Learn Hardcore Danish: Hun taler næsten flydende engelsk, men hun vil forbedre udtalen. - She speaks almost fluent English, but she wants to improve the pronunciation.

English “speaks” (habitual ability):
- Hun taler engelsk = She speaks English.
English “is speaking” (right now):
- Hun taler med sin chef = She is speaking with her boss.

Danish normally doesn’t use a special progressive form like is speaking. Context tells you whether it’s a general ability or something happening now.

Why is næsten placed before flydende in næsten flydende engelsk? Could it go somewhere else?

Næsten means almost, and here it modifies flydende (fluent).

næsten flydende engelsk = almost fluent English

The natural place for næsten is directly before the word it modifies:

✅ Hun taler *næsten flydende engelsk.*
❌ Hun taler flydende næsten engelsk. (ungrammatical / very odd)

You could move næsten to change what it modifies, but the meaning would change:

Hun taler flydende *næsten engelsk.
→ would sound like “She speaks fluent *almost-English,” i.e. English that is almost English. That’s not what is meant here.

So in this sentence, næsten + flydende is a fixed little group: almost fluent.

Is flydende an adjective or an adverb here? How does it work in Danish?

Flydende comes from the verb at flyde (to flow).

Grammatically:

Adjective:
- Vandet er flydende. = The water is liquid.
Adverb-like use (manner) with verbs like tale:
- Hun taler flydende engelsk. = She speaks English fluently.

In Danish, there is no special adverb ending (like English quick vs quickly). The same form (flydende) can function:

as an adjective → describing a noun
as an adverbial → describing how she speaks

So here flydende is describing the manner of speaking (like an adverb in English), but it keeps its adjective-like form.

Why is engelsk (the name of a language) not capitalized in Danish?

In Danish:

Languages and nationalities are not capitalized:
- engelsk, dansk, tysk, fransk
- en dansker, en tysker
Countries and proper names are capitalized:
- Danmark, Tyskland, Frankrig, England

So:

Hun taler næsten flydende engelsk
→ She speaks almost fluent English (English capitalized in English, but not in Danish).

What exactly does vil mean here? Is it more like English “will” or “wants to”?

Vil is a modal verb that can mean:

will / is going to (future-like meaning)
wants to / intends to

In this sentence:

Hun vil forbedre udtalen.

The natural interpretation is:

“She wants to improve the pronunciation.”
(desire/intention, not a future prediction)

If you want to make the “wants to” meaning very clear and a bit softer/politer, you can say:

Hun *vil gerne forbedre udtalen.*
→ literally “She will gladly improve the pronunciation,” but used as “She would like to improve the pronunciation.”

Why is there no at between vil and forbedre (vil forbedre)?

With modal verbs in Danish (like vil, kan, skal, må, bør), the following verb is normally in the bare infinitive (without at):

Hun *kan tale dansk.* = She can speak Danish.
Han *skal arbejde i morgen.* = He has to work tomorrow.
De *vil forbedre udtalen.* = They want to improve the pronunciation.

So:

✅ Hun *vil forbedre udtalen.*
❌ Hun vil *at forbedre udtalen.* (incorrect)

You do use at with a normal infinitive not governed by a modal:

Hun forsøger *at forbedre udtalen.* = She is trying to improve the pronunciation.

Why is it forbedre udtalen and not forbedre hendes udtale (“her pronunciation”)?

Udtalen is the definite form of udtale (pronunciation).

Danish often uses a definite noun without a possessive where English requires my/your/his/her, especially for:

body parts
clothes
personal qualities / things clearly belonging to the subject

For example:

Hun vasker hænderne = She washes her hands.
Han løfter armen = He raises his arm.
Hun forbedrer udtalen = She improves her pronunciation.

Here, because the subject is hun and the context is her own English pronunciation, udtalen is automatically understood as her pronunciation.

You could say hendes udtale, but that might more strongly emphasize someone else’s pronunciation, or sound less idiomatic in this neutral context. Forbedre udtalen is the normal, natural phrasing.

What is udtalen grammatically? How is it formed?

Base noun: udtale = pronunciation (an en-word).

Definite singular is formed by adding -n (or -en) at the end:

en udtale = a pronunciation
udtalen = the pronunciation

So in the sentence:

… forbedre udtalen

literally: improve *the pronunciation
but in context, this is understood as *“her pronunciation” (see previous answer).

Why is the word order “Hun taler …, men hun vil forbedre …” and not “… men vil hun forbedre …”?

Danish has a V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb is in second position.

Each part here is a main clause:

Hun taler næsten flydende engelsk
- Subject: Hun
- Finite verb (2nd position): taler
men hun vil forbedre udtalen
- Conjunction: men (does not count in the V2 count)
- Subject (1st slot): hun
- Finite verb (2nd slot): vil

So:

✅ …, men *hun vil forbedre udtalen. (normal main clause after *men)
Men *vil hun forbedre udtalen?
→ this is a *question (“But will she improve the pronunciation?”), because the verb comes before the subject.

In the original sentence, it’s a statement, so the subject comes before the finite verb after men.

What is the difference between hun and hende?

Both refer to “she/her”, but they have different grammatical roles:

hun = subject form (“she”)
- Hun taler engelsk. = She speaks English.
- Hun vil forbedre udtalen. = She wants to improve the pronunciation.
hende = object / stressed form (“her”)
- Jeg kan høre hende. = I can hear her.
- Det er hende. = It is her.
- Gaven er til hende. = The gift is for her.

In the sentence:

Hun taler næsten flydende engelsk, men *hun vil forbedre udtalen.*

Hun is the subject in both clauses, so hun, not hende, is used.

How do you pronounce the words in this sentence?

Approximate pronunciation (standard Danish, very simplified IPA + English hints):

Hun → [hun]
- like “hoon” (short, relaxed u)
taler → [ˈtˢɛːlɐ]
- ta- like “tæ” (as in ten, but longer), -ler like a reduced “luh”
næsten → [ˈnɛsdn̩]
- roughly “NEST-n”, with the t often very soft and the final -en reduced
flydende → [ˈflyðnə]
- y like German ü or French u
- d is a soft /ð/ (like the “th” in this), then a reduced “nuh”
engelsk → [ˈeŋəlsk]
- “ENG-elsk”, but the middle vowel is quite reduced
men → [men]
- like “men” in English but with a clear short e
vil → [vil] or [ve̝l]
- somewhere between “vil” and “vel”, short
forbedre → [fɐˈbɛðʁə]
- for- with a very reduced vowel [ɐ],
- -bed- with soft d /ð/,
- -re with a guttural r and reduced vowel
udtalen → [ˈuːtˌtʰɛːlən] (more careful) or [ˈuːðˌtʰɛːlən] (soft d)
- ud- like a long “ood”, with a very soft or disappearing d
- -talen like “TAH-len”

In everyday speech, many vowels and consonants are reduced even more, but these approximations are enough to recognize the words.