A while, meanwhile, in the beginning
These three nouns mostly live inside fixed time phrases, so learn the phrase along with the word:
| Danish | English |
|---|---|
| stunden: en stund, for en stund siden | a while, a while ago |
| mellemtiden: i mellemtiden | in the meantime |
| begyndelsen: i begyndelsen, i begyndelsen af maj | in the beginning, at the beginning of May |
| A while ago your mother called. | For en stund siden ringede din mor. |
For … siden wraps around the time span, as in for to år siden.
| The doctor is coming soon. In the meantime you should rest. | Lægen kommer snart. I mellemtiden skal du hvile dig. |
I mellemtiden usually opens its sentence, so the verb follows straight after it.
| She was nervous at the beginning, but now she is happy. | Hun var nervøs i begyndelsen, men nu er hun glad. |
I begyndelsen often sets up a contrast with what came later.
Det haster
haste usually has det as its subject: det haster is "it's urgent", haster det? is "is it urgent?". When a person hurries, use skynde sig.
| It's not urgent. You can reply tomorrow. | Det haster ikke. Du kan svare i morgen. |
The negative is just as common: there is no rush.
| Is it urgent, or can it wait until Monday? | Haster det, eller kan det vente til mandag? |
Forberede and tilfældigvis
You already know forberede sig, "to prepare yourself". Without sig, forberede takes an object: you prepare something.
| She is preparing the food for the party. | Hun forbereder maden til festen. |
tilfældigvis means "by chance".
| Do you happen to know what time it is? | Ved du tilfældigvis hvad klokken er? |
In a question it is the polite "do you happen to …".
| I happened to meet my old teacher in town. | Jeg mødte tilfældigvis min gamle lærer i byen. |
In a statement it says that something was not planned.
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