Danish grammar is either the study of the grammar of the Danish language, or the grammatical system itself of the Danish language. Danish is often described as having ten word classes: verbs, nouns, pronouns, numerals, adjectives, adverbs, articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.[1] The grammar is mostly suffixing. This article focuses on Standard Danish.
See main article: Gender in Danish and Swedish.
There are two grammatical genders in Danish: common and neuter. All nouns are mostly arbitrarily divided into these two classes. The singular indefinite article (a/an in English) is en for common-gender nouns and et for neuter nouns. They are often informally called n-words and t-words.
En dreng. A boy.
Et fængsel. A jail.
Unlike English, definite nouns in Danish are rendered by adding a suffix (i.e. not an article) to the indefinite form (unless qualified by an adjective; see below). The definite singular ending is -en for common-gender nouns and -et for neuter nouns.
Drengen. The boy.
Fængslet. The jail.
The plural noun suffixes are more complex. The following table shows the possible inflections of regular Danish nouns of both grammatical genders.
| Gender | Singular | Plural | Meaning | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |||
| Common | en bil en kvinde en dreng en sko | bilen kvinden drengen skoen | biler kvinder drenge sko | bilerne kvinderne drengene skoene | "car" "woman" "boy" "shoe" | |
| Neuter | et træ et æble et lyn et kammer | træet æblet lynet kammeret | træer æbler lyn kamre | træerne æblerne lynene kamrene | "tree" "apple" "flash of lightning" "chamber" | |
The most common plural ending is -er. Besides an extremely large number of other nouns, nearly all those that end with unstressed -e take it,[2] as does the vast majority of those that end with a monophthong other than -e.[3]
The zero plural ending is predominantly used with neuter nouns.[4]
The plural ending -e is used with:
In the singular definite, common-gender nouns always take the ending -en, while neuter nouns always take -et. Plural definite adds -ene to the indefinite if it has no suffix[10] or a borrowed suffix,[11] otherwise -ne (exception: mennesker "human beings, people" → menneske(r)ne).
Nouns that end in unstressed -e lose the -e when adding an ending: kvinde, kvind-en, kvind-er, kvind-erne "woman". Nouns that end in unstressed -er, -el, or -en lose or keep the e according to the rules below. When the loss of the e leads to a double consonant coming immediately before the stem-final r, l, or n, it is simplified (e.g. fætter, fæt_r-e "male first cousin"; seddel, sed_l-en, sed_l-er "(bank)note").
It is common for nouns to change during inflection in ways that aren't reflected in spelling. They can lose stød (e.g. hus pronounced as /[ˈhuːˀs]/, huset pronounced as /[ˈhuːˀsəð]/, huse pronounced as /[ˈhuːsə]/), add stød, or lengthen the root vowel (the last two possibilities are exemplified by bad pronounced as /[ˈpæð]/, badet pronounced as /[ˈpæːˀðð̩]/).
There are many nouns with irregular plurals. Here are some examples:
| Gender | Singular | Plural | Meaning | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |||
| Common | en mand en gås en tand en hånd en tå en bog en bonde en ko en drink en Oscar en jalapeno en risiko | manden gåsen tanden hånden tåen bogen bonden koen drinken Oscaren jalapenoen risikoen | mænd gæs tænder hænder tæer bøger bønder køer drinks Oscars jalapenos risici[14] | mændene gæssene tænderne hænderne tæerne bøgerne bønderne køerne drinksene Oscarene jalapenoerne risiciene[15] | "man" "goose" "tooth" "hand" "toe" "book" "farmer" "cow" "drink" "Academy Award" "jalapeño" "risk" | |
| Neuter | et barn et bræt et onomato- poietikon | barnet brættet onomato- poietikonet | børn brædder onomato- poietika | børnene brædderne onomato- poietikaene | "child" "board" "onomato- poietic" | |
Most either have vowel change with or without a suffix, or are foreign words using their native plurals.
If a noun is preceded by a number composed of more than one distinct part, the last part determines the grammatical number. 1001 Nat (literally "1001 Night") and to en halv time (literally "two and a half hour") use singular nouns, whereas English would use "nights" and "hours".
There are no case declensions in Danish nouns (unlike the pronouns). Nouns are inflected only for possession which is expressed with a possessive enclitic, for example min fars hus, "my father's house", where the noun far carries the possessive enclitic. As in English, but unlike in case-inflected languages such as German, this enclitic -s is not a marker of a genitive case; a case inflection only modifies a single noun (and any adjectives in agreement with it), but in longer noun phrases the possessive enclitic attaches to the last word in the phrase, which need not be the head-noun or even a noun at all. For example, the phrases kongen af Danmark's bolsjefabrik, "the king of Denmark's candy factory", or det er pigen Uffe bor sammen meds datter "that is the girl Uffe lives with's daughter", where the enclitic attaches to a stranded preposition.
When the noun can be considered part of the possessor noun physically (a part-whole relation), the possessive is often replaced by a prepositional phrase, e.g. låget på spanden "the lid on the bucket", bagsiden af huset "the back of the house" rather than spandens låg, husets bagside, which are not incorrect but more formal, and less informative.
Older case forms exist as relics in phrases like i live "alive" (liv = "life"), på tide "about time" (tid = "time"), på fode "on his foot" (fod = "foot"). Similarly, the genitive is used in certain fossilised prepositional phrases (with til "to"): til fods "on foot", til vands/søs "by water/sea", gå til hånde "assist" (hånde being an old genitive plural of hånd "hand", now replaced by hænder). (Compare "thereof" in English, the possessive case of "there", which survives only in fossilised semi-archaic or legal phrases like "or part thereof").
Danish has indefinite and definite articles (Danish: kendeord) functioning as determinatives. The indefinite article is placed before a noun and takes the forms Danish: en (common gender) and Danish: et (neuter) depending on the noun. These forms are identical (in writing) to the numeral meaning one. Definiteness is only marked with an article placed before the noun when the noun has other preceding modifiers (e.g. adjectives), and the definite article then has the forms Danish: den (common), Danish: det (neuter) and Danish: de (plural). When lacking preceding modifiers, nouns are marked as definite with the definite suffixes Danish: -en (common), Danish: -et (neuter), Danish: -(e)ne (plural).[1]
| Indefinite | No article | Definite article | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suffix | Article | ||||
| Common | en hund en stor hund | Lones hund Lones store hund | hunden | den store hund | |
| Neuter | et hus et stort hus | Peters hus Peters store hus | huset | det store hus | |
| Plural | hunde store hunde huse store huse | Lones hunde Lones store hunde Peters huse Peters store huse | hundene husene | de store hunde de store huse | |
The personal pronouns in Danish has three cases: nominative, oblique (accusative and dative), and possessive (or genitive). The nominative form is used when the pronoun is used as an unmodified subject,[16] while the oblique form is used anywhere else: as direct and indirect object of verbs, prepositional complement, subject predicate, part of coordinated subject, or with following modifiers (such as Danish: der 'there' and prepositional phrases).
| Possessive | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | Neuter | Plural | |||||
| Singular | |||||||
| First person | jeg I | mig me | min my/mine | mit | mine | I | |
| Second person | informal1) | du (thou) | dig (thee) | din (thy/thine) | dit | dine | you |
| polite1) | De | Dem | Deres | ||||
| Third person (personal) | masculine | han he | ham him | hans his | he | ||
| feminine | hun she | hende her | hendes her(s) | she | |||
| Third person (inanimate) | common | den | den | dens | they, it | ||
| neuter | det it | det it | dets its | ||||
| Reflexive2) | – | sig | sin | sit | sine | him, her, it | |
| Plural | |||||||
| First person | vi we | os us | vor3) | vort3) | vore3) | we | |
| vores our(s) | |||||||
| Second person | informal1) | I (ye) | jer you | jeres your(s) | you (all) | ||
| polite1) | De | Dem | Deres | ||||
| Third person | de they | dem them | deres their(s) | they | |||
| Reflexive2) | – | sig | deres | ||||
1) Since the 1970s, the polite form De (cf. German Sie) is no longer the normal form of addressing adult strangers. It is only used in formal letters or when addressing the royal family. It is sometimes used by shop assistants and waiters to flatter their customers. As a general rule, one can use du almost in every situation without offending anyone.
2) The reflexive pronoun is used when the object or possessive is identical to the grammatical subject of the sentence: Han kyssede sin kone "He kissed his (own) wife" ~ Han kyssede hans kone "he kissed his (somebody else's) wife". It is also used when referring to the subject of an infinite nexus, e.g. an accusative with infinitive: Rødhætte bad jægeren hilse sin kone "Little Red Riding Hood asked the hunter to greet his wife", where sin refers to the hunter. This difference is often not observed by Jutlandic speakers.
3) Vores is the only form normally used in current spoken language; vor, vort and vore are more archaic, and perceived as formal or solemn.
Danish also has the generic pronoun Danish: man 'one, you'; Danish: én is often used as its oblique form. The second person singular pronoun Danish: du 'you' can also be used with generic reference.[17]
In contemporary Danish, the verb has up to nine distinct forms, as shown in the chart below.
| Non-finite forms | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active forms | Passive forms | ||||
| (at) vente | to wait/expect | (at) ventes, (at) blive ventet | to be expected | ||
| venten | a waiting | ||||
| ventende | waiting/expecting | ||||
| (har) ventet | have waited/expected | (var) ventet | was expected | ||
| Finite forms | |||||
| venter | wait(s)/expect(s) | ventes, bliver ventet | am/is/are expected | ||
| ventede | waited/expected | ventedes, blev ventet | was/were expected | ||
| vent | wait/expect | bliv ventet | be expected | ||
Verbs do not vary according to person or number: jeg venter, du venter, han, hun, den, det venter, vi venter, I venter, de venter. However, until the beginning of the twentieth century, it was normal to inflect the present tense in number in educated prose. There existed also a special plural form in the imperative. These forms are not used anymore, but can be found in older prose:
| strong verbs | |||||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||||
| Present | venter | vente | wait(s) | tager | tage | take(s) | |
| Past | ventede | ventede | waited | tog | toge | took | |
| Imperative | vent! | venter! | wait | tag! | tager! | take | |
For example, Søger, saa skulle I finde "Seek, and ye shall find" (Matthew 7:7); in the 1992 translation Søg, så skal I finde.
Like in other Germanic languages, the conjugation of verb tenses is divided into two groups: The first group, the so-called weak verbs, indicates the past tense by adding the suffixes -ede or -te. The second, called strong verbs, forms the past tense with a zero ending and, in most cases, certain vowel changes.
The future tense is formed with the modal verbs vil or skal and the infinitive, e.g. tror du, det vil regne, "do you think it's going to rain", vi skal nok komme igen i morgen, "we'll come again tomorrow". Often the present tense is also used as future, only with the addition of a time specification i morgen køber han en bil, "tomorrow he'll buy a car".
In the perfect, the word har ("have, has") is placed before the past participle: han har købt en bil, "he has bought a car". In certain words implying a movement, however, er ("am, are, is") is used instead: han er gået sin vej, "he has gone" (like German er ist gegangen or French il est allé). In such cases har is used for the activity, while er is used if the result is what is interesting. Han har rejst meget, "he has traveled a lot". Han er rejst, "he is gone", he is not here anymore.
Similarly, the pluperfect is formed with havde or var: han havde købt en bil, han var gået sin vej. NB?. The perfect is used in many cases where English would have a simple preterite.
In Danish, there are two finite moods, indicative and imperative. Depending on interpretation, there may also be an optative.
In short, Danish morphology offers very little in moods. Just like English, Danish depends on tense and modals to express moods.
Example: Where a language with an explicit subjunctive mood (such as German, Spanish, or Icelandic) would use that mood in hypothetical statements, Danish uses a strategy similar to that of English. Compare:
a. Real, or at least possibly real, situation in present time: Hvis Peter køber kage, laver Anne kaffe. "If Peter buys [some] cake, Anne makes coffee." Here, the present indicative is used.
b. Real, or at least possibly real, situation in past time: Hvis Peter købte kage, lavede Anne kaffe. "If Peter bought [some] cake, Anne made coffee." Here, the past indicative is used.
c. Unreal situation in present time: Hvis Peter købte kage, lavede Anne kaffe. "If Peter bought [some] cake, Anne made coffee." (Implying: But Peter doesn't actually buy any cake, so Anne doesn't make coffee—making the whole statement hypothetical.) Here, the past indicative is used.
d1. Unreal situation in past time: Hvis Peter havde købt kage, havde Anne lavet kaffe. "If Peter had bought [some] cake, Anne had made coffee." (Implying that Peter didn't actually buy any cake and so Anne didn't make coffee—making the whole statement hypothetical.) Here, the pluperfect indicative is used.
A language with a full subjunctive mood, the way it typically works in Indo-European languages, would translate cases a. and b. with indicative forms of the verb, and case c. and d. with subjunctive forms. In the hypothetical cases (c. and d.), Danish and English create distance from reality by "moving the tense one step back". Although these sentences do work, however, it would be normal in Danish as well as in English, to further stress the irreality by adding a modal. So that, instead of either example c. or d1, Danish and English would add "ville/would" in the main sentence, creating what may be considered a periphrastic subjunctive:
d2. Unreal situation in past time: Hvis Peter havde købt kage, ville Anne have lavet kaffe. "If Peter had bought [some] cake, Anne would have made coffee."
(As will be seen from the examples, Danish, unlike English, switches from the normal subject-auxiliary(or, by default verb) word order to auxiliary(or, by default, verb)-subject when a main clause follows a subordinate clause, but that's always the case and has nothing to do with the mood of the sentence. See V2 word order.)
Like the other Scandinavian languages, Danish has a special inflection for the passive voice with the suffix -s, which is historically a reduced enclitic form of the reflexive pronoun sig ("himself, herself, itself, themselves"), e.g. han kalder sig "he calls himself" > han kaldes "he is called".
Danish has a competing periphrastic form of the passive formed with the verb blive ("to remain, to become").
In addition to the proper passive constructions, the passive also denotes:
In the preterite, the periphrastic form is preferred in non-formal speech except in reciprocal and impersonal passives: de sås ofte "they often saw each other", der fandtes en lov imod det "there was a law against it" (but real passive: de blev set af politiet "they were seen by the police", der blev fundet en bombe "a bomb was found").
The s-form of the verb can also imply habitual or repetitive action, e.g. bilen vaskes "the car is washed" (regularly) vs. bilen bliver vasket "the car is (being) washed" (right now, soon, next week, etc.)
The s-passive of the perfect participle is regular in Swedish both in the real passive and in other functions, e.g. vårt företag har funnits sedan 1955 "our company has existed since 1955", bilen har setts ute på Stockholms gator "the car has been seen in the streets of S." In Danish, the real passive has only periphrastic forms in the perfect: bilen er blevet set ude på Stockholms gader. In the lexicalised and reciprocal passives, on the other hand, we find a combination of the verb have and the s-passive preterite: e.g. mødtes "have met", har fandtes "have existed" etc. (but strangely enough, the irregular har set(e)s "have seen each other" is much more common than har sås, which is considered substandard).
The present participle is used to a much lesser extent than in English. Where English often uses non-finite clauses, Danish instead uses subordinate or coordinate clauses with a finite verb, e.g. eftersom han var konge, var det ham, der måtte bestemme, "Being the king, he had the last word". The present participle is used in two circumstances:
If the present participle carries an object or an adverb, the two words are normally treated as a compound orthographically and prosodically: et menneskeædende uhyre, "a man-eating monster", en hurtig(t)løbende bold, "a fast(-going) ball", fodbold- og kvindeelskende mænd, "men loving football and women".
The past participle is used primarily in the periphrastic constructions of the passive (with blive) and the perfect (with være). It is often used in non-finite constructions in so-called "free predicatives":[18] Således oplyst(e) kan vi skride til afstemning, "Now being informed, we can take a vote", han tog, opfyldt af had til tyrannen, ivrig del i forberedelserne til revolutionen, "filled with hatred of the tyrant, he participated eagerly in the preparations for the revolution".
The past participle of the weak verbs has the ending -et or -t. The past participle of the strong verbs originally had the ending -en, neuter -et, but the common form is now restricted to the use as an adjective (e.g. en bunden opgave), and it has not been preserved in all verbs. When it is combined with er and har to form passive and perfect constructions, the neuter form, which happens to be identical to the ending of the weak verbs, is used. In the Jutlandic dialects, -en is frequently used in such constructions.
As to the voice of the past participle, it is passive if the verb is transitive, and active if it is intransitive.
The infinitive may be defined as a verb form that is equivalent to a noun syntactically. The Danish infinitive may be used as the subject or object of a verb like in English: at rejse er at leve "to travel is to live", jeg elsker at spise kartofler "I love to eat potatoes". Furthermore, the Danish infinitive may also be governed by a preposition (where English normally has the gerund): han tog livet af sig ved at springe ud af et vindue "he killed himself by jumping out of a window".
The infinitive normally has the marker at, pronounced pronounced as /ɑd̥/ or in normal speech pronounced as /ʌ/, thereby being homonymous with the conjunction og "and", with which it is sometimes confused in spelling. The bare infinitive is used after the modal verbs kunne, ville, skulle, måtte, turde, burde.
A rarer form is the verbal noun with the ending -en (not to be confused with the definite article) which is used when the infinitive carries a pronoun, an indefinite article or an adjective: hans evindelige skrigen var enerverende, "his never-ending crying was tedious", der var en løben og råben på gangene, "people ran and cried in the hall". This use has a connotation of something habitual and is often used in a negative sense. It is used in formal information like Henstillen af cykler forbudt, "It is prohibited to leave your bike here." Whereas the infinitive is accompanied with adjectives in the neuter (det er svært at flyve, "it is difficult to fly"), the verbal noun governs the common gender. Due to the rarity of this form, Danes often mistakenly write Henstilling af cykler forbudt (lit. "Recommendation of bikes prohibited") instead, using a more familiar word form.
Verbal nouns like viden "knowledge" (literally: "knowing") or kunnen "ability" (literally: "being able") have become lexicalised due to the influence of German (Wissen, Können). Like the proper verbal noun, these forms have no plural, and they cannot carry the definite article; so, when English has the knowledge, Danish must use a pronoun or a circumlocution: e.g. hans viden, denne viden, den viden man havde.
Danish has various suffixes for turning a verb into a real noun:
The Danish numbers are:
| Number | Cardinal numbers | Ordinal numbers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spelling | Pronunciation | Spelling | Pronunciation | ||
| 0 | nul | pronounced as /[ˈnɔl]/ | nulte | pronounced as /[ˈnɔld̥ə]/ | |
| 1 | en : et | pronounced as /[ˈeːˀn]/ : pronounced as /[ed̥]/ | første | pronounced as /[ˈfɶ(ɐ̯)sd̥ə]/ | |
| 2 | to | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀ]/ | anden : andet | pronounced as /[ˈann̩]/ : pronounced as /[ˈanəð̞]/ | |
| 3 | tre | pronounced as /[ˈtˢʁ̥æːˀ]/ | tredje | pronounced as /[ˈtˢʁ̥að̞jə]/ | |
| 4 | fire | pronounced as /[ˈfiːɐ]/ | fjerde | pronounced as /[ˈfjɛːɐ]/ or pronounced as /[ˈfjeːɐ]/ | |
| 5 | fem | pronounced as /[ˈfɛmˀ]/ (also pronounced as /[ˈfœmˀ]/ in younger speech) | femte | pronounced as /[ˈfɛmd̥ə]/ | |
| 6 | seks | pronounced as /[ˈsɛɡ̊s]/ | sjette | pronounced as /[ˈɕɛːd̥ə]/ | |
| 7 | syv | pronounced as /[ˈsyʊ̯ˀ]/ | syvende | pronounced as /[ˈsyʊ̯ˀnə]/ | |
| 8 | otte | pronounced as /[ˈɔːd̥ə]/ | ottende | pronounced as /[ˈʌd̥nə]/ | |
| 9 | ni | pronounced as /[ˈniːˀ]/ | niende | pronounced as /[ˈniːˀnə]/ | |
| 10 | ti | pronounced as /[ˈtˢiːˀ]/ | tiende | pronounced as /[ˈtˢiːˀnə]/ | |
| 11 | elleve | pronounced as /[ˈɛlʋə]/ | ellevte | pronounced as /[ˈɛlfd̥ə]/ | |
| 12 | tolv | pronounced as /[ˈtˢʌlˀ]/ | tolvte | pronounced as /[ˈtˢʌld̥ə]/ | |
| 13 | tretten | pronounced as /[ˈtˢʁ̥ɑd̥n̩]/ | trettende | pronounced as /[ˈtˢʁ̥ɑd̥nə]/ | |
| 14 | fjorten | pronounced as /[ˈfjoɐ̯d̥n̩]/ | fjortende | pronounced as /[ˈfjoɐ̯d̥nə]/ | |
| 15 | femten | pronounced as /[ˈfɛmd̥n̩]/ | femtende | pronounced as /[ˈfɛmd̥nə]/ | |
| 16 | seksten | pronounced as /[ˈsɑjsd̥n̩]/ | sekstende | pronounced as /[ˈsɑjs(d̥)nə]/ | |
| 17 | sytten | pronounced as /[ˈsød̥n̩]/ | syttende | pronounced as /[ˈsød̥nə]/ | |
| 18 | atten | pronounced as /[ˈad̥n̩]/ | attende | pronounced as /[ˈad̥nə]/ | |
| 19 | nitten | pronounced as /[ˈned̥n̩]/ | nittende | pronounced as /[ˈned̥nə]/ | |
| 20 | tyve | pronounced as /[ˈtˢyːʊ]/ | tyvende | pronounced as /[ˈtˢy(ː)ʊ̯nə]/ | |
| 21 | enogtyve | pronounced as /[ˈeːˀnɐˌtˢyːʊ]/ | enogtyvende | pronounced as /[ˈeːˀnɐˌtˢy(ː)ʊ̯nə]/ | |
| 22 | toogtyve | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀɐˌtˢyːʊ]/ | toogtyvende | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀɐˌtˢy(ː)ʊ̯nə]/ | |
| 30 | tredive | pronounced as /[ˈtˢʁ̥ɑð̞ʋə]/ | tredivte | pronounced as /[ˈtˢʁ̥ɑð̞fd̥ə]/ | |
| 40 | fyrre (arch. fyrretyve) | pronounced as /[ˈfɶːɐ]/ (pronounced as /[ˈfɶːɐˌtˢyːʊ]/) | fyrretyvende | pronounced as /[ˈfɶːɐˌtˢyːʊ̯nə]/ | |
| 50 | halvtreds (arch. halvtredsindstyve) | pronounced as /[halˈtˢʁ̥as]/ (pronounced as /[halˈtˢʁ̥asn̩sˌtˢyːʊ]/) | halvtredsindstyvende | pronounced as /[halˈtˢʁ̥asn̩sˌtˢy(ː)ʊ̯nə]/ | |
| 60 | tres (arch. tresindstyve) | pronounced as /[ˈtˢʁ̥as]/ (pronounced as /[ˈtˢʁ̥asn̩sˌtˢyːʊ]/) | tresindstyvende | pronounced as /[ˈtˢʁ̥asn̩sˌtˢy(ː)ʊ̯nə]/ | |
| 70 | halvfjerds (arch. halvfjerdsindstyve) | pronounced as /[halˈfjæɐ̯s]/ (pronounced as /[halˈfjæɐ̯sn̩sˌtˢyːʊ]/) | halvfjerdsindstyvende | pronounced as /[halˈfjæɐ̯sn̩sˌtˢy(ː)ʊ̯nə]/ | |
| 80 | firs (arch. firsindstyve) | pronounced as /[ˈfiɐ̯ˀs]/ (pronounced as /[ˈfiɐ̯ˀsn̩sˌtˢyːʊ]/) | firsindstyvende | pronounced as /[ˈfiɐ̯ˀsn̩sˌtˢy(ː)ʊ̯nə]/ | |
| 90 | halvfems (arch. halvfemsindstyve) | pronounced as /[halˈfɛmˀs]/ (pronounced as /[halˈfɛmˀsn̩sˌtˢyːʊ]/) | halvfemsindstyvende | pronounced as /[halˈfɛmˀsn̩sˌtˢy(ː)ʊ̯nə]/ | |
| 100 | hundred(e), et hundred(e) | pronounced as /[(ˈed̥) ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̞(ð̞̩)]/ | hundrede, et hundrede | pronounced as /[(ˈed̥) ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̞(ð̞̩)]/ | |
| 101 | (et) hundred(e) (og) en | pronounced as /[(ˈed̥) ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̞ (ɐ) ˈeːˀn]/ | (et) hundred(e) (og) første | pronounced as /[(ˈed̥) ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̞ (ɐ) ˈfɶ(ɐ̯)sd̥ə]/ | |
| 200 | to hundred(e) | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀ ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̞(ð̞̩)]/ | to hundrede | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀ ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̞(ð̞̩)]/ | |
| 1,000 | tusind, et tusind | pronounced as /[(ˈed̥) ˈtˢuːˀsn̩]/ | tusinde, et tusinde | pronounced as /[(ˈed̥) ˈtˢuːˀsnə]/ | |
| 1,100 | et tusind et hundred(e), elleve hundred(e) | pronounced as /[ˈed̥ ˈtˢuːˀsn̩ ˈed̥ ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̞(ð̞̩), ˈɛlʋə ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̞(ð̞̩)]/ | et tusind et hundrede, elleve hundrede | pronounced as /[ˈtˢuːˀsnə ˈed̥ ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̞(ð̞̩), ˈɛlʋə ˈhun(ʁ)ɐð̞(ð̞̩)]/ | |
| 2,000 | to tusind | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀ ˈtˢuːˀsn̩]/ | to tusinde | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀ ˈtˢuːˀsnə]/ | |
| 1,000,000 | en million, en million | pronounced as /[ˈeːˀn mil(i)ˈjoːˀn]/ | millonte | pronounced as /[mil(i)ˈjoːˀnd̥ə]/ | |
| 2,000,000 | to millioner | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀ mil(i)ˈjoːˀnɐ]/ | to millonte | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀ mil(i)ˈjoːˀnd̥ə]/ | |
| 1,000,000,000 | en milliard | pronounced as /[ˈeːˀn mil(i)ˈjɑːˀd̥]/ | milliardte | pronounced as /[mil(i)ˈjɑːˀd̥ə]/ | |
| 2,000,000,000 | to milliarder | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀ mil(i)ˈjɑːˀd̥ɐ]/ | to milliardte | pronounced as /[ˈtˢoːˀ mil(i)ˈjɑːˀd̥ə]/ | |
Counting above forty is in part based on a base 20 number system, called vigesimal: halvtred-s(inds-tyve) = 2 x 20, tre-s(inds-tyve) = 3 x 20, halvfjerd-s(inds-tyve) = 3 x 20, fir-s(inds-tyve) = 4 x 20, halvfem-s(inds-tyve) = 4 x 20 (halvtredje, halvfjerde and halvfemte (lit. "halfthird", "halffourth" and halffifth") being old words for 2, 3 and 4). This is unlike Swedish and Norwegian, both of which use a decimal system.
The word fyrre / fyrretyve = "40" does not belong to the vigesimal system. The optional second part of the word is not the number tyve, "20", but an old plural of ti, "ten" (like in English forty, German vierzig); the first part is a variant of the number fire, "four". Similarly, tredive is a compound of tre, "three", and a weakened form of the old plural of ti, "ten".
Vigesimal systems are known in several European languages: French, Breton, Welsh, Albanian, and Basque. Some scholars speculate that the system belongs to an "Old European" (i.e. pre-Indo-European) substratum, whereas others argue that the system is a recent innovation of the Middle Ages. See Vigesimal.
The ones are placed before the tens with an intervening og ("and"): toogfyrre (42), seksoghalvfjers (76). The ones and the tens are placed after the hundreds with an optional og: to hundred (og) femoghalvfjers. This system is similar to that of German and Dutch (zweiundvierzig, zweihundertfünfundsiebzig), but unlike that of Swedish (fyrtiotvå, tvåhundrasjuttiofem).
There are three forms of the adjective in Danish:
en billig bog, "a cheap book"; en stor dreng, "a big boy"
et billigt tæppe, "a cheap carpet"; et stort hus, "a big house"
han bor billigt, "he has a low rent (lit. lives cheaply)"
den billige bog, "the cheap book"; hans store hus, "his big house"
billige bøger, "cheap books"; store huse, "big houses"
Only words ending in a consonant take -e. Only words ending in a consonant or the vowels -i or -å take -t. Others are unchanged.
The adjective must agree with the word that it qualifies in both gender and number. This rule also applies when the adjective is used predicatively: huset er stort, "the house is big", or bøgerne er billige, "the books are cheap".
An exception to the rule of agreement are the superlative and, in regular prose, the past participle when used in the verbal meaning (e.g. børnene er sluppet løs, "the children have been let out", but børnene er løsslupne, "the children are unrestrained").
The definite e-form is historically identical to the so-called weak declension of the Germanic adjective, cf. German ein großes Haus, "a big house" ~ das große Haus, "the big house". But whereas the German definite form is not used after a genitive (Peters großes Haus), or following the bare forms of the possessive and indefinite pronouns (mein, kein großes Haus) – but conversely is used after the indefinite pronoun in the forms that have an ending (meinem, keinem großen Haus = dem großen Haus) – the Danish definite form is used in all instances after any determiner save the indefinite article:
| Singular | Plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite form | Definite form | Indefinite form | Definite form | |
| en stor bog bogen er stor | Lones store bog hendes store bog min store bog den store bog | store bøger bøgerne er store | Lones store bøger hendes store bøger mine store bøger de store bøger | |
| et stort hus huset er stort | Peters store hus hans store hus mit store hus det store hus | store huse husene er store | Peters store huse hans store huse mine store huse de store huse | |
| basic form t-form | e-form | |||
The Danish adjectives and adverbs are inflected according to three degrees of comparison. The comparative has the ending -ere (sometimes -re) and the superlative has the ending -st (sometimes -est): e.g. hurtig, hurtigere, hurtigst, "quick, -er, -est"; fræk, frækkere, frækkest, "impertinent/audacious/kinky, -er, -est"; lang, længere, længst (with umlaut), "long, -er, -est". The choice between -st and -est is determined by the syllable structure (to avoid uncomfortable consonant clusters), whereas the variant -re is used only in a few frequent comparatives.
In many cases, especially in longer words and words of a Latin or Greek origin, the comparative and superlative are formed with the adverbs mere and mest instead: e.g. intelligent, mere intelligent, mest intelligent.
The comparative is inflexible, and it is not used with the definite article (in which case Danish uses the superlative instead). The conjunction of comparison is end, "than".
The superlative is inflected like the positive (the t-form being identical to the n-form); længst, længste. When used as a predicate, the basic form is used instead of the e-form: hans ben er længst "his legs are the longest". And since a superlative used attributively must necessarily modify something definite, the e-form is always used there: den vredeste killing er vredest "the angriest kitty is angriest".
The inflection of some adjectives is irregular:
Danish has a number of interjections. Emotive interjections include Danish: av 'ow' among others. Response tokens include Danish: ja and Danish: nej 'yes' and 'no', and Danish: nå (approx. 'oh'), Danish: [[OK|okay]] and Danish: mm.[19] When responding to polar questions, Danish: ja and Danish: nej are sensitive to the presence of a negation (Danish: ikke 'not', Danish: ingen 'nobody' or Danish: aldrig 'never') in the question, so that Danish: nej confirms a negated statement, and Danish: jo, an alternate form of Danish: ja is used to disconfirm a negated statement.[20] They can be used in various combinations with other words (including other response tokens).
Danish is a V2-language, meaning that the finite verb can usually be found in second position in a main clause. [21] [22]
The basic sentence structure is Subject-Verb-Object. Paul Diderichsen developed a model of the Danish sentences with different slots to be filled.
According to Diderichsen's model, main clauses have the following structure:
| F | v | n | a | V | N | A | |
| Alligevel | kunne | de | godt | foretage | undersøgelsen | hvert år. | |
| nonetheless | could | they | well | perform | examination-the | every year |
| F | v | n | a | V | N | A | |
| Jens | bought | a car | yesterday. |
Every slot of the model can be filled by specific constituents.
The F-position can be filled by a nominal as subject or object, adverbials or non-finite verbs, i.e. by most phrases that can form constituents.
As Danish is a V2-language, the second position (v) is always filled with the finite verb.
If the subject was not in the F-position, it can be found in the n-position, other nominals are also possible.
The a-position contains clausal adverbials, e.g. negation and may contain more than one element.
Non-finite verbs or particles or both can be found in the V-position.
The N-position is filled by nominals which can function as objects, in case of ditransitive verbs there can be two objects here, complements or the real subject if there is a dummy subject der in F-position.
The A-position contains other adverbials, which are called content adverbials.
The N-position and A-position can also be seen as sequences of positions as they can be filled by more than one constituent and because there is an internal order to these constituents, e.g. that direct objects usually follow indirect objects in the N-position.
The F-position of main clauses can be filled by a variety of constituents. When this happens, the subject is moved to the n-position. Most frequently, adverbial expressions of time and place are moved to the F-position.
This movement is performed to mark the fronted constituent pragmatically, both constituents with high and low pragmatic prominence can be fronted. So you can find information already known from the pretext in this position as well as new information. To express contrast, the element in F-position is stressed. Focused elements are usually not found in the F-position with the exception of wh-words in wh-questions.
Below you can see the model for the structure of subordinate clauses:
| k | n | a | v | V | N | A | |
| om | han | ikke | havde | spist | middag | med Niels. | |
| that | he | not | had | eaten | dinner | with Niels. |
The subject of the clause follows in the n-position. This position needs to be filled in every subordinate clause.
In difference to main clauses, clausal adverbials precede the finite verb in subordinate clauses.
Danish has a number of question types. Polar interrogatives have interrogative word order (i.e. an unfilled foundation field), while content questions have a question word (Danish: HV-ord 'wh-word') in the foundation field. Declarative questions and in situ questions also exist.
Besides using the imperative form of the verb, the imperative sentence type is characterized by not having a subject. However, it is possible to have it, always placed after the verb.