The indefinite adjective paradigm — sometimes called the strong paradigm — is the one you use with "a big car," "big cars," and after the verb to be. It has three shapes: a base form, a +t form, and a +e form. The skeleton is easy. What makes this page worth real attention is the spelling of the -t form: a handful of adjective endings refuse the -t, and one common sound change doubles a consonant before -e. Most textbooks list the skeleton and skip these details, which is exactly why learners keep getting them wrong. We will state them all, correctly.
The basic three-way pattern
| Form | When | Example |
|---|---|---|
| base (no ending) | common-gender singular | en stor bil |
| +t | neuter singular | et stort hus |
| +e | any plural | store biler / huse |
Det er en pæn kjole.
That's a pretty dress.
Det var et pænt forsøg.
That was a nice try.
De har to pæne børn.
They have two pretty/lovely children.
The same indefinite paradigm appears predicatively — after være (to be), blive (to become), virke (to seem). Even though the subject may be definite, a predicative adjective uses the indefinite endings, agreeing only in gender and number:
Bilen er stor.
The car is big. (common sg → base form)
Huset er stort.
The house is big. (neuter sg → -t)
Børnene er store nu.
The children are big now. (plural → -e)
The -t form: spelling rules that actually matter
For most adjectives, the neuter form is just "add -t." But several endings behave differently, and Danish learners get these wrong constantly because the rules are rarely spelled out. Here is the authoritative set.
Adjectives in -ig DO add -t
Despite a widespread myth to the contrary, adjectives ending in -ig take a perfectly normal -t in the neuter:
| Common sg. | Neuter sg. | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| billig (cheap) | billigt | billige |
| dejlig (lovely) | dejligt | dejlige |
| vigtig (important) | vigtigt | vigtige |
Det er et vigtigt spørgsmål.
That's an important question.
Vejret var dejligt i går.
The weather was lovely yesterday.
(The -t is silent in -igt, which is probably why the myth that it "isn't there" arose — but in writing it must be present.)
Adjectives already ending in -t don't double it
If the adjective already ends in -t, the neuter form is identical to the base — you do not write -tt:
| Common sg. | Neuter sg. | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| let (easy / light) | let | lette |
| sort (black) | sort | sorte |
Det var et let valg.
That was an easy choice.
Hun kørte i en sort bil, og han havde et sort jakkesæt på.
She drove a black car, and he was wearing a black suit.
Nationality/origin adjectives in -sk don't add -t
Adjectives of nationality or origin ending in -sk stay unchanged in the neuter (no -t):
| Common sg. | Neuter sg. | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| dansk (Danish) | dansk | danske |
| norsk (Norwegian) | norsk | norske |
Det er et dansk flag.
That's a Danish flag.
Vi så et norsk drama i fjernsynet.
We watched a Norwegian drama on TV.
(Some non-nationality -sk adjectives, like frisk "fresh," optionally take -t: et friskt brød is common. But the nationality ones — dansk, norsk, svensk, engelsk — do not.)
Unstressed -e adjectives are invariable
Adjectives that already end in an unstressed -e never inflect at all — no -t, no extra -e. The same form covers all genders, numbers, and definiteness:
| Adjective | All forms |
|---|---|
| moderne (modern) | moderne |
| ægte (genuine) | ægte |
| øde (deserted) | øde |
| stille (quiet) | stille |
De bor i et moderne hus på en øde ø.
They live in a modern house on a deserted island.
Det er ægte sølv.
It's genuine silver.
Past participles in -et don't add -t
Participles used as adjectives that end in -et keep that ending in the neuter — they do not add a second -t:
Et lukket vindue holder bedre på varmen.
A closed window keeps the heat in better.
Det var et velbygget hus.
It was a well-built house.
A few -d adjectives behave specially
A small group ending in -d are slightly irregular in the neuter. The two you will meet first:
- glad (happy) → neuter glad or gladt (both are accepted; glad is very common in speech)
- god (good) → neuter godt (the -d turns to -dt, pronounced like a t)
Det er et godt spørgsmål.
That's a good question.
Hun var i et rigtig godt humør i dag.
She was in a really good mood today.
Consonant doubling before -e (and the neuter)
A spelling rule that surprises English speakers: when an adjective ends in a stressed vowel + a single consonant, that consonant doubles before the -e of the plural and definite forms. This keeps the vowel short in writing. The neuter -t is added normally (no doubling), so you get a clean square:
| Common sg. | Neuter sg. | Plural / definite |
|---|---|---|
| grøn (green) | grønt | grønne |
| tynd (thin) | tyndt | tynde |
| smuk (beautiful) | smukt | smukke |
Hun havde en grøn kjole på, og han havde et grønt slips.
She wore a green dress, and he wore a green tie.
De grønne marker strakte sig så langt øjet rakte.
The green fields stretched as far as the eye could see.
Det er en smuk by, og folk siger, at de smukke gamle huse er fredede.
It's a beautiful city, and people say the beautiful old houses are protected.
(Note tynd: the base already ends in -d, so the neuter is tyndt and the plural is tynde — the -d is part of the stem, and the consonant that "doubles" in the plural is reflected as -de.)
The full square: two worked examples
Putting the basic pattern and the special cases together, here are two adjectives shown in every indefinite cell — a consonant-doubler and an -ig adjective:
| grøn (a doubler) | billig (an -ig word) | |
|---|---|---|
| en + common sg. | en grøn bil | en billig bil |
| et + neuter sg. | et grønt hus | et billigt hus |
| plural | grønne biler | billige biler |
Common mistakes
Forgetting the neuter -t. The most frequent error: leaving the adjective in its base form with an et-word.
❌ et stor hus
Incorrect — a neuter singular noun needs -t.
✅ et stort hus
a big house
Forgetting the plural -e. Plurals always take -e in the regular pattern.
❌ Vi købte to billig billetter.
Incorrect — plural adjectives take -e.
✅ Vi købte to billige billetter.
We bought two cheap tickets.
Adding -t to a nationality -sk adjective. Nationality words in -sk stay unchanged in the neuter.
❌ et dansket flag
Incorrect — nationality -sk adjectives don't add -t.
✅ et dansk flag
a Danish flag
Doubling the t of an adjective that already ends in -t. Words like let and sort keep one t in the neuter.
❌ et lett spørgsmål
Incorrect — an adjective already ending in -t doesn't double it.
✅ et let spørgsmål
an easy question
Inflecting an unstressed -e adjective. Words like moderne and ægte never change.
❌ et modernet køkken
Incorrect — -e adjectives are invariable; no -t.
✅ et moderne køkken
a modern kitchen
Key takeaways
- Indefinite paradigm: base (common sg) / -t (neuter sg) / -e (plural). It depends only on gender and number.
- -ig adjectives do take -t (silent, but written): vigtigt, dejligt, billigt.
- Resisting the -t: adjectives already in -t (let, sort), nationality -sk words (dansk, norsk), unstressed -e words (moderne, ægte), and -et participles (lukket).
- A stressed vowel + single consonant doubles before -e: grøn → grønne, smuk → smukke (neuter is the normal grønt, smukt).
- god is irregular: neuter godt.
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Danish Adjectives: An OverviewA1 — A map of Danish adjective agreement: the indefinite paradigm (base / +t / +e) and the definite -e form, all driven by gender, number, and definiteness — presented as two forms to choose between.
- Definite Adjective Agreement: The -e FormA2 — After any definite trigger — the free article den/det/de, a demonstrative, a possessive, or a genitive — a Danish attributive adjective always takes -e, regardless of gender or number.
- Irregular and Invariable AdjectivesB1 — Adjectives that break the regular agreement pattern in Danish — invariable types, irregular spellings, and the lille/små suppletion.
- Nationality and Origin AdjectivesA2 — How Danish builds nationality adjectives, language names, and the word for a person from a country — all lowercase, unlike English.
- Participles as AdjectivesB2 — How Danish participles work as adjectives — the invariable present participle in -ende versus the past participle, which agrees like a normal adjective.
- Grammatical Gender: En-words vs Et-wordsA1 — Danish has two genders — common (en-words) and neuter (et-words). Gender is mostly unpredictable, must be learned with each noun, and controls articles, definite suffixes, adjectives, and pronouns.