Danish to Slovenian: when we means exactly two people
A Danish plural can conceal a Slovenian dual
Danish vi can refer to two people or a larger group without changing the pronoun. Slovenian has a grammatical dual. Marušič and Žaucer illustrate it with Včeraj sva bila doma, reporting that two people were at home yesterday. For a Danish couple’s message, the target may therefore express exactly two participants through its auxiliary and participle even when the source simply says vi.
This is not a reason to guess that every personal message comes from a couple. A Danish note from two colleagues and one from an entire department can have the same source pronoun. The Language Council’s pronoun inventory distinguishes singular and plural, but provides no separate Danish dual form. Establish the actual group from the conversation before choosing the Slovenian construction.
A natural pair is not automatically a dual noun
The dual study documents an important exception to the beginner’s shortcut: ordinary references to someone’s paired body parts commonly use plural forms. It gives Noge me bolijo for a person’s legs hurting. A Danish complaint concerning both legs should not automatically be converted to a dual noun merely because human anatomy normally supplies two.
The authors distinguish this from reference to two independently considered items, where a dual can convey a different interpretation. They also discuss lexical and usage variation, including parents, so the distinction is more nuanced than a universal ban. Preserve what the Danish speaker is referring to: their normal pair, two separately counted objects, or a larger set.
Reading a book and reading it through
Greenberg’s reference grammar contrasts imperfective brati with perfective prebrati. In its past-tense discussion, the imperfective can present reading as a process without establishing whether the book was finished. Danish past wording alone may leave that event perspective to context. An account of spending an evening reading and an account of completing a book need not select the same Slovenian verb.
Do not infer failure to finish from an imperfective target form. The relevant difference is how the event is presented, not a factual assertion that completion never occurred. Conversely, selecting a perfective merely because the Danish sentence refers to yesterday can add an unintended whole-event perspective. Use the surrounding Danish account of progress, repetition or completion to identify the intended reading.
Like a thing and like doing something use different constructions
The same grammar gives Slika mi je všeč for liking a picture, with the person in a dative expression and the picture controlling agreement. It separately describes rad with a finite verb for habitually liking an activity. A Danish kan lide phrase therefore needs to be read for its complement: an object being appreciated or an activity enjoyed.
These choices interact with the participant count. If a Danish message says that we like something, first determine who we includes and how many people it denotes; then build the appropriate Slovenian expression of liking. A correctly chosen dual pronoun cannot by itself repair an unsuitable predicate construction. The target has to express both the group and the kind of appreciation intended by the Danish sentence.
Language references