Permission and ability
| Danish | English |
|---|---|
| få lov til | to be allowed to |
| i stand til | able to, capable of |
Få lov til is the everyday way to talk about permission. It is the other side of lade and tillade: when someone lets you do something, you får lov til at do it. An infinitive with at follows:
| The children are allowed to watch a film tonight. | Børnene får lov til at se en film i aften. |
Asking Får jeg lov til …? is a polite May I …?:
| May I borrow your car? | Får jeg lov til at låne din bil? |
Være i stand til is to be able to, often about a physical or practical ability; kunne is the shorter, more common word:
| He is not able to walk today. | Han er ikke i stand til at gå i dag. |
Three fixed phrases
| Danish | English |
|---|---|
| på tide | about time — Det er på tide at … |
| få fat i | to get hold of (a person, a thing) |
| i fare | in danger |
| It is time we went home. | Det er på tide at vi går hjem. |
| I cannot get hold of my brother. | Jeg kan ikke få fat i min bror. |
| His life is in danger. | Hans liv er i fare. |
Careful: the noun in i fare is fare (danger), not far (father) — faren can mean either the danger or the father, which is why the phrase is the safer thing to learn.
Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io
