Kay Xander MellishExpert on Danish business culture

Drop Dit Danglish: Confusing Learn with Teach, or Loan with Borrow

6 Dec 2016 · 1 min

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Danish verbs like "at lære" and "at låne" work both ways: you learn and are taught with the same word, you lend and borrow with the same word. English splits them into separate verbs, except "loan" covers both directions.

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Confusing learn with teach, or loan with borrow. At lære is flexible enough to cover both teacher and student. Jeg har lært at spille. Hun har lært mig at spille. But in English, this flexibility disappears. Usage is broken into learn and teach, and they are not interchangeable. She taught me to play golf. I learned to play golf. The same applies for at låne, which in English is split into lend and borrow. I can't borrow you my golf clubs. I can lend you my golf clubs, or you can borrow them for the afternoon. Interestingly, the direct translation loan works either way. I can loan you $20 for drinks at the clubhouse, or you can loan me your clubs so we can play a few more holes.