The language of an accident report
When something goes wrong on the road, the police, the hospital and the news switch to a more formal set of words:
| Danish | English | typical phrase |
|---|---|---|
| køretøjet | the vehicle | et stjålet køretøj |
| besvime | to faint | besvime i varmen |
| tilstanden | the condition (of a patient) | patientens tilstand |
| medicinsk | medical | medicinsk hjælp |
| tragisk | tragic | en tragisk ulykke |
Køretøj is the cover word for cars, vans, buses and the like. In speech you say bilen or bussen; in a police statement or a news report you hear køretøjet:
| The police have stopped a stolen vehicle. | Politiet har stoppet et stjålet køretøj. |
| There were four people in the vehicle. | Der var fire personer i køretøjet. |
Tilstand: how a patient is doing
Tilstand is the state a person or a thing is in. In hospitals and news reports it is the word for how a patient is doing. For second-hand goods the fixed phrase is i god stand, "in good condition":
| The patient's condition is serious. | Patientens tilstand er alvorlig. |
| His condition has got better overnight. | Hans tilstand er blevet bedre i nat. |
Medicinsk and tragisk end in -isk, and adjectives with the suffix -isk usually take no -t in the neuter: et medicinsk problem, et tragisk uheld. Medicinsk turns up in fixed pairs: medicinsk hjælp, medicinsk behandling, en medicinsk nødsituation.
| He needs medical help. | Han har brug for medicinsk hjælp. |
Besvime
Besvime is a regular verb: besvimer, besvimede, har besvimet.
| She fainted in the heat. | Hun besvimede i varmen. |
