VERBS

        

General: a. Verbs are not conjugated in persons only in tenses.
           
             b. In a dictionary verbs are found in the infinitive form.

             c. The infinitive ends normally in -e
                 but words consisting of one syllable and ending with an unstressed vowel
                 do not add -e.

            d. If the infinitive does not end in -e
                then the infinitive and the base form are the same: bo (live), gå (go), se (see)
           
            e. Base form (or stem) is infinitive without -e:
                syng (=synge minus -e) (sing).

           
 
1. Present Tense

        
       is formed by adding -r to the infinitive in all persons:

       infinitive: synge + -r = synger (sing/sings)

                    jeg/du/han/vi/I/de synger    (I/you/he/we/they sing/sings)

       infinitive: bo, stå + -r = bor, står (live/lives, stand/stands)
      
   
Usage: The present tense is used as in English, but it is also used as the future tense: 

            jeg kommer i morgen (I shall come tomorrow)
         

          The progressive form (-ing form) in English
          can in Danish be expressed in different ways, eg.:

          a. present tense: han læser (he is reading)

          b. periphrastic construction with: 
              sidder/står/ligger og + present tense:
                    han sidder og læser (he is reading)

          c. periphrastic construction with: 
              er ved at + infinitive:
                    han er ved at læse (he is reading)
         
 
2. Past Tense

         
       there are 2 regular conjugations  (see also Present perfect):
         
       a. Regular conjugation, group I  (the biggest group):
          Base form + -ede  (the same in all persons):
                    husk, lav = huskede (remembered), lavede (made)
                    bo, vask  = boede (lived), vaskede (washed)
         
       b. Regular conjugation, group II:
          Base form + -te   (the same in all persons):
                    læs, spis = læste (read), spiste (ate)
                    køb, vis  = købte (bought), viste (showed)
         
       c. Irregular conjugation:
                    var (was/were), så (saw), gik (went), 
                    sagde (pronounced (sä·) (said),    
      
           
Usage: The past tense is used as in English.
         
           The progressive form (-ing form) in English
           can in Danish be expressed in different ways, eg.:

          a. past tense: han læste (he was reading)

          b. periphrastic construction with: 
              sad/stod/lå og + present tense:
                       han sad og læste (he was reading)

          c. periphrastic construction with: 
              var ved at + infinitive:
                       han var ved at læse (he was reading)
                  
 
        

3. Present Perfect

 
         is formed with har or er before the past participle (see past participle):
                        
                        jeg har købt et hus (I have bought a house)
                        jeg er gået i seng    (I have gone to bed)
        
               
Usage: The present tense is used with har or er and they are
            the same in all persons.

            "har" is normally used: han har spist (he has eaten)
         
            "er" is used if a movement has taken place:
                               han er gået                     (he has gone (away))
                        but: han har gået hele dagen  (he has been walking the whole day)

             and in the passive voice: maden er blevet spist (the food has been eaten)
         
 
 

4. Past perfect

         is formed with havde or var before the past participle (see past participle):
                      
                        jeg havde købt et hus (I had bought a house)
                        jeg var gået i sent       (I had gone to bed)


Usage: as Present Perfect.                   
         

5. Future tense

          is formed with skal/vil before the infinitive
          or simply by using the present tense:

                        jeg skal rejse i morgen (I shall go tomorrow)
                        jeg vil rejse i morgen    (I shall go tomorrow)
                        jeg rejser i morgen       (I shall go tomorrow)
         
         

IRREGULAR VERBS

         
          They are the same in all persons:
        
                       jeg/du/han/hun/vi/I/de bliver
                       jeg/du/han/hun/vi/I/de blev
                       jeg/du/han/hun/vi/I/de er blevet

         Verbs with *    are  modal verbs
         Verbs with **   are auxiliary verbs
         Verbs with ***  are modal and auxiliary verbs
         
    Here are the most common irregular verbs:

Infinitive	English	Present tense	Past tense	Present perfect
at blive**	become	bliver	blev	er blevet
at drikke	drink	drikker	drak	har drukket
at dř	die	dřr	dřde	er dřd
at fĺ**	get	fĺr	fik	har fĺet
at give	give	giver	gav	har givet
at gřre	do	gřr	gjorde	har gjort
at gĺ	go	gĺr	gik	er/har gĺet
at have**	have	har	havde	har haft
at komme	come	kommer	kom	er kommet
at kunne*	could	kan	kunne	har kunnet
at lade	let	lader	lod	har ladet
at le	laugh	ler	lo	har leet
at ligge	lie down	ligger	lĺÂ	har ligget
at lćgge	lay	lćgger	lagde	har lagt
at lřbe	run	lřber	lřb	har lřbet
at mĺtte*	may, must	mĺ	mĺtte	har mĺttet
at se	see	ser	sĺ	har set
at sidde	is sitting	sidder	sad	har siddet
at sige	say	siger	sagde	har sagt
at skrive	write	skriver	skrev	har skrevet
at skulle***	should	skal	skulle	har skullet
at sove	sleep	sover	sov	har sovet
at spřrge	ask	spřrger	spurgte	har spurgt
at stĺ	stand	stĺrÂ	stod	har stĺet
at sćlge	sell	sćlger	solgte	har solgt
at sćtte	put, sit down	sćtter	satte	har sat
at tage	take	tager	tog	har taget
at vide	know	ved	vidste	har vidst
at ville***	would	vil	ville	har villet
at vćre**	be	er	var	har vćret

 

AUXILIARY VERBS

         
         The auxiliary and modal verbs kunne/skulle/ville/måtte are connected to
         the infinitive without "at" (as in English):

                         jeg kan tale dansk (I can speak Danish)
                         du må gerne komme ind (you may come in)
                         han ville ikke gøre det (he did not want to do so)
         

         The pronunciation of the auxiliary verbs is a little special, the
         last consonant is normally not pronounced:

                 han kan (pronounced [kä]) komme     (he can come)
                 han vil (pronounced [ve])  komme      (he will come)
                 han skal (pronounced [sgä]) komme   (he shall come)
                 han skulle (pronounced [sgu]) komme (he should come)
         
 

PARTICIPLES

1. Past participle

         There are 2 regular conjugations of the past participle:
         
         a. Regular conjugation, group I  (the biggest group):
             Base form + -et (the same in all persons):
                      husk, lav = husket (remembered), lavet (made)
                      bo, vask  = boet (lived), vasket (washed)
         
         b. Regular conjugation, group II:
             Base form + -t (the same in all persons):
                      læs, spis = læst (read), spist (eaten)
                      køb, vis  = købt (bought), vist (showed)

Usage: It is used to form the compound tenses (present perfect and past perfect):
                      jeg har/havde købt en ny bil (I have/had bought a new car)
         
        The past participle can also be used as an adjective (and is inflected (see adjectives)): 
                      den spiste kage (the eaten cake)
                      en spist kage (an eaten cake)
         
        The past participle has a passive signification:
                      den spiste kage (= the cake that has been eaten)
         

2. Present participle

            The present participle is formed by adding -ende to the base form: 

            smilende (smil + -ende), gående (gå + -ende).

Usage:  It can be used like the English -ing form only after kommer/kom, blive/blev: 
                       han kom gående (he came walking)
                       hun blev stående (she kept standing)

Notice:  The English -ing form (progressive form) is constructed in another way in Danish:
                       the girl is smiling = pigen smiler, pigen sidder/står/ligger og smiler
                       (subject (the girl) + verbal (is smiling))

Notice:          pigen er smilende = the girl is a smiling girl
                       (subject (pigen) + verb (er) + subject complement (smilende)) 


              The present participle can also be used as an adjective 
              but it is not inflected: 
                      den smilende pige (the smiling girl) 
                      en smilende pige (a smiling girl)
                      et/det smilende barn (a/the smiling child) 
                      de smilende børn (the smiling children)


              The past participle has an active signification:  
                      den smilende pige (the girl that is smiling) 

INFINITIVE

        
       Infinitive is the form that is found in a dictionary and ends normally in -e.

       If infinitive does not end in -e then the infinitive and the base form are the same:

                       bo  (live, lives)
                       gå  (go, goes)
                       stå (stand, stands)

       
  
1. Infinitive without "at":

        a. together with auxiliary verbs:
                         jeg kan komme i morgen    (I can come tomorrow) 
                         jeg kan ikke komme          (I cannot come)
        
        b. accusative-infinitive after verbs of sensing:
                         jeg så ham komme            (I saw him come)
         


2. Infinitive together with "at":

        a. after a preposition:    han kom for at besøge mig (he came to see me)

        b. subject:                   at rejse er dyrt (travelling is expensive)

        c. predicate:                hans mål var at rejse (his goal was to travel)

        d. object:                     han ønskede at komme (he wanted to come)
         
         
         

SUBJUNCTIVE

        
            The subjunctive is not used in modern Danish but is stil used
            in some old sayings:

                 Gud velsigne Danmark  (God bless Denmark)
                 Gud være med dig         (God be with thou) 
         
         

PASSIVE VOICE

               
 General: The passive voice is formed in 2 ways. 
              Sometimes you may decide for yourself which one you want to use, 
              other times there is a sligh difference between the 2 forms and again 
              other times you can only use one of them.
 


1. s-passive:
         
            The present tense has -s (instead of -r in active form): sælges (active: sælger)

                               bogen sælges (the book is sold)

            The past tense adds -s to the active form: solgtes (active: solgte)
                               
                               bogen solgtes (the book was sold)


     
                   
2. blive-passive:
            
            The present tense: bliver + past participle:

                              bogen bliver solgt (the book is sold)

            The past tense: blev + past participle: 
  
                              bogen blev solgt (the book was sold))

ADVERBS

 
General: Adverbs can qualify different words:
         
             a. a verb:             hun synger smukt (she sings beautifully)
             b. an adjective:     han er meget stor (he is very big)
             c. another adverb:  hun synger ganske smukt (she sings quite beautifully)
             d. a sentence:      selvfřlgelig ville han komme (of course he would come)
         

Types:    There are more types of adverbs:
         
             a. adverbs made of an adjective + t:    smuk/smukt (beautiful/beautifully)
             b. true adverbs (can not be changed):  ikke/aldrig/kun (not/never/only)
             c. prepositions without a regimen:        han tog hatten pĺ (he took his hat on)
         


Comparison:  
         
              Some adverbs can be compared (irregular comparion):

              base form     comparative      superlative
              ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              godt            bedre             bedst (well/better/best)
              lćnge          lćngere          lćngst (long time/longer/longest)
              gerne           hellere              helst  (are not found in English)
         
              jeg vil gerne komme (I should like to come)
         
  
       
Two-form adverbs:
         
          Adverbs describing a direction have long and short forms:

                 ind/inde (in), ud/ude (out), op/oppe (up), ned/nede (down)
         

          1. Short forms describe a movement from one place to another:

                 han gĺr ind i haven      (he goes into the garden)
                                                   (German: er geht in den Garden)
                 han kravler op i trćet (he climbs up into the tree)
                                                  (er klettert auf den Baum)

                    
          2. Long forms describe a movement within the same place:

                 han gĺr inde i haven   (he walks inside the garden)
                                                  (German: er geht im Garden)
                 han er oppe i trćet    (he is up on the tree)
                                                  (German: er ist im Baum)
         
   
   

CONJUNCTIONS

         
         
        Conjunctions connect words, elements and clauses.
         
        1. Co-ordinating Conjunctions:  og/eller/men (and/or/but)

              drengen og pigen  (the boy and the girl)
         

        2. Subordinating Conjunctions:

           are always the first word in a subordinate clause:
             
           at (that)

              han sagde, at han var syg  (he said that he was ill)
         

           om (if/whether)

              jeg ved ikke, om han kommer  (I don't know if he will come)
         

           nĺr (when)

              present tense:                han kommer, nĺr han kan      (he comes when he can)
              future tense:                  jeg gĺr, nĺr det er tiden         (I shall go when it's time)
              past tense (every time): han spiste, nĺr han var sulten (he always ate when he was hungry)
         
           da (when)
              past tense (once):          han spiste, da han var sulten  (he ate when/because he was hungry) 
                  
 

IMPERATIVE

                 
                
             The imperative is always the base form of a verb:

             gĺ din vej!     (go away!)
             gĺ jeres vej!      (go away!)
             spis din mad! (eat your food!)
             sov godt!       (sleep well!)
         
       



 
 

FORMAL SUBJECTS

                        
         
         
        The first subject (det/der) in a clause always refers to the real subject
         
        1. "det" (it):

           a. When the real subject is an infinitive/phrase:

                   det er godt at vćre her (it is good to be here)


           b. When the real subject is a subordinate clause:

                   det er godt, at han kan gřre det (it is good that he can do so)

           c. As an impersonal subject:

                det regner/sner/blćser (it is raining/snowing/windy)

           d. when the complement is a noun, or possessive pronoun in plural::

                det er mine venner (they are my friends)
                det er ogsĺ dine     (they are also yours)

                but: de er store      (they are big) (the complement is an adjective)

           e. The personal pronoun can also be used if the complement is a noun in singular:

                det/han er min ven (it/he is my friend) 

         
        2. "der" (there):

           a. When referring to an adverbial (as in English):

                   der er 2 drenge her i huset (there are 2 boys in this house)


           b. When referring to an infinite amount (as in English):

                   der er mange folk her (there are many people here)


           c. As a subject in a passive clause:

                   der sĺs mange folk pĺ gaden (many people were seen in the street)
                   (=man sĺ mange folk pĺ gaden)

           d. expresions concerning distance (English "it"):

                   der er langt til America (it is a long way to America)
              
               
 

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