23 Comments
Is the audio right for this? All I can make out is 'jeg en dreng' - i.e. three syllables.
This is not very good for learning the language, but it's generally how it will be pronounced if you go to Denmark. Though I agree this is rather harsh to expect of the users.
Is this similar to contractions in English like "I am" -> "I'm" or "going to" -> "gonna" ?
No. Not an allowed one, but in speech they're just contracted because they are mumbled/said so fast that you can't hear the difference. Usually if Danish people want to indicate missing words they use: ', like this: "Jeg' en dreng". Though this should not be used, since it's simply to indicate the very spoken nature of the sentence.
I don't see how that's any different than "gonna" in English, then, just by your explanation. "Gonna" isn't proper in English and it is just something we have adopted as a "written word" only because it conveys that mumbled nature. While gonna is not actually a contraction like "can't", it is still that mumbled rush/blend of two words much like this sentence, then right?
21
Yes, but even though the Danish is pronounced "Ja' ' 'n dren'" or whatever, you would still write it as "Jag er en dreng", without any equivalent of gonna or imma.
No. And yes. That is how you would say in Danish in real life, but I think the TTS should pronounce all the words. This can only be done with personal pronouns ending on a wovel sound:
- Jeg' ... = Jeg er
- Du' ... = Du er
- Det' ... = Det er
- Vi' ... = Vi er
- I' ... = I er
- De' ... = De er
Also with those non-(personal) pronouns:
- Her' = Her er
- Der' = Der er
This can therefore not be done with:
- Han er
- Hun er
- Den er
Please not that this is not official. Don't use it in a job application or in writing in general :)
Oh, yeah, of course. A typical Dane won't even use it when writing to his best friend...
"er" is sounded out as "e-ah" and that is lost in this speed. If we had the slower one, we would possibly hear it better, I think.
I get the impression "e" becomes similar to "ai" when followed by a nasal: both "en" and "dreng" sound like "ain draing". Am I correct in this assumption?
what is the deference between drengen and dreng? drengen = the boy and dreng = just boy?
