Definite and Indefinite Article

All nouns in Danish are either common or neuter in gender. About 75% of nouns are of common gender, but many very frequently used nouns are neuter.

Indefinite Article (a/an)

A/an is expressed by en with common nouns and by et with neuter nouns. Indefinite plurals are formed by adding -e or -er to the singular.

	singular	plural
common neuter	en bil a car et hus a house	biler cars huse houses

Some nouns remain unchanged in the plural and some others are irregular.

singular	plural
et rum a room en bog a book	rum rooms bøger books

Definite Article (the)

The definite article is tagged onto the end of the noun. In the singular, common nouns take an -en ending, neuter nouns take an -et ending. In the plural, both take an -(e)ne or -(er)ne ending.

	singular	plural
common neuter	bilen the car toget the train	bilerne the cars togene the trains

Here are some more examples with both definite/indefinite and singular/plural forms:

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
common	en bil a car en skole a school en stol a stool en mus a mouse en chip a chip	bilen the car skolen the school stolen the stool musen the mouse chippen the chip	biler cars skoler schools stole stools mus mice chips chips	bilerne the cars skolerne the schools stolene the stools musene the mice chipsene the chips
neuter	et hotel a hotel et hus a house et år a year	hotellet the hotel huset the house året the year	hoteller hotels huse houses år years	hotellerne the hotels husene the houses årene the years

Danish Pronouns

Learning the Danish Pronouns is very important because its structure is used in every day conversation. The more you master it the more you get closer to mastering the Danish language. But first we need to know what the role of Pronouns is in the structure of the grammar in Danish. Danish pronouns include personal pronouns (refer to the persons speaking, the persons spoken to, or the persons or things spoken about), indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns (connect parts of sentences) and reciprocal or reflexive pronouns (in which the object of a verb is being acted on by verb’s subject). Here are some examples:

English Pronouns	Danish Pronouns
Pronouns	Pronominer
I	Jeg
you	du
he	han
she	hun
we	vi
they	de
me	mig
you	du
him	ham
her	hende
us	os
them	dem
my	min
your	Deres
his	hans
her	hende
our	vores
their	deres
mine	mine
yours	Deres
his	hans
hers	hendes
ours	vores
theirs	deres

As you can see from the example above, the structure of the Pronouns in Danish has a logical pattern. Locate the Pronouns above and see how it works with the rest of the sentence in Dansk.

List of Pronouns in Danish

Below is a list of the Personal pronouns, indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns, reciprocal or reflexive pronouns in Danish placed in a table. Memorizing this table will help you add very useful and important words to your Danish vocabulary.

Danish Articles and Demonstratives

How to say a, an, the, this, that, these and those in Danish

There are two indefinite articles (corresponding to a and an) in Danish: en and et. En is used with most of the nouns (words denoting people almost always use en), but you will just have to learn which article goes with which noun. The definite article (the) is not a separate word like in most other languages. It is simply a form of the indefinite article attached to the end of the noun. Note that en words ending in a vowel retain that vowel and add an -n instead of adding -en, while et words ending in -e just add a -t.

En words (common)
Indefinite		Definite
en banan	a banana	bananen	the banana
en stol	a chair	stolen	the chair
en gade	a street	gaden	the street

Et words (neuter)
Indefinite		Definite
et bord	a table	bordet	the table
et køkken	a kitchen	køkkenet	the kitchen
et æble	an apple	æblet	the apple

This/that is expressed in Danish by using denne (en words) or dette (et words) and these/those is expressed bydisse. The noun is always in the indefinite form after these demonstratives, except for when these / disse (plural) is used, in which case an er is added (unless the words already ends in an r) after the indefinite demonstrative. this banana = denne banan that table = dette bord these streets = disse gader these apples = disse æbler

Danish Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

with en words	with et words	with plural words
my / mine	min	mit	mine
your / yours	din	dit	dine
his / her / its / their	sin	sit	sine
his / his	hans	hans	hans
her / hers	hendes	hendes	hendes
its / its	dens	dens	dens
our / ours	vores	vores	vores
your / yours	deres	deres	deres
their / theirs	deres	deres	deres

The same forms are used for possessive adjectives that are used directly before nouns and for possessive pronouns that replace a noun. For example, this is my car and this is mine would be translated as det her er min bil and det her er min. Sin, sit and sine can only be used when the third person possessive adjective refers to the subject of the same clause. These words can be translated as his, her, its or their. Generally, if you cannot insert “own” after the possessive adjective in English, you cannot use sin/sit/sine. Per besøger sin mor. = Per visits his (own) mother. (Sin refers back to Per.) Eva ringer til hans mor. = Eva calls his mother. (Hans refers to Per, not Eva.)

The Verbs Be and Have in Danish

at være – to be
I am	jeg er	I was	jeg var
you are	du er	you were	du var
he is	han er	he was	han var
she is	hun er	she was	hun var
it is	den er	it was	den var
it is	det er	it was	det var
one is	man er	one was	man var
we are	vi er	we were	vi var
you are	De er	you were	De var
they are	de er	they were	de var

at have – to have
I have	jeg har	I had	jeg havde
you have	du har	you had	du havde
he has	han har	he had	han havde
she has	hun har	she had	hun havde
it has	den har	it had	den havde
it has	det har	it had	det havde
one has	man har	one had	man havde
we have	vi har	we had	vi havde
you have	De har	you had	De havde
they have	de har	they had	de havde

To form the future tense of verbs, just add vil before the infinitive. Jeg vil være= I will be; hun vil have = she will have; etc. However, the present tense can often be used with adverbs of time to indicate the future. The word skalcan also be used in place of vil, but this implies a promise rather than a general future condition. To make a sentence negative, simply add ikke after the verb. If there is a modal verb and a main verb (such as vil and an infinitive), ikke goes between these two verbs. In addition, if you answer “yes” to a negative question, you must use jo instead of ja.

DANISH GLOSSARY

Essential Danish:

English	Danish
Hello	Goddag / Hej
Good evening	Godaften
Goodbye	Hej hej
See you later	Vi ses senere
Yes	Jo
No	Nej
Excuse me!	Undskyld  ?
Thanks	Tak
Thanks a lot	Mange tak
Thank you for your help	Tak for hjœlpen
Don’t mention it	Det var så lidt
Ok	Okay, det er I orden
How much is it?	Hvor meget koster det ?
Sorry!	Undskyld
I don’t understand	Jeg forstår det ikke
I get it	Jeg har forstået
I don’t know	Det ved jeg ikke
Forbidden	Forbudt
Excuse me, where are the toilets?	Undskyld, hvor finder jeg toiletterne  ?
Happy New Year!	Godt nytår!
Happy birthday!	Tillykke med fødselsdagen !
Happy holiday!	God højtid
Congratulations!	Tillykke!

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