Talking about people, informally
Alongside the neutral words (drengen, vennen, lægen), spoken Danish has a set of informal ones. They are friendly, not rude, but you would not use them in a job application.
| informal | neutral | English |
|---|---|---|
| knægten | drengen | the kid |
| gutten | drengen | the boy, the guy |
| kammeraten | vennen | the pal |
| makkeren | kollegaen, partneren | the buddy (the one you work or play with) |
| doktoren | lægen | the doctor |
Gut is mostly heard in the plural, gutterne — "the guys". Makker is the person you team up with: a tennis partner, a police officer's partner on patrol.
| The guys are going out tonight. | Gutterne skal ud i aften. |
| The police officer is waiting for his partner in the car. | Politibetjenten venter på sin makker i bilen. |
Doktor is a colloquial, slightly old-fashioned word for a physician (gå til doktoren); the normal word, in speech and in writing, is læge. As a title, dr. marks a doctorate: dr.med. Hansen.
Fruen
fruen is "the lady of the house". It sounds old-fashioned or jokingly formal: a waiter might say Hvad ønsker fruen?, and a husband might joke about fruen derhjemme, "the wife at home".
Date
date is borrowed from English and conjugated as a regular Danish verb: date, dater, datede, har datet.
| They have been dating for half a year. | De har datet i et halvt år. |
sexen: in everyday speech the word is used without an article, as in English: have sex, tale om sex.
