Questions & Answers about Hvad lavede du i går?
Why does this sentence use lavede for "did" instead of gjorde?
In Danish, both gøre and lave can mean "to do." However, when you ask someone what general activity they are doing or did, you almost always use lave (past tense: lavede). The verb gøre is usually kept for specific fixed phrases or to mean "to cause."
Since at lave also means "to make," could this sentence mean "What did you make yesterday?"
Yes, it absolutely could! Without extra context, Hvad lavede du i går? translates to both "What did you do yesterday?" and "What did you make yesterday?" You would usually know which one is meant based on the conversation.
How do you pronounce the past tense ending in lavede?
The d in lavede is a "soft d" (which sounds a bit like the "th" in the English word "the"). The final e is very short and weak. Because spoken Danish is very relaxed, many native speakers swallow the ending so it sounds a bit like "la-veth".
I noticed i går is two separate words. Are all time words like "yesterday" and "today" split like this?
Yes, they are! In Danish, "yesterday" is i går, "today" is i dag, and "tomorrow" is i morgen. They are always written as two separate words.