajer” is a slang word for beer (øl), and so a fyrafens bajer is a beer you drink with your colleagues after getting off work. The genius of this word is that is it not specific to getting off work in the job sense, nor does it require colleagues to share it with. In other words, a fyraftens bajer is the beer you drink after you deem you have done work hard enough to warrant drinking a beer.

A fyraftens bajer is best served when you’re sweating or you back is aching, it should be cold (if possible) and should preferably be served with like-minded people so you can pad each other on the back for doing good.

Brian

Not just a name here – it is a type. A type of driver to be specific. You know, someone who drives as though they are invincible and invulnerable, like they own the road, like it’s your job to predict what they will do next. Basically “unnamed driver nr 23” from Fast and the Furious, except he thinks he’s Toretto and doesn’t know he’s about to die. His car will likely be a piece of sh*t that barely stays together, but made to look like it’s so much more. Also, he will likely have a dice in the mirror.

Side note, I don’t think this actually has anything to do with Brian O’Connor from Fast, I’m fairly certain that’s just one of those weird coincidences.

Selv tak

You know that situation where someone says ‘thank you’ and you are about to say ‘you’re welcome’, but that might sound a bit selfish or something because really, the credit isn’t yours? Like if someone helps you move and you can see they need an extra hand with the couch so you put down what you are carrying and help them out, and then they thank you for helping them carry your own couch. Okay, it is possible you have a Canadian helping you move in this scenario, but it still is possible. Well, ‘selv tak’ is pretty much turning the ‘thank you’ into a mutual state where you are both thankful to the other. The difference between this and ‘and you too’ or something like that is subtle, but I do believe it is there. It is kind of like in Ghost with the ‘I love you’ and ‘ditto’ thing they have, in ‘selv tak’ you have the actual word ‘tak’ (=thanks) in there, and the connotation of it has more equality in it between the first and second speaker, meaning that the first speaker isn’t necessarily more thankful just because they said the words first.

Honorary mention: Nisse

Just because I mentioned Pyrus earlier, and he is a ‘nisse’. A ‘nisse’ is kind of like a garden gnome, except they always wear red and grey clothes (and kind of look like mini-Santas), and we have so many more versions than just ones to put in the garden. They are a part of an old superstition, they live in the hay attics of old farms, and if you don’t feed them rice pudding they will set your farm on fire (call the red rooster). Also they help Santa make the presents for children, and more than anything they like to make trouble – kind of like Peeves the Poltergeist from Harry Potter. They only come out at Christmas time, but then we have them everywhere: storefronts, TV shows (/julekalendere), ‘kravlenisser’ which are paper cutouts “crawling” everywhere as decorations, and they evidently really like selling things, because they are probably in 90% of the commercials around Christmas.

Also (and this is my last note, I promise), how do you guys navigate family trees? We have a word for male cousins (fætter) and one for female cousins (kusine). We have three words for aunt: “Tante” is someone who married your uncle, “faster” is your father’s sister, and “moster” is your mother’s sister. For males: onkle, farbror and morbror. We have both “mormor” for the maternal grandmother (mommom) and “farmor” for the paternal grandmother (dadmom) – and of course “morfar” (momdad) and “farfar” (daddad) – and then “bedstefar” (greatest dad) or “bedstemor” (greatest mom) if, like my grandpa, it is too confusing to remember which of your grandchildren should call you what. Also, grandchildren are called “børnebørn” which translates directly to “childs-children”.

Okay, I’m done. It’s your turn now, what are some phrases you can’t believe other languages can get by without? Leave it in the comments.