19 Must-Know Danish Irregular Verbs To Communicate With Ease

So, you're learning Danish and the time has come when you’ve mustered enough courage to take on Danish irregular verbs?

Don’t worry, though it's a bit of a jungle, it's not without its pathways. And once you reach the end of this post, you’ll be able to have conversations in Danish on a pretty refined level, as you incorporate the mysterious Danish irregular verbs.

Also, the examples I'll show you aren't just picked at random. I have chosen the most important and common ones, as the more you see/hear them, the more likely you are to pick them up.

So, let’s not hesitate any further, before entering the wonderful world of Danish irregular verbs.

What Are Danish Irregular Verbs?

Irregular is, of course, as opposed to regular. Regular verbs, and they are by far the majority, follow specific patterns of Danish verb conjugation, which make them predictable and manageable.

In Danish, there are two types of regular verbs. For both of these, the present tense is formed by adding an -r to the infinitive (the form that follows at – English “to”);

• At rejse – vi rejser (to travel – we travel)
• At elske – du elsker (to love – you love)

It's only once we venture into the past and perfect tenses, that the different between to two types show. The first group omits the -e from the infinitive, and replaces it with -te to form the past tense;

• Vi rejste til Wien (We travelled to Vienna)

Whereas the other type adds –(e)de to the infinitive, as in:

• Du elskede at gå i skoven (You loved to walk in the woods)

When used as a participle, the first group simply adds a -t to the stem (the shortest form – imperative), while the second type adds –et:

• Vi har rejst langt for at komme hertil (We have travelled a long way to get here)

And

• Jeg havde elsket slåenbær siden jeg var lille (I had loved sloen berries since I was small)

Always remember: Danish verbs are never marked for noun/pronoun or number. This means, they don’t change whether I, you, or they did the action (well, perhaps legally, but not grammatically). Only tense changes Danish verbs.

Alas, this is how the righteous, regular verbs behave, but they aren’t really our interest here. Like any microcosmos, you will find some entities that simply aren’t playing by the rules. And this is what it means to be irregular.

Two Important Danish Irregular Verbs: To Be And To Have

Danish irregular verbs, on the other hand, don't follow this pattern. While they also sometimes have suffixes such as –t as a participle (though not always), they often turn to a shift in vowels, when they change tense, as we shall see.

I'm not one for playing the strict headmaster, but there are two verbs you simply have to learn by heart. These two are at have and at være – “to have” and “to be”.

As in English, these are very volatile verbs, and without them, getting meaning across would be somewhat troublesome. Here's how to conjugate them:

• Note that the use of the present participle is very rare in Danish, where the present tense is usually preferred

I emphasise them because they’re the auxiliary verbs that are used to form the perfect tenses in Danish. Perfect, not as in “Scarlett Johansson of Danish origin looks perfect”, but as in that which has been done with, finished.

Most languages, including Danish and English, distinguish between that which is by now finished (present perfect), and that which was finished sometime in the past (past perfect).

That shouldn’t come as much as a surprise, it works the exact same way in English.

They're used commonly in everyday conversations, like when you say:

• Nej tak, jeg har allerede spist (no thanks, I have already eaten) or
• Det var sent, og jeg havde været træt hele dagen (it was late, and I had been tired all day).

Of course, a verb like “to be” also has a lexical use, aside from being an auxiliary verb. This is the case with the Danish at have too. It can, so to speak, be a verb in its own right, meaning “to own” or “posses”: jeg har en hvid kat (I have a white cat). 

As you can see, being familiar and confident with these two particular verbs is actually essential for a precise and hassle-free conversation.

Once they’re an automatic part of your language, you won’t need to stop and think about them, so speaking Danish becomes so much easier and fun.

While some Danish irregular verbs change drastically, such as from at være to er and var, most irregular verbs are not really that anarchistic. And some patters can be found amongst them.

The two verbs mentioned above are by far the most important ones, and you’ll just have to trust me on this.

What follows, then, is a collection of wonderful verbs, that just happen to be irregular. I will, of course, present them to you in order of how useful and common they are, and group them, when possible.

Danish Modal Verbs

This is a group of verbs all to themselves, but they are extremely common, so I thought I’d give them a special mention.

Although they are irregular verbs, they have a few additional characteristics that set them apart. These fellas do serve a meaningful purpose in language, so the basics are good to have in place.

Fear not, if you know English, the concept of modal verbs shouldn’t be a great surprise to you. They don't express an action in themselves, but rather the subject’s relation to this action, what scholars like to call “modality”. 

The most common ones, in both English are Danish are can/could, should, will/would, might, may, and must.

However, they aren't always used in the same way, depending on aspect, that is, the actual meaning of the word. Generally, the past tense is used to create future – the aspect of possibility.

Consider this example:

• Jeg kan spise en elefant (I can eat an elephant) 

Impressive, but not very likely. Stating an ability.

• Jeg kunne spise en elefant (I could eat an elephant)

You’re simply saying that you’re very hungry. A hypothetical situation.

With that in mind, let’s have a look at the conjugation and use of the most important modal verbs in Danish.

To stay in the real world, I have included only present, past, and the past participle, as the infinitive is always the same as the past form, the present participle is never used in real life, and modal verbs don’t have the imperative form.

Kunne (Can/Could)

As seen above, kunne expresses an ability, or possibility. Can sometimes be used like the English “may” (kan nogle gange bruges som det engelske “may” ) – that sentence itself being an example. For the English “might”, this one is also mostly used.

Skulle (Should)

Can be used to mean both “ought to” (when used in past tense) and “must”.

Ville (would)

Works like in English, “want to”.

Måtte (Must)

Usually used with the meaning “be allowed to”, but also as “has to”.

Burde (Should/Ought To)

A little more formal than “should”. Again, using the past tense makes it more hypothetical. Like in English, the past participle is rarely used for this particular verb.

Turde (Dare)

Like in English, this is often followed by the negation ikke – not.

And we’ll stop with the modal verbs here. Others may be used as modal, but they are rare, and with these, you are well covered, even if you want to be an advanced user. 

11 Important Danish Irregular Verbs

Now, there are Danish irregular verbs that are not auxiliary or modal, but have a distinct meaning of their own.

So, what follows is an outline of the 11 most commonly used lexical irregular verbs in Danish, according to various lists.

As you’ll see, they are not all equally irregular, some deviate a bit, others more. 

Tage (Take)

Is also used in expressions like at tage bussen (to go by bus). 

Sige (Say)

The present participle of this word is equivalent to the English “telling”, as in det var meget sigende, at hun gik så tidligt (it was very telling that she left so early).

Give (Give)

Functions very much like in English, but can also mean “to pay”; jeg gav 200 kr. for den (I paid 200 kr. for it). For more on how to say prices in Danish, check out my post on Danish numbers.

Gå (Walk/Go) 

Not every bit as versatile as the English “go”, which, as you know, can mean a lot of things; to walk, to become, to start acting, or simply to start whatever. But it is close.

For example, it's possible in Danish to “go cucumber” gå agurk, which means to “go bananas”. I have no idea what these fruits and vegetables have done to deserve this.

Slå (Beat/Hit)

The present participle here is like the English “striking”, in sentences like “he bore a striking resemblance to a tropical fish” (han havde en slående lighed med en tropisk fisk). 

Blive (Become, Stay, Go)

This may seem self-contradictory, but it is used as “become” or “go”, when these have the same meaning; “go red in the face” or “she became my best friend”, that is, change from one state to another.

It also means to stay, as in jeg bliver hjemme I aften (I’ll stay at home tonight). You can use the prefix for-, if you want a the more formal “remain”; hun forblev tavs hele aftenen (she remained silent all night). 

Stå (Stand)

Often followed by op (up). As such it can mean to “stand up, or get up”, as in the expression jeg hader at stå op om morgenen (I hate getting up in the morning).

Gøre (Do/Make)

Where English has “do” and “make”, Danish has gøre and the regular verb lave. When to use which is really a question of experience and exposure to the words.

And the best way to get that exposure is to follow the rules of StoryLearning and read books in Danish or short stories in Danish.

Få (Get/Receive)

Generally same function as in English. Mainly a passive verb, note though: Dér fik du mig (you got me there).

Se (See)

Works like in English, including the meaning “to understand”.

Lade (Let/Load)

The first meaning is by far the more common. 

The imperative form of the verbs is the same as the infinitive. Except when it ends with an “e”, which is omitted to create imperative (with se it is se).

And when I write “very rare” about some present participles, it is perhaps an understatement. They really are hypothetical forms, and you’d need to read a lot of experimental poetry to find them used.

FAQs About Danish Irregular Verbs

Danish Irregular Verbs: Now It’s Your Turn!

When it comes to irregular Danish verbs, their bark is much worse than their bite, and a vowel change here and there shouldn’t get the better of you. So, try them! Recite some of them from time to time, and make sure you expose yourself to them.

Having read to this point, you’ve already come a long way, and soon you’ll find them totally logical…or at least consider them useful!

There are plenty of books, Danish movies, Danish YouTube videos, Danish podcasts and songs out there you can search out and practice on.

And if you need a bit more help and want to learn through stories, not rules, then there's always my course, Danish Uncovered, which you can try for free for seven days!

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.