{"id":12169,"date":"2016-03-18T17:36:18","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T17:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/blog\/?p=12169"},"modified":"2016-03-18T17:36:18","modified_gmt":"2016-03-18T17:36:18","slug":"danish-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=12169","title":{"rendered":"Danish please"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day I received an email about how you say, or rather don’t say, please in Danish. <\/p>\n

The translation I had on my Danish phrases page<\/a> was V\u00e6r s\u00e5 venlig<\/em>, which apparently is only used to hurry people up, or urge them to do something in a passive-aggressive way. <\/p>\n

When making a request, for example, you simply state it, and then say tak<\/em> (thanks). There’s no need to add an equivalent of please.<\/p>\n

It is possible to use phrases like Hvis du vil v\u00e6re s\u00e5 venlig at …<\/em> (Would you\u2019d be so kind as to …), though only at the beginning of a sentence. For example, Hvis du vil v\u00e6re s\u00e5 venlig, at hj\u00e6lpe mig?<\/em> = Would you’d be so kind as to help me? Or Gider du ..<\/em> (Would you …), as in Gider du hj\u00e6lpe mig<\/em> (Would you help me?).<\/p>\n

Other ways to ask for help include:<\/p>\n

– Undskyld mig, men kan du hj\u00e6lpe mig?<\/em> = Excuse me, but could you help me? (formal)
\n– Hej, kan jeg lokke dig til at hj\u00e6lpe mig?<\/em> = Hi there, Could I lure you into helping me? (informal)<\/p>\n

In writing what you do is make a request and then put P\u00e5 forh\u00e5nd tak<\/em> (Thanks in advance). Younger generations also use this verbally as a polite way to end a request, and this is the closest equivalent of please.<\/p>\n

Another way to make a request is M\u00e5 jeg bede om…<\/em> (May I beg for…), which is what Danish children are taught to say. Or you could use Vil du ikke v\u00e6re s\u00f8d og …<\/em> (Would you not be sweet and …) – using the negative is considered polite.<\/p>\n

More about Danish manners:
\nhttp:\/\/www.xmel.com\/denmark18.html<\/a><\/p>\n

How is please or its equivalent used, or not used, elsewhere?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other day I received an email about how you say, or rather don’t say, please in Danish. The translation I had on my Danish phrases page was V\u00e6r s\u00e5 venlig, which apparently is only used to hurry people up, or urge them to do something in a passive-aggressive way. When making a request, for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,104,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-danish","category-english","category-language"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}