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DANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Danish word of the day: Bemærkelsesværdig

Today’s Danish word is worth taking notice of.

What is bemærkelsesværdig? 

Bemærkelsesværdig means ‘remarkably’ or ‘conspicuously’, and can be broken down into two parts.

At bemærke means ‘to remark on’ or ‘to observe’, but has more critical connotations than its relative at mærke, which means ‘to feel’ or ‘to notice’ in a neutral sense. 

Værd means ‘value’ or ‘worthy’, so when you put the two together, you get an adverb to describe something that’s ‘worth making a few observations about’. It also exists in adjectival form: bemærkelsesværdig/bemærkelsesværdigt depending on whether it defines an en or et word).

Why do I need to know bemærkelsesværdig?

Let’s talk context. Bemærkelsesværdig can be used in a positive or neutral sense, like its synonym påfældende. For example, you could say that someone is a bemærkelsesværdig person (an extraordinary person) or that they have done bemærkelsesværdigt godt arbejde (remarkably good work).

But you will also hear it said with a chilly undertone, often implying that the speaker is surprised at someone else’s incompetence, and inviting them to justify themselves. It belongs to a fairly formal register, so you’ll hear it most often in situations where people need to be polite, replacing a word like dum (stupid) or mærkelig (strange) in situations where these words would be too rude and informal.

This means that a lot depends on tone, so if you read or hear a phrase such as det er bemærkelsesværdigt at det ikke er sket endnu (it is remarkable that this hasn’t happened yet) or det synes jeg er bemærkelsesværdigt (I find that remarkable), be aware that there may be a healthy dose of passive aggression buried in the message.

For a real-world example, if you go to your communal laundry room and find a note from a neighbour (yes, Danes sometimes leave anonymous notes) saying they find it bemærkelsesværdigt that people keep forgetting to clean the fluff from the dryer filter, this isn’t a mere musing on other people’s laundry habits, but a way of letting you know they’d like the filter fluff-free.

Examples

Ingen har set noget bemærkelsesværdigt

No-one saw anything remarkable [In this case, bemærkelsesværdig is used as an adjective]

Det er en bemærkelsesværdig indrømmelse

That is a remarkable admission [In this example, bemærkelsesværdig could be positive, neutral or critical, depending on the tone and context]

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DANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Danish word of the day: Varmebølge

Here's a Danish word to use when complaining about the hot weather.

Danish word of the day: Varmebølge

What is varmebølge?

Varmebølge means “heatwave” in Danish.

Varme means “heat” or “warmth”, and bølge means “wave”, so it’s an easy translation. You’ll sometimes hear hedebølge used too, using another Danish word for “heat”. The word varme is the more common of the two, and can be used in situations where you might say either “heat” or “warmth” in English. Hede, on the other hand, implies a more extreme type of heat.

For example, the Danish words for “hot water bottle” and “central heating” both use varme rather than heat (varmedunk and centralvarme or just varmen, respectively) and “hot weather” is varmt vejr but the phrase i kampens hede means “in the heat of the battle”. 

Why do I need to know varmebølge?

While the above terms – varmebølge and hedebølge – are synonyms on first glance, there’s an important difference.

Denmark’s national meteorological agency, DMI, defines a varmebølge as a three-day period on which the average highest temperature is over 25 degrees Celsius.

For a hot spell to qualify as a hedebølge, on the other hand, the average highest temperature for the three days in question must exceed 28 degrees Celsius

People from southern parts of Europe might consider either type of Danish heatwave to feel more like regular summer weather – and perhaps this helps explain why extreme weather in southern regions in recent years, related to climate change, has led to speculation Denmark could become an increasingly popular summer destination for foreign holidaymakers.

The phrases also reveal a little about how Denmark’s climate influences language and the way Danes talk about the weather.

READ ALSO: Five Danish phrases you only hear in summer

While almost everyone gets quickly tired of long spells of cool, wet summer weather – like those seen during most of June 2024 – it also doesn’t take much for Danes to begin longing for more moderate temperatures to return once it heats up.

Anything over around 24-25 degrees Celsius is likely to be considered for meget (“too much”) what I would consider a regulation summer temperature of 26 degrees might be described as denne forfærdelige varme (“this dreadful heat”).

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