Learn Hardcore Danish: Hun taler med bibliotekaren om en svær tekst. - She talks with the librarian about a difficult text.

taler
- Neutral, a bit more formal.
- Often used for speaking a language or having a (somewhat) serious conversation.
- Example idea: Hun taler med bibliotekaren = she is talking/speaking with the librarian.
snakker
- More informal, like chat, talk.
- You could also say Hun snakker med bibliotekaren, especially in speech. It sounds more casual.
siger
- Means says (not talks).
- Used when reporting what someone says: Hun siger, at teksten er svær = she says that the text is difficult.
- You cannot replace taler with siger in this sentence.

So taler and snakker can often be swapped (with a formality difference), but siger cannot here.

The English meaning is she is talking, but the Danish verb is just taler. How do I express the continuous is talking in Danish?

Danish normally uses the simple present to cover both:

Hun taler med bibliotekaren
= she talks with the librarian / she is talking with the librarian.

Context tells you whether it is a general habit or something happening now.

If you really want to stress that it is happening right now, you can add an adverb or expression:

Lige nu taler hun med bibliotekaren.
(Right now she is talking with the librarian.)

There is also a construction:

Hun er ved at tale med bibliotekaren.

But that often suggests in the process of starting / in the middle of doing it, and is not used as mechanically as English is -ing.

Why is it Hun taler med bibliotekaren and not something like Hun taler til bibliotekaren?

The choice of preposition changes the nuance:

tale med nogen
- Literally: talk with someone.
- Implies a two‑way conversation.
- This is what you normally use for people having a conversation.
tale til nogen
- Literally: talk to someone.
- Often implies one‑way communication (e.g. addressing, lecturing, scolding).
- Example: Læreren taler til klassen = the teacher is addressing the class.

In your sentence, the idea is a conversation between equals, so med is the natural choice:
Hun taler med bibliotekaren.

What does the -en at the end of bibliotekaren mean, and how is that different from bibliotekar?

The -en ending is the definite article for common‑gender nouns in Danish.

bibliotekar = librarian (indefinite, a librarian)
bibliotekaren = the librarian (definite, the librarian)

Danish usually attaches the definite article to the end of the noun:

en bibliotekar = a librarian
bibliotekaren = the librarian

You only use bare bibliotekar (without en or -en) in certain special contexts (like job titles after som: Hun arbejder som bibliotekar = she works as a librarian).

Why is it bibliotekaren and not en bibliotekar in this sentence?

Using the librarian (definite) suggests that:

the speaker and listener both know which librarian this is (for example, the only librarian present, or a specific one already mentioned), or
it is clear from context (e.g. the librarian at a particular library).

If you said:

Hun taler med en bibliotekar.

that would usually mean with a (random/unspecified) librarian. Grammatically correct, but a different nuance.

So bibliotekaren = a specific, identifiable librarian in the situation.

What is the function of om in om en svær tekst, and how is it different from omkring or other prepositions?

Here, om means about (topic of conversation):

tale om noget = talk about something.
Hun taler om en svær tekst = she is talking about a difficult text.

Comparisons:

om
- Very standard for about (topic):
  - Vi taler om politik. (We are talking about politics.)
omkring
- Literally around, can mean about/approximately with numbers and amounts, or around in space.
- For conversation topics, omkring is much less common and sounds different; om is the normal choice.

So keep the pattern in mind:
tale om [emne] = talk about [topic].

Can I change the word order and say Hun taler om en svær tekst med bibliotekaren? Does it sound different?

Yes, that is grammatically correct, and both orders are possible:

Hun taler med bibliotekaren om en svær tekst.
- Slightly neutral focus on who she is talking with, then what they talk about.
Hun taler om en svær tekst med bibliotekaren.
- Slightly neutral focus on what she is talking about, then with whom.

In everyday speech, both are fine. The difference is mostly about:

information order / emphasis, not correctness.

Basic rule:

Core parts first (subject + verb), then you can arrange the prepositional phrases (med …, om …) quite flexibly, depending on what you want to stress.

Why is it en svær tekst and not et svær tekst?

Because tekst is a common‑gender noun in Danish, and common‑gender singular nouns take en as the indefinite article:

en tekst (a text) → teksten (the text)
et hus (a house) → huset (the house)

So you must say:

en svær tekst
not
et svær tekst (incorrect, because tekst is not an et‑word).

The gender (en vs et) has to be learned with each noun.

Why is the adjective form svær here, and when do I use svært or svære instead?

Adjectives in Danish change form according to gender/number/definiteness. For svær (difficult), the main patterns are:

Indefinite, singular, common gender (en‑words)
- en svær tekst
- en svær opgave
  → base form: svær
Indefinite, singular, neuter (et‑words)
- et svært ord
- et svært problem
  → add -t: svært
Plural, indefinite (both genders)
- svære tekster
- svære ord
  → add -e: svære
Definite (the…) or with a possessive/demonstrative
- den svære tekst
- de svære tekster
- min svære tekst
  → also svære

So in en svær tekst:

en = common gender, singular, indefinite
adjective = base form svær.

In English I could say about difficult text without a. Why can’t I just say om svær tekst in Danish?

In Danish, you usually need an article with a singular countable noun, even after an adjective:

om en svær tekst = about a difficult text
om tekster = about texts (plural, no article needed here)

Without en, svær tekst on its own sounds incomplete or odd in standard Danish.

There are some special cases (e.g. set phrases, headlines, or after certain verbs), but in a normal sentence like this, you should say:

om en svær tekst
not
om svær tekst (unnatural in standard usage).

Is there anything special about the pronunciation of Hun taler med bibliotekaren om en svær tekst?

A few key points for learners:

Hun
- Often with a fairly weak h in casual speech; vowel like English oo in book but longer.
taler
- Approx. TAH‑ler.
- a like in father (but shorter), r is a soft Danish r, often more in the throat.
med
- Very often pronounced mæ or me in everyday speech, not like English med.
bibliotekaren
- Stress usually on the syllable -ta-: bi‑bli‑o‑te‑ka‑ren.
- The last -en is a weak -en sound.
om
- Like English om in om nom, but short.
en
- Short, weak vowel, almost like in but more neutral.
svær
- The sv cluster is smooth.
- The vowel is like a mix of e and a, and the final r is the typical Danish guttural r; it often colours the vowel.
tekst
- Closer to tekst than English text; final t is pronounced.

Danish tends to reduce vowels and connect words, so in fast speech this whole sentence will sound more blended than it looks.

Could I use a different word instead of svær, like vanskelig, and is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Hun taler med bibliotekaren om en vanskelig tekst.

Both svær and vanskelig mean difficult, but:

svær
- Very common, neutral, everyday.
- Used in both spoken and written language.
vanskelig
- Feels a bit more formal or literary to many speakers.
- Still common, especially in writing or in more formal speech.

In most contexts, they are near‑synonyms; svær is simply the more frequent, everyday choice.

Why is the subject Hun placed first? Could the sentence start with something else, and what happens then?

Danish main clauses follow a V2 rule: the finite verb (here: taler) must come in second position in the sentence, but the first position can be something other than the subject.

Neutral order:

Hun taler med bibliotekaren om en svær tekst.
(Subject Hun in first position, verb taler in second.)

If you start with another element, you must still keep taler in second position, so the subject moves after the verb:

I biblioteket taler hun med bibliotekaren om en svær tekst.
(In the library, she talks with the librarian about a difficult text.)
Om en svær tekst taler hun med bibliotekaren.

So:

First slot: free (time, place, object, etc.)
Second slot: finite verb (taler)
Subject comes after the verb if it is not in first position.