Danish Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Danish grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Danish and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Danish and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Danish.

Prepositions - Danish
and og
above over
under under
before før
after efter
in front of foran
behind bag
far from langt fra
near nær
in i
inside inde
outside udenfor
with med
without uden
about om
between mellem
but men
for for
from fra
to til

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Danish
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] jeg spiser uden kniv
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] hun bor i nærheden af ​​kirken
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] han er højere end hende
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] han kom med sin lille hund
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] kan du komme med mig?

Negation in Danish

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Danish
I understand you [affirmative form] jeg forstår dig
I don't understand you [negation + verb] jeg forstår dig ikke
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] dette er ikke det rigtige ord
don't leave me [imperative negation] forlad mig ikke
no problem [negation + noun] ikke noget problem

Negative Sentences - Danish
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] jeg taler ikke fransk
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] hun ikke besøge tyskland
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] han kan ikke se os
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] kan hun ikke spille skak?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] vi vil ikke komme sent

Questions in Danish

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Danish
how? hvordan?
what? hvad?
who? hvem?
why? hvorfor?
where? hvor?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Danish
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] hvor bor du?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] gør hun taler kinesisk?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] hvor meget koster det?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] kan jeg hjælpe dig?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] hvad er dit navn?

Adverbs in Danish

It's time to learn the adverbs in Danish. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Danish
now nu
yesterday i går
today i dag
tonight i aften
tomorrow i morgen
soon snart
quickly hurtigt
slowly langsomt
together sammen
very meget
almost næsten
always altid
usually sædvanligvis
sometimes undertiden
rarely sjældent
never aldrig

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Danish
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] forstår du mig nu?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] jeg har brug for hjælp med det samme
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] hun er meget intelligent
I will always love you [verb + adverb] jeg vil altid elske dig
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] kan vi lære tysk sammen?

Pronouns in Danish

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Danish. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Danish
I jeg
you du
he han
she hun
we vi
they de

Object Pronouns - Danish
me mig
you du
him ham
her hende
us os
them dem

Possessive Pronouns - Danish
my min
your deres
his hans
her hende
our vores
their deres

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Danish
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] jeg er din ven
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] du taler meget hurtigt
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] han har tre hunde
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] hun kan tale tysk
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] vi vil ikke komme sent
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] de købte mælk og brød

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Danish
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] kan du fortælle mig dit navn?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] jeg vil give dig penge
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] hun skrev ham et brev
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] de besøgte hende i går
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] kan hun hjælpe os?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] han gav dem mad

Possessive Pronouns - Danish
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] mit navn er maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] din bror bor her
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] hendes mor laver mad til os
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] hans hobby er at læse bøger
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] vores drøm er at besøge paris
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] deres hus er ikke langt herfra

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Danish
this is my house dette er mit hus
that restaurant is far restauranten ligger langt herfra
these apples are delicious disse æbler er lækre
those stars are shiny disse stjerner skinner

I hope you learned a lot about the Danish grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!