Difference Between Dutch and Danish

The main difference between Dutch and Danish is that the Dutch language is a West Germanic language while the Danish language is a North Germanic language.

dutch vs. Danish

The Dutch language is spoken in Belgium and the Netherlands. The Danish language is mainly spoken in Denmark. People who speak Dutch are Dutch. People who speak Danish are Danes. The Dutch language is known as the West Germanic language, while the Danish language is known as the North Germanic language.

Dutch is similar to languages ​​like German and English, while Danish is similar to the Norwegian and Swedish languages. Dutch pronunciation is very simple and subtle. The pronunciation of Danish is similar to English. Dutch contains sixteen vowel combinations phonemically. Danish has twenty-seven distinctive vowels.

The alphabet that Dutch use in their writing is the Dutch alphabet. The alphabet that Danish uses is the Dano-Norwegian alphabet. Any other language in the world always influences the vocabulary of a language. In the same way, the vocabulary of Dutch is influenced by the Germanic and Romance languages. Danish vocabulary influences languages ​​such as Old Norse, Low German, and English.

The Dutch language is specified by having a subjunctive form (which is rarely used). The Danish language does not have any subjunctive form. Unlike Dutch, Danish has a sentence structure similar to English. Dutch grammar uses a clause or an article that appears before the nominal or noun to specify the purpose. If an adjective is present in any sentence, then Danish is almost the same as Dutch. The word order in Dutch changes more frequently. Danish is quite a bit closer to English in word order, followed by the object that comes after the verb.

Comparison chart

What is Dutch?

Dutch is a common language in the Netherlands and Belgium. It is a Germanic language related to the Indo-European language family. Dutch is known as the “West Germanic language“. It is as complex as the German language. Dutch is known to be the first language of about 23 million people. And as a second language, it is spoken by 5 million people. The vowel containing Dutch is sixteen phonemic vowel combinations.

The alphabet he uses in his writing is the Dutch alphabet. The vocabulary of Dutch is influenced by Germanic and Romance languages. Dutch pronunciation is very simple and subtle. The word order in Dutch changes more frequently. Generally, Dutch is not an easy language due to the presence of so many irregular verbs, the conjunction of gendered adjectives and nouns.

The Dutch language is specified as having a subjunctive form (which is rarely used) since it did not have the consonant shift in High German, so it no longer uses the subjunctive and case system. Dutch grammar uses a different article like English grammar that comes before the noun to designate the purpose. If an adjective is present in any sentence, then Danish is almost the same as Dutch.

However, it is easy for English speakers to learn Dutch. The reason behind this is that Dutch is similar to the English language in terms of vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation, but difficult in terms of grammar. Their intonation and stress patterns are also similar. Dutch and English have the same Latin alphabet in phonology. Dutch grammar is very close to German, specifically when it comes to the syntax and morphology of verbs.

What is Danish?

Danish is spoken in Denmark. The Danish language is known as the North Germanic language. People who speak Danish are Danes. In addition, it has minority language status in southern Schleswig in northern Germany. Danish has a similarity to the Norwegian and Swedish languages. Danish pronunciation is quite similar to English. It has twenty-seven distinctive vowels. The alphabet that Danish uses in its writing scripts is the Dano-Norwegian alphabet.

Danish vocabulary is influenced by languages ​​such as Old Norse, Low German and English. The Danish language does not have any subjunctive form. It has a sentence structure similar to English. Danish is quite a bit closer to English in word order. This word order is characterized by the object that follows the verb. Due to its similarity to English, Scandinavians are good at speaking English.

There are Danish-speaking communities in several countries. These countries include Sweden, Spain, the United States, Norway, Brazil, and Argentina. Danish is a language that is descended from Old Norse. There were no standard variety/spelling conventions until the 16th century. Standard Danish emerged with the Protestant Reformation.

Danish is a difficult language to understand and learn. It is known for its immense index of consonants or vowels. This vowel inventory has 27 phonemically distinctive vowels with 12 long and 13 short vowels with two schwa vowels. Also, he has an unusual prosody known as stød. The “glottal stop” that makes Danish more difficult for language learning spokespersons to speak.

Key differences

1. Dutch is a language of the Netherlands and Belgium, while Danish is a language of Denmark.
2. The Dutch language is known as the West Germanic language. On the other hand, the Danish language is a North Germanic language.
3. People who speak Dutch are Dutch; conversely, people who speak Danish are Danes.
4. Dutch shows similarity to German and English languages ​​on the other side Danish shows similarity to Norwegian and Swedish languages.
5. Dutch pronunciation is very simple and, on the contrary, subtle; Danish pronunciation is closer to English.
6. Dutch contains sixteen phonemic vowel combinations; Danish, on the other hand, has twenty-seven distinctive vowels.
7. The alphabet that Dutch uses is the Dutch alphabet in reverse; the alphabet that Danish uses is the Danish-Norwegian alphabet.
8. The Dutch vocabulary affects the Germanic and Romance languages, while the Danish vocabulary affects English, Low German, and Old Norse.
9. The Dutch language specified by having a subjunctive form; on the contrary, the Danish language does not present any form of subjunctive.
10. Unlike Dutch, Danish has a sentence structure similar to English.
11. Dutch word order most often changes in reverse. Danish is closer to English in word order. The object follows it after the verb.

Final Thought

The Dutch and Danish languages ​​have things in common, but are different from each other in their phonology, syntax, morphology, and vocabulary.