A short break from the screen | Learn Danish in English

About This Lesson

Use A short break from the screen to practice Danish conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.

Dialogue

Mine øjne er trætte.

MEE-nuh UYN-nuh air TRED-uh. My eyes are tired.

Hold en kort pause fra skærmen.

HOHL en KOH(D) POW-seh frah SGAIR-men. Take a short break from the screen.

Hvor længe skal jeg kigge væk?

vohr LENG-uh skel yai KEH-guh vek? How long should I look away?

Kig væk i et minut.

KEK vek ee ed mee-NOOT. Look away for a minute.

Jeg kan drikke noget vand, mens jeg hviler.

yai kan DREG-uh NOH-uh van, mens yai VEE-luh. I can drink some water while I rest.

Det burde hjælpe dine øjne, så de får det bedre.

deh BOO-uh YEL-beh DEE-neh UYN-nuh, soh dee for deh BAIR-uh. That should help your eyes feel better.

Så kan jeg gøre opgaven færdig.

soh kan yai GUR-uh OH-gay-nuh FAIR-dee. Then I can finish the task.

Tag pausen først, og gør så opgaven færdig.

tay POW-sen furst, oh GUR-uh soh OH-gay-nuh FAIR-dee. Take the break first, then finish the task.

Word by Word

Mine In “Mine øjne er trætte.”, “Mine” means “my” and refers to the speaker’s eyes. It is used before the plural noun “øjne”; the same possessive pattern can be reused with other plural things that belong to the speaker.

øjne In “Mine øjne er trætte.”, “øjne” means “eyes”, the body part that feels tired from looking at the screen. It is used with “Mine” to say whose eyes they are, as in “Mine øjne” for “my eyes”.

er In “Mine øjne er trætte.”, “er” links the eyes with their condition, “trætte”. It is used to describe a current state, such as saying that something is tired or ready.

trætte In “Mine øjne er trætte.”, “trætte” means “tired” and describes the eyes after looking at the screen. It follows “er” in a pattern for describing how someone or something is.

Hold In “Hold en kort pause fra skærmen.”, “Hold” is an instruction to take or have a break. It is used at the beginning of a direct instruction, followed here by “en kort pause”.

en In “Hold en kort pause fra skærmen.”, “en” introduces one nonspecific break. It is placed before the noun phrase “kort pause”, a useful pattern when mentioning one item or activity.

kort In “Hold en kort pause fra skærmen.”, “kort” means “short” and describes the length of the break. It comes before “pause” in the phrase “en kort pause”.

pause In “Hold en kort pause fra skærmen.”, “pause” means “break”, here a short rest from the screen. It can be used after “en kort” to suggest taking a brief break.

fra In “Hold en kort pause fra skærmen.”, “fra” means “from” and marks what the break is away from. It introduces the source or activity being left temporarily, here “skærmen”.

skærmen In “Hold en kort pause fra skærmen.”, “skærmen” means “the screen”, the thing the speaker should stop looking at during the break. It follows “fra” in the phrase “pause fra skærmen”.

Hvor In “Hvor længe skal jeg kigge væk?”, “Hvor” begins a question about the amount of something. Together with “længe”, it asks about duration; this pattern can be reused when asking how long an action should last.

længe In “Hvor længe skal jeg kigge væk?”, “længe” refers to the duration of looking away. The phrase “Hvor længe” is used to ask how much time an action takes or should continue.

skal In “Hvor længe skal jeg kigge væk?”, “skal” expresses what the speaker is expected or advised to do. It is followed by “jeg” and the action “kigge væk” in a question about what should happen.

jeg In “Hvor længe skal jeg kigge væk?”, “jeg” means “I” and identifies the person who will look away. It is used before the action in the question pattern “skal jeg ...?”.

kigge In “Hvor længe skal jeg kigge væk?”, “kigge” means “look” as part of the action of looking away from the screen. It appears with “væk” in “kigge væk”; this verb-plus-direction pattern can be reused for a requested action.

væk In “Hvor længe skal jeg kigge væk?”, “væk” means “away”, describing the direction of the speaker’s gaze away from the screen. It is used with “kigge” in the expression “kigge væk”.

Kig In “Kig væk i et minut.”, “Kig” is a direct instruction to look. It is followed by “væk” to specify looking away and can be used at the start of a short instruction.

i In “Kig væk i et minut.”, “i” indicates how long the action should continue. It introduces the duration phrase “et minut”, a reusable pattern for giving a time period.

et In “Kig væk i et minut.”, “et” introduces one minute in the duration phrase “et minut”. It is placed directly before “minut” when naming this single unit of time.

minut In “Kig væk i et minut.”, “minut” means “minute” and gives the length of time for looking away. The pattern “i et minut” can be used when instructing someone to do something for one minute.

kan In “Jeg kan drikke noget vand, mens jeg hviler.”, “kan” means “can” and shows that the speaker is able or free to drink water while resting. It comes before the action “drikke” in the pattern “jeg kan ...”.

drikke In “Jeg kan drikke noget vand, mens jeg hviler.”, “drikke” means “drink”, the action the speaker can do during the break. It follows “kan” and is followed here by the object “noget vand”.

noget In “Jeg kan drikke noget vand, mens jeg hviler.”, “noget” means “some” and introduces an unspecified amount of water. It comes before “vand” in the object phrase “noget vand”.

vand In “Jeg kan drikke noget vand, mens jeg hviler.”, “vand” means “water”, what the speaker can drink while resting. It is used after “noget” to name an unspecified amount of a substance.

mens In “Jeg kan drikke noget vand, mens jeg hviler.”, “mens” means “while” and connects drinking water with resting at the same time. It introduces the clause “jeg hviler” to show what is happening during the action.

hviler In “Jeg kan drikke noget vand, mens jeg hviler.”, “hviler” means “rest”, describing what the speaker does while drinking water. It follows “jeg” in the clause introduced by “mens”.

Det In “Det burde hjælpe dine øjne, så de får det bedre.”, “Det” means “that” and refers to what has just been suggested or done. It serves as the subject of the expectation that it will help the eyes.

burde In “Det burde hjælpe dine øjne, så de får det bedre.”, “burde” expresses the expectation that something should have a helpful result. It is followed by “hjælpe” in the pattern “Det burde ...” when predicting a likely effect.

hjælpe In “Det burde hjælpe dine øjne, så de får det bedre.”, “hjælpe” means “help” and describes the expected effect on the eyes. It is followed here by the object “dine øjne”, so the reusable pattern is “hjælpe” plus the person or thing receiving help.

dine In “Det burde hjælpe dine øjne, så de får det bedre.”, “dine” means “your” and refers to the listener’s eyes. It comes before the plural noun “øjne” in the possessive phrase “dine øjne”.

så In “Det burde hjælpe dine øjne, så de får det bedre.”, “så” introduces the result that the eyes will get better. It connects an action or cause with its expected result.

de In “Det burde hjælpe dine øjne, så de får det bedre.”, “de” means “they” and refers back to “dine øjne”. It is used as the subject of the result clause “de får det bedre”.

få det bedre In “Det burde hjælpe dine øjne, så de får det bedre.”, “få det bedre” means “feel better” or “get better” as a whole. “få” contributes the idea of getting, “det” is part of the expression, and “bedre” gives the improved condition; keep all three components together when reusing this expression.

gøre In “Så kan jeg gøre opgaven færdig.”, “gøre” contributes the action of getting the task completed. It is used with “opgaven færdig” in the pattern “gøre [task] færdig”, rather than being treated as the whole meaning by itself.

opgaven In “Så kan jeg gøre opgaven færdig.”, “opgaven” means “the task”, the specific piece of work to be completed. It is the object in “gøre opgaven færdig”.

færdig In “Så kan jeg gøre opgaven færdig.”, “færdig” means “finished” or “complete” and describes the desired state of the task. Together with “gøre opgaven” it forms the meaning “finish the task”.

Tag In “Tag pausen først, og gør så opgaven færdig.”, “Tag” is an instruction to take the break. It begins a direct instruction and is followed by the specific break, “pausen”.

pausen In “Tag pausen først, og gør så opgaven færdig.”, “pausen” means “the break”, referring to the break already discussed. It is the object after “Tag” in the instruction “Tag pausen først”.

først In “Tag pausen først, og gør så opgaven færdig.”, “først” means “first” and says that the break must happen before finishing the task. It can mark the first action in an ordered instruction.

og In “Tag pausen først, og gør så opgaven færdig.”, “og” means “and” and joins the two instructions. It connects taking the break with the next instruction to finish the task.

gør In “Tag pausen først, og gør så opgaven færdig.”, “gør” is an instruction to complete the task. It is used with “opgaven færdig” in the pattern “gør [task] færdig”, and “så” marks this as the next step.

Grammar Points

Imperativ: Kig væk

Kig væk.

KEK vek.

Look away.

The imperative uses the verb without a subject or pronoun: kig.

Danish Vocabulary

drikke verb

DREG-uh drink

Jeg kan drikke noget vand.

holde verb

HOHL-uh take; have Hold

Hold en kort pause fra skærmen.

hvor længe adv

vohr LENG-uh how long

Hvor længe skal jeg kigge væk?

kig væk phrase

KEK vek look away Kig væk

Kig væk i et minut.

kigge verb

KEH-guh look

skal jeg kigge væk

kort adj

KOH(D) short

Hold en kort pause fra skærmen.

minut noun

mee-NOOT minute

Gender: common

i et minut

noget det

NOH-uh some; something

noget vand

pause noun

POW-seh break pausen

Gender: common

Tag pausen først.

skærm noun

SGAIR(M) screen skærmen

Gender: common

fra skærmen

træt adj

TRED tired trætte

Mine øjne er trætte.

øje noun

UR-yuh eye øjne

Gender: neuter

Mine øjne er trætte.

Quiz

Word Order

Arrange the words in the correct order.

My eyes are tired.

Show Answer

Mine øjne er trætte.

Take a short break from the screen.

Show Answer

Hold en kort pause fra skærmen.

How long should I look away?

Show Answer

Hvor længe skal jeg kigge væk?

Spelling

Tap the letters to spell the word.

take; have

Show Answer

Hold

eye

Show Answer

øjne

break

Show Answer

pausen

short

Show Answer

kort