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Hun siger: “Lad være med at bekymre dig,” og jeg prøver at lytte til hende.

Hun siger: “Lad være med at bekymre dig,” og jeg prøver at lytte til hende.
She says, “Don’t worry,” and I try to listen to her.
FromLesson 16inHardcore Danish

Breakdown of Hun siger: “Lad være med at bekymre dig,” og jeg prøver at lytte til hende.

jeg
I
og
and
til
to
at
to
hun
she
lytte
to listen
hende
her
dig
yourself
prøve
to try
sige
to say
bekymre sig
to worry
lade være med at
to not (do something)

Questions & Answers about Hun siger: “Lad være med at bekymre dig,” og jeg prøver at lytte til hende.

Why is there a colon after siger?
In Danish, a colon is commonly used to introduce direct speech (what someone says word-for-word). So Hun siger: ... is a standard way to set up the quoted sentence, similar to “She says: …” / “She says, ‘…’” in English.
Is Hun siger present tense, and could it also mean “she’s saying”?
Yes: siger is present tense of at sige (to say). Like English simple present, Danish present can cover both habitual (“she says”) and current (“she’s saying”), depending on context.
What exactly is Lad være med at ... and how does it work?

Lad være med at + infinitive is a very common Danish way to say “Don’t … / Stop …”.

  • Lad is the imperative of at lade (“let”).
  • være is “be.”
    Together, Lad være (med at ...) functions idiomatically as “don’t (do something).”
    Then you add the verb in the infinitive after at.
Why is there an at after med in Lad være med at bekymre dig?
Because the pattern is med at + infinitive. Danish often uses at before an infinitive (“to” + verb). So it’s literally like “refrain from to worry (yourself),” but in natural English it’s just “don’t worry.”
Why does Danish say bekymre dig—is that reflexive?

Yes, at bekymre sig is reflexive (“to worry” in the sense of “to worry oneself”).
So you use the reflexive pronoun that matches the subject:

  • jeg bekymrer mig (I worry)
  • du bekymrer dig (you worry)
  • han/hun bekymrer sig (he/she worries)
Is dig here the object you, and how is it different from du?
du is the subject form (“you” as the doer). dig is the object/reflexive form (“you” as the object, like “me” vs “I”). In bekymre dig, the “worrying” is directed back at the person being addressed, so dig is required.
Could I also say Lad være med at bekymre dig om det? What’s the difference?

Yes.

  • Lad være med at bekymre dig = “Don’t worry” (general).
  • Lad være med at bekymre dig om det = “Don’t worry about it/that” (adds what you shouldn’t worry about).
    om det is “about it/that.”
Why is it jeg prøver at lytte and not something like jeg prøver lytte?
In Danish, many verbs (including at prøve) commonly take an infinitive with at: prøver at + infinitive (“try to …”). Dropping at is sometimes possible in certain styles, but prøver at lytte is the safe, standard choice.
What does lytte til mean—why is there a til?

The verb is at lytte, and it normally takes the preposition til: at lytte til nogen/noget = “to listen to someone/something.”
So lytte hende would be incorrect; it should be lytte til hende.

Why is it til hende and not til hun?

Because after a preposition like til, Danish uses the object form of the pronoun.

  • subject: hun (“she”)
  • object: hende (“her”)
    So: til hende = “to her.”
Is the comma before og required here?

It’s common and acceptable in Danish because you’re joining two independent clauses:
1) Hun siger: ...
2) jeg prøver at lytte til hende
Many writers keep the comma to make the clause boundary clear (especially when the first clause contains direct speech).

Could the word order change in the second clause?
In this sentence, og jeg prøver ... uses normal main-clause word order: subject (jeg) before verb (prøver). If you started the clause with something else (an adverbial), Danish would typically switch to V2 word order, e.g. og så prøver jeg at lytte til hende (then the verb comes before the subject).

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