How similar is the Danish language to German?

Answer 1

Not quite similar, but related.

German is only similar to Danish in some degree (once you know it), but apart from some individual basic words ( being a Germanic language) and some more complex borrowed but now rather disguised words, Danish - along with its close relatives Swedish & Norwegian - is a rather different language than German. And therefore they are not mutually intelligible to the untrained ears, unless you have grown up in the border area and been exposed to both languages via TV for instance ( then you can easily see many cognates and likenesses in some parts of basic vocabulary ).

German grammar is far more complex than that of Danish, which has been simplified along similar lines to those of English grammar.

( e.g. same verb for every person & number, which E nearly has now for most verbs, and no special article for each case (only personal pronouns have

cases! ) - genitive is the "same" as in E etc. )

No akward "backward" subordinate clauses in Danish ( verb last! ), as in English, unlike in German.

Basic Danish words are usually much closer to their English cognates

than their German ditto - or the equivalent German words are completely unrelated.

For instance:

E D G

give = give vs. geben

take = tage vs. nehmen

have = have vs. haben

hope = håbe [ho-be!] vs. hoffe

hate = hade vs. hassen

hold = hold(e) vs. halten

go = gå [go!] vs. gehen

can = kan vs. können

will = vil vs. wollen

shall = skal vs. sollen

are (+am & is ) = er [air] vs. bin/ bist / ist / sind, seid/ sind

drink = drik(ke) vs. trinken

smile = smile [smeel-e] vs. lächlen ( ~ laugh)

dream = drøm(me) [droem-me] = träumen

tree = træ vs. Baum (!)

door = dør [doer] vs. Tür

window = vindue [vin-doo] vs. Fenster (!)

father / mother / broder / sister / son / daughter =

fader [fath-er!] / moder [moth-er!] / broder [broth-er!] /

søster [soester], søn [soen], datter

vs.

Vater [fA-ter] / Mutter [moot-ter], Bruder [broo-der], Schwester (!),

Son, Tochter

eye = øje [oy-e! ] vs. Auge

ear = øre [oer-e] vs. Ohr

cold = kold vs. kalt

warm = varm vs. warm (!)

hot = hed vs. heiss

thirsty = tørstig [tirs-teegh] = durstich

open = åben[o-ben!] vs. "öffen"

good = god vs. gut

deep = dyb vs. Tief

little = lille vs. klein (!)

already = allerede (!) vs. bereits

again = igen [ee-gain] vs. weider

over = over vs. über

under = under vs. unter

up = op [up!] vs. auf

from = fra vs. von / aus

out = ud vs. auss

after = efter vs. nach

I / me / my | mine = jeg [yaigh!] / mig / min vs. Ich / mich / mein

he / him / his / him = han / ham (!) / hans / ham vs. er / ihn / sein/ ihm

we / us / our(s) = vi [ve] / os [us!], vor(es) vs. wir, uns, unser

they, them , theirs = de [dee] / dem (!), deres (!) vs. Sie, ihn, seine

Answer 2

Danish and German are both Germanic languages, so they share some similarities in vocabulary and grammar. However, they are not mutually intelligible due to differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Danish is also influenced by the Scandinavian language family, setting it further apart from German.