Yes/no and wh-questions in Danish
Can form yes/no and wh-questions
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Taler du dansk? Ja, jeg taler lidt dansk.
Do you speak Danish? Yes, I speak a little Danish.
Hvor bor du, og hvad laver du?
Where do you live, and what do you do?
Hvordan har du det i dag?
How are you today?
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Yes/no: verb-first. Wh-questions: question word + verb + subject. All follow V2.
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesQuestions follow V2 with verb in position 1 (yes/no) or question word in position 1 (wh-).
🇬🇧 English: English uses 'do/does' for questions. Danish just inverts: 'Taler du dansk?'
🇷🇺 Russian: Russian
Forgetting to invert verb and subject in questions
Yes/no: Verb first! 'Bor du her?', not *'Du bor her?' (with question mark).
Using a 'do/does' equivalent
Danish has no 'do'-support. Just invert: 'Taler du dansk?', not *'Gør du tale dansk?'
Taler du dansk? Ja, jeg taler lidt dansk.
Do you speak Danish? Yes, I speak a little Danish.
Yes/no: verb 'taler' moves to position 1. No auxiliary 'do' needed!
Hvor bor du, og hvad laver du?
Where do you live, and what do you do?
'Hvor' (where) + verb 'bor' + subject 'du'. 'Hvad' (what) + verb 'laver' + subject 'du'. V2 in both.
Hvordan har du det i dag?
How are you today?
'Hvordan har du det' is the standard Danish greeting = 'How are you?' Literally: 'How have you it?'
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises