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10 useful logical connectors in Danish

Elena Sokolova, February 18th 2023

To make your sentences more extended in Danish, you can use some simple connectors, and you can actually express many logical relations knowing at least these 10 connectors. They are for example enough to feel confident at Prøve i Dansk 2, where a lower complexity of the language is required than at Prøve i Dansk 3.

Result/Consequence

Use (therfore/that’s why/so) and do not make inversion of the verb after unless you have time/place phrase right after it.

Mine ansættelsesvilkår er dårlige, så jeg overvejer at sige min stilling op. = My terms of employment are bad, so I am thinking about quitting my job.

New idea after preposition

Use at (that), which starts a new subordinate clause, and then you easily can make a new phrase and glue it to the first part, which ends in a preposition.

Man kan blive træt af, at man har meget overarbejde. = One can become tired of, that one has a lot of overtime work.

Man kan hurtigt blive demotiveret af, at arbejdsopgaver altid er de samme. = One can quickly be demotivated by, that working tasks are the same.

Extension

Use at (that), which follows verbs like sige/synes/tror/beslutte/fortælle. AT-part extends the meaning of tror/synes/sige…

Man siger ofte, at frivilligt arbejde altid er godt at have på sit CV. = They say often, that a volonteer job is always good to have on CV.

Which-reference to a single word

Use som (which/who/whom) to refer to the word, you want to describe in the previous part of the sentcene. No inversion of the verb after ‘som’.

Frivillig arbejde er et arbejde, som man laver gratis for de andre for at gøre forskel. = A volonteer job is a job, which one does for free to make difference for other people.

Condition

Use hvis (=if) only to express ‘on the condition that’…If the part of the sentence with ‘hvis’ stadns first in the longer phrase, make inversion of the verb in the part, following ‘hvis’-clause.

Hvis jeg får en ny kontakt, kan jeg fortsætte med det sammen arbejdsplads. = If I get a new contract, I can continue to work at the same place.

Hvis man altid møder for sent på arbejde, kan man risikere at blive fyret. = If one always comes late to work, there is the risk to be fired.

Admission/Alternative/Doubt

Use om (whether) to introduce a phrase that expresses your uncertanty. Om does not mean ‘about’ here, it has the meaning of ‘whether/if’, but not conditional ‘if’, unlike in English.

Chefen spørger medarbejderne, om de stadig gerne vil have betalt fredagsbar hver uge. = The boss asks the employees, whether they still will have a paid Friday bar every week.

Jeg ved ikke, om (wthether) du også er enig (agree) med mig. = I do not know, whether you also agree with me.

Jeg er ikke sikker på, om det er en god ide. = I am not sure, whether it is a good ide.

Jeg spørger, om I forstår mig? = I ask, whether/if you understand me.

Time reference:

Use da (when) to refer to a time/moment, which occured one time in the pase or refer to a finish period of your life, which was once. Use når (when) to refer to a time/moment which is in present/future/repeated in the past. Never make inversion of the verb insid withe the clause da/når, but when the time clause comes first, make inverison the the following clause.

Da jeg blev færdig med mit studie, flyttede jeg til udlandet. = When I finished my studies, I moved abroad.

Jeg vil flytte til udlandet, når jeg bliver færdig med mine studier. = When I am done with my studies, I will move abroad.

Explanation:

Use fordi (because), and never make inversion inside the clasue with fordi. Use for så (because then/in that case) and invert the verb after it.

Jeg kan godt lide mit arbejde, fordi jeg kan lære mange nye ting, når jeg laver opgaverne.= I like my job, becasue I can learn many new things, when I do my tasks.

Det er vigtigt at prøve at tale dansk med kollegerne, for så kan man bedre forstå danskerne. = It is important to try to speak Danish with the colleagues, because then you can better understand Danes.

Do you have questions, comments or suggestions - email to elena@sokolova.dk.