Inversion in Danish and German

Inversion in is a very important part of the Danish and German (and other germanic) languages.
This is one of the few areas where the grammar of these two languages is alike - and quite different from English.
In this video you'll learn when to use inversion in affirmative sentences.
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[@mesopotamiangladiator4281]

This channel is solid gold for newcomers like myself in Denmark. Thanks 🙏

[@MicsLanguages]

thank you very much 🙂

[@angelacarstensen]

I am currently learning Danish via an app as an English speaker but originally I am German. So translating sentences from German to English and then to Danish plus the inversion is an adventure in itself.

[@MicsLanguages]

Good luck :)

[@lohphat]

When I learned German (35y ago) we used "darf" instead of "kann" when choice was implied. "Kann" implies ability, "darf" implies choice/permission. e.g. "..., auf das man kicken darf." I rarely get to speak it anymore (maybe once a month for German, RARELY for Danish) but I've seen a LOT of changes of usage in that time, especially more and more English loan words.

[@MicsLanguages]

Yeah there have been a lot of changes in the last decades. That's probably the case for most languages in the world, especially because of the big influence of English in the world. Centuries ago it was Latin or French that influenced other languages, "recently" it has been English. About darf vs kann, you're right about what they imply. It would be a bit strange to use dürfen in this case, as it would be similar to saying "a... symbol that you are allowed to click on" in English. Thanks for your comment :)

[@Elendrria]

I am a native speaker. We would never say klicken darfst in that case. It is something you can do, but you don't have to. If someone asks you if he could klick on the button you would say du darfst darauf klicken. Darf is a word which gives you a permission. It is not used for a choice! The meaning of this word isn't related with a choice.

[@eleanors5255]

That made a lot of sense! Thank you, it was very helpful.

[@MicsLanguages]

I like it when stuff makes sense. Thank you! 😎

[@jannick.jensen]

Thank you for your Videos! I grew up with regular vacations in denmark (at the north sea) and I absolutely adore the country. Now I‘m 23 years old and I started learning danish a week ago. As a german I find it quite easy to understand when read, but when the danish people talk they talk so fast and swallow so many vocals 🙈 I am also struggeling with how to properly pronounce the soft „d“. Your video regarding that topic has helped me alot, but the next day I always Feel like I cant pronounce it anymore 😂 I hope with practice I get used to pronouncing it so it comes naturally to me one day 🙊 I also Want to be able to speak danish because my fathers grandfather was danish, so it would be awesome to be fluent in danish one day. I hope your videos can support me to achieve that ❤️🇩🇰

[@MicsLanguages]

Thank you very much for your comment! About the soft D, that is really tough to learn for many people. Learning sounds that are so different and strange takes lots of practicing, preferably with a bit of practice every day, to make it come naturally as you wrote. As a German you might also have difficulties with articulating the difference between O and Å. Luckily for you, the R from the throat is easy, you've had your whole life to practice it :) And yeah, modern Danish is very hard to understand, as we Danes swallow lots of sound and speak very quickly. We ourselves often ask each other "hvad sagde du?" because we don't get what the other person said. I wish you luck and fun in getting great at Danish! 🤞 If there's any particular subject you have difficulties with, write me and I might make a video about it...

[@Lampchuanungang]

Mic thanks for show me that the law of inversion in danish and in german.

[@Elendrria]

Hey Mic. I am from germany and trying to learn danish. Here in this Video I have another way you can translate it to german that it would be similar or closer to the original one. You used a general form where them thumb up symbol became the subject. You can also say it with du, so that the du will be the Subject. It would look like this: Unter dem Video kannst du ein ,,Daumen hoch"-Symbol sehen, auf das du (man) klicken kannst(kann).

[@MicsLanguages]

Yeah thanks, that's also a good solution, and it sounds less old-fashioned / stiff than the one I used in the video :) Good luck with Danish ;)

[@fatiman6438]

Thank you mic thats, so kind of you.see you in danmark

[@unclejake154]

thank you.

[@marcuslynn]

Jeg ved ikke hvis dette er ret, men vil jeg bare at sige tak for videon fordi det hjælpede mig meget! Jeg elsker alt jer videoer og jeg lært så meget fra dem.

[@MicsLanguages]

Tusind tak, Marcus. Nu du skriver at du ikke ved om det er rigtigt, så lad mig lige rette din kommentar: Jeg ved ikke om (video if: hvis vs. om) dette er korrekt, men jeg vil (ikke inversion) bare sige (uden "at" ) tak for videoen, fordi den har hjulpet (perfektum, ikke præteritum) mig meget! Jeg elsker alle dine ("jeres" betyder you guy's) og har lært så meget fra dem. Super, mange tak skal du have, og god fornøjelse med at blive bedre og bedre til dansk!

[@dylanizurieta3390]

Hvis du laver flere videoer, ville jeg være glad. Denne besked er skrevet af nogen, der lærer dette fremragende sprog.

[@MicsLanguages]

"Hvis du laver flere videoer, bliver jeg glad." Ellers er din tekst helt perfekt. For at besvare din kommentar, så er det min plan at lave en masse nye videoer i fremtiden. Hvis det ikke var så meget arbejde, så ville jeg allerede have lavet mange flere. Jeg bliver nødt til at blive mere effektiv, så jeg kan lave dem hurtigere. Jeg er glad for at du kan lide videoerne, tak for din kommentar !! 🙂

[@TheChewycandy]

Mange tak for den nye video! Jeg har været på sprogskolen i cirka 3 måneder, og jeg kan rigtig godt lide at lære dansk >>hjemmearbejde

[@MicsLanguages]

Jaaa tak, dejligt at se, at du har lavet dit hjemmearbejde! 👍👍👍 En lille rettelse: man er god TIL noget, ikke AT. Så enten kan du skrive "... ville jeg være så god til dansk" eller "... god til at tale dansk". Ellers er sætningen perfekt. Og mange tak for din besked! :)

[@TheChewycandy]

@@MicsLanguages Nåh!! Tak skal du have. Nu vil jeg huske. 🤗

[@MicsLanguages]

@@TheChewycandy Perfekt 👍😊

[@emirocardozo4426]

Hej! Jeg elsker dine videoer. Du hjælper meget mig. Jeg læser dansk på universitetet siden en måned men jeg ved ikke hvordan man bruger "if" på dansk. Could you please make a video about it? Tusind tak!😘

[@MicsLanguages]

Hej Emiro! Tak for din besked. Jeg vil se, om jeg kan lave en video om "if" på et tidspunkt. Lad mig lige give dig en lille rettelse til din tekst: Du "HAR LÆST dansk på universitetet i en måned (eller siden oktober/september...)" Held og lykke med at blive supergod til dansk! 😉

[@MicsLanguages]

Hej Emiro! Jeg har lige lanceret en video om "if" (03. december 2019). Jeg håber, du kan lide den. Skriv gerne en kommentar, hvis du har yderligere spørgsmål.

[@lornamarie5544]

I appreciate the explanation it’s something I’ve been trying to understand. So we use inversion for “under the video you can see........click on” but what if it was a question? “Under the video can you see.....click on?” would the sentence look different?

[@MicsLanguages]

Great question. And yes, the two sentences (question and non-question) would have the same syntax. But in the question I would put a comma after "under the video", or I would simply put "under the video" in the end of the question, then there's no chance for misunderstanding :)

[@lornamarie5544]

Mic's Languages cheers Mic (eller mange tak!🙂)

[@abhinaygautam1]

Hi Mic, thanks for the videos. You are a saviour. I am little confused with inversion in questions….Har du et øjeblik or du har et øjeblik? Which one is correct and does question in Danish are always having inversion?

[@MicsLanguages]

Hi Abhinay. If you want to make a question, you will normally always have inversion. This means that only your example Har du et øjeblik is a question. The other one is a statement. But you can actually make questions without inversions, like you can also do in English. Look at the following sentences: "Do you understand me" vs. "You understand me, right?" Both are questions in a way, even though the second one doesn't have question syntax. The same is possible in Danish. Maybe this video of mine will be interesting to you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aonSaX2Dqs6JgtU

[@abhinaygautam1]

@@MicsLanguages Thank you very much🙏

[@cosmos_raum]

Mange tak, Mic! Jeg har sæt nogle af dine videoer og nu er jeg blevet bedre til dansk. Hvis du ser min kommentar og giver den en "tommelfinger op", bliver jeg meget glad.

[@MicsLanguages]

Haha, jeg giver dig gerne en tommelfinger op. Din kommentar er godt skrevet, dog har du en lille fejl: Jeg har set i stedet for Jeg har sæt. God fornøjelse med at blive endnu bedre til dansk!

[@mattana724]

tak

[@francesca853]

Thank you very much, very helpful video! Just a question, what if we start with the subordinate clause? Should I write "Når jeg er tørstig, jeg drikker normalt vand"/"Når jeg er tørstig, normalt drikker jeg vand" or did I misunderstand/avoid something? 😂

[@MicsLanguages]

Hi! Thanks for your question. Your second suggestion is better than the first, but still not correct. After a subclause, we have inversion, which means the verb comes before the subject: drikker > jeg. Then we have the adverb normalt. This comes after verb and subject. So the correct sentence is Når jeg er tørstig, drikker jeg normalt vand. If we started with the main clause, it would be Jeg drikker normalt vand, når jeg er tørstig. Does it make sense? 😉

[@MicsLanguages]

There are 3 possible in Danish (not considering questions): 1. S V A: Jeg drikker normalt vand 2. V S A: In case of inversion, for example the above sentence Når..., drikker jeg normalt... 3. S A V: This is the only possible syntax of SUBCLAUSES Når jeg ikke er tørstig, drikker jeg normalt ikke vand. Når (conjunction) > jeg (S) > ikke (A) > er (V). I will make a video about these three syntaxes at some point in the future!

[@francesca853]

@@MicsLanguages thank you! I really appreciate this kind of lessons about grammar, because in Italy we don't have enough material to study Danish. Do you have any suggestions for a good grammar and Dictionary danish>english? It would be so helpful to me 🙏🏼

[@MicsLanguages]

@@francesca853 I understand! I'm afraid I'm not able to recommend any grammar book. I always explain my students grammar on the go, and especially by making lots of sentences with each respective grammar phenomenon (that is, guiding the student to making the sentences themselves). That's of course not of any help for you. As to dictionaries for English Danish, I use two online ones: bab.la and glosbe. They are both surprisingly good. In other major languages it's a lot easier to find good ones. Sometimes I also use linguee. Have you ever tried learning by focusing more on "comprehensible input" and not so much on learning grammar rules? Maybe you've heard about your compatriot Luca Lampariello who shows in many videos how to learn languages in a more "modern" way. Of course you are studying at a university, so you will be taught mostly in the traditional way. I myself did a Masters in languages (business language and translation), so I know how it is. Not that focusing on grammar rules etc isn't worthwhile. But in the last ten years I have come to realize that by focusing mostly on grammar (which the traditional method does), we don't learn nearly ad fast as we could. Another person (again from Italy) who talks about this, is a guy named Alberto from the KZbin channel Italiano Automatico. I watch his videos to learn Italian, and he is really great to watch. Sorry I couldn't give you any recommendations on a grammar book. I hope the online dictionaries will help you. And please let me know what you think about my words on language learning methodology 🙏😉

[@francesca853]

@@MicsLanguages thank you, thank you very much! Recently when I decided to learn danish, I started searching videos directly in danish, so I perfectly agree with you! In Italy the situation is really attached to the grammar part, but I want to try everything could be useful, so even just your advices for dictionaries and yt-channels are more then I could expected 🙏🏼😂

[@rociolujanrodriguez1736]

So.... You are saying there s inversion every time the sentence doesn t start with the subject. Right? I can remember there was something with modal verbs, like... No inversion every time there s a modal verb? Is that right? Thanks!

[@MicsLanguages]

Hi there, thanks for your comment. :) Let's see: Standard sentence without inversion: DK: Jeg kan hjælpe dig. DE: Ich kann dir helfen. Not starting with subject: DK: Måske kan jeg hjælpe dig. DE: Vielleicht kann ich dir helfen. Here we have sentences with a modal verb (kan/kann) and we do have inversion. I could make up lots of other sentences with modal verbs that have inversion. I am pretty sure that there aren't any cases where modal verbs would influence inversion. Maybe you are thinking about something else?

[@ManpreetSingh-pv6uc]

Thanks, my inversion understanding seems to be bit clear now. One doubt on inversion and sentence structure. Main Clause with Inversion has a structure V-S-A. But here when we write Normalt(A) drikkker(V) jeg(S) vand. Then the VSA rule is not getting fully applied although we have done the inversion. Can you please explain.

[@MicsLanguages]

Well, what you did in this sentence is to put the A (normalt) in the beginning. This is possible with the word normalt, but not with all A's (ikke for example cannot be in the beginning of the sentence). But if you now add the word ikke in your sentence, we see that you are using the normal inverted sentence structure: Normalt - drikker (V) - jeg (S) - ikke (A) - vand.

[@ManpreetSingh-pv6uc]

@@MicsLanguages Tusind tak for dit svar :)

[@aravindssingapore4327]

Meiner Meinung nach, du sprichst Englisch, Deutsch und Dänisch - alle diese Frei Sprachen sehr, sehr gut Efter min mening taler du engelsk, tysk og dansk meget godt, min venn

[@MicsLanguages]

Vielen Dank! Tak skal du have! Vergiss bitte nicht die Inversion im Deutschen: Meiner Meinung sprichst du... 👍😉

[@Jr-ft9ii]

5:30 I'd have said: 🇩🇪»Unter dem Video kannst du ein „Daumen hoch” -Symbol sehen, auf das man klicken kann.« so it looks even closer to the Danish example. Isn't it correct?

[@MicsLanguages]

Yeah that totally works as well 👍

[@jadersolano3080]

Ich spreche Spanisch und Englisch und ich lerne Deutsch ich habe eine gute Verständigung über es, in der Zukunft möchte ich Dänisch Lernen ich ich glaube ich habe eine guten Lehrer gefunden. Übrigens gute Erklärung. Ich sofort abonniere.

[@MicsLanguages]

Hallo Jader. Vielen Dank für deinen netten Kommentar. Und interessant dass du Deutsch und Dänisch lernen möchtest. Viel Spaß damit!

[@boofychicken9818]

Hi Mic, thanks for the video. I am confused by the following sentences: 1.drengen drikker altid mælk 2.vi har endda suppe med fisk 2.hun skriver stadig til mig They all start with the subject and are main clauses, yet there is still SVA inversion. Can you please help explain this to me? Thank you.

[@MicsLanguages]

Hi! Thanks for your question. As you mentioned, all three sentences are SVA. This is NOT inversion. These are normal main clauses. Inversion is when you invert the subject and verb, so you end up with VSA. Maybe that wasn't clear enough in the video? 🤔

[@boofychicken9818]

​@@MicsLanguagesOh okay I understand now! To clarify, are all main clauses in Danish are SVA form? Thank you so much for the reply.

[@Lampchuanungang]

In standard german and danish we start the the sentence using the adverb or demonstrative pronoun of time.

[@Lampchuanungang]

Its very diferent from english, latin and portuguese, normally we starts sentences using I, or Ego or Eu... It's the way of latines idioms family. Germán, danish, norwegian stars by adverbs and pronouns of time. For us newcomers, begginers It's weird and funny another journey of mind. Thanks.

[@MicsLanguages]

But we can also start sentences with the pronouns in Germanic languages, and we actually do it very often.

[@Lampchuanungang]

@@MicsLanguages Ok right, I thought about the law of invertion like a natural speech, according your anwser its a law to reflexive, passive speech not to afirmative speech that we can use direct/rect personal pronouns. Thanks for ilustrate me in this relevant detail. ❄🏁👍🇧🇷🇩🇪🇩🇰🇬🇧🏁🥂🌎🏞💎☃️

[@Lampchuanungang]

@@MicsLanguages For us newcomers its more confortable to talk in this way.

[@sludge-factory]

Rigtig god video!

[@MicsLanguages]

Tak 🙂

[@LittleImpaler]

If you still have trouble with this. My German teacher said this. "The verb always goes in second place."

[@5leu]

the most important part is that jeg and normalt swap places in inversion.

[@ancaiordache4115]

Læreren fra min skole sagde, at vi bruger inversion, når vi har sted, tid eller adverbium. Nu er jeg lidt forvirret...

[@MicsLanguages]

Tak for din besked! Du behøver ikke være forvirret :) Din lærer sagde formentlig, at man har inversion, når man starter en sætning med sted, tid etc. Og det er fuldstændig korrekt: "I går var jeg på arbejde" er et eksempel på tid + inversion. Men inversion sker også, når vi starter en sætning med en ledsætning. Som jeg siger i videoen, sker det hver gang, vi ikke starter sætningen med subjektet. Håber det giver mening nu. Elles skriv gerne, hvad præcis der gør dig forvirret, og jeg vil prøve at forklare det, så det giver 100 procent mening!

[@ancaiordache4115]

Jeg forstår nu meget bedre. Jeg vil bruge dine forklaringer. Mange tak!

[@MicsLanguages]

@@ancaiordache4115 Perfekt. Bemærk, at du i dit svar kunne have lavet en sætning med inversion: "Nu forstår jeg det meget bedre." 👍😉 Tak for dine beskeder. Skriv endelig, hvis der er andre ting du har problemer med.

[@lascaux4497]

I use to try learning German few years ago. I thought it was easy but then when I try to study Danish lately, I began to think German is easier 😂... Code deciphered...

[@MicsLanguages]

They definitely both have their difficulties. But they can both be easy if you set yourself up for it. It's all in our mind 🙂

[@nigelwiseman8644]

Danish verbs are not conjugated. Se is the infinitive, ser is the conjugated form. It is conjugated but all the forms are the same.

[@MicsLanguages]

Well, is it officially conjugated or not, even though the forms are all the same? I still see the present tense, past tense etc. as a conjugated form, contrary to the infinitive

[@patriciapasadena]

Very confusing. The rule is: in German, Danish, Dutch etc. the verb is in the SECOND position.

[@MicsLanguages]

That's another way of seeing it. But what about this sentence: I går, da jeg åbnede døren til mit køleskab, kom der lige pludselig en abe springende imod mig? Here we actually have an adverb (i går) and a subclause, and then then the verb in third position, not second. So "your" rule is not alway true, whereas "mine" is still valid. And besides, who is counting the number of sentence parts? In my opinion it's easier to say: Starting the sentence with adverb or subclause gives us inversion.

[@Chris_Liam]

Finally I understood why the hell inversion happens. Tusind tsk

[@MicsLanguages]

Perfect! 😁

[@tylerpinkham852]

I går skriver jeg i mine bøger. (i haven't learnt past tense yet I know it's wrong)

[@nigelwiseman8644]

Always inversion. Nur ich drinke Wasser??

[@MicsLanguages]

Good thought you had there. But in this case Nur is actually not a word "on its own", it is not an adverbial at a general sentence level, but it is part of the subjekt "nur ich". If you say for example "ich trinke nur Wasser", the meaning changes because you broke up the nur and the ich

[@aphiatajammal8974]

Normalt drikker jeg kaffe, men i dag har jeg lyst at drikker te.

[@MicsLanguages]

Lige præcis, der fik du brugt inversion rigtig godt! Men: i dag har jeg lyst TIL at DRIKKE te. 🙂

[@anthonyehrenzweig1635]

In English you do NOT have a comma after "Normally" in the sentence "Normally I drink water when...." That is wrong.

[@MicsLanguages]

Alright, thank you 👍It's difficult to know when to put a comma after an adverbial construction in English. Often it seems to be possible to put it or not to put it 🤔

[@twood3330]

@@MicsLanguages a bit late to butt into this conversation. But in English (my native language), it is correct to add a comma. Google “comma after introductory adverbs”. For me, it looks natural to show where the emphasis in a sentence. But in reality, its not always done (for speed, laziness or lack of awareness). Anyway, great videos Mic. They are really helpful.

[@MicsLanguages]

@@twood3330 Great thank you very much :) I would also say that adding the comma after "normally" is possible, but not necessary. I'm glad you like the videos 🙂

[@twood3330]

@@MicsLanguages completely agree 👍

[@kirstenmuller4536]

No, I think I'd put one there unless I'm rushing.