Learn Danish: Hvad sagde læreren? - What did the teacher say?

Danish doesn't use a helper verb like 'do' or 'did' to make questions. Instead, it just puts the main verb (sagde) right after the question word (Hvad). Translated literally, this sentence asks 'What said the teacher?'.

What is the dictionary form of the verb 'sagde'?

The base form (infinitive) is at sige (to say). Sagde is the past tense form. Just like in English with 'say' and 'said', this is an irregular verb that changes its spelling rather than just taking a standard past tense ending.

How is the word 'læreren' built?

It starts with the base noun lærer (teacher). Because it is an 'en-word', you add the suffix -en to the end to mean 'the'. So, en lærer is 'a teacher', and læreren is 'the teacher'.

Why doesn't 'sagde' sound the way it is spelled?

Sagde has a very tricky pronunciation that you just have to memorize. The g is entirely silent, and the d is a soft Danish 'd', so the whole word sounds very short, almost like 'sa'.