Degree Adverbs: Meget, For, Så, Ret

Degree adverbs are the dial you turn to make an adjective stronger or weaker: dyrt (expensive) becomes meget dyrt (very expensive), ret dyrt (rather expensive), or for dyrt (too expensive). Danish has a rich set of these intensifiers, and most of them slot in neatly before the adjective just as in English. But one of them — for — is a notorious false friend that means too, not for, and getting it wrong reverses the meaning of your sentence. This page maps the whole set and flags exactly where English intuition leads you astray.

The basic position: before the adjective

A Danish degree adverb sits immediately in front of the word it scales — almost always an adjective or another adverb. The pattern is the same as English very tired, too cold, quite good.

Here meget scales the adjective lang, and utrolig scales the adverb hurtigt. You will not normally put anything between the degree adverb and its target.

Meget — very (and much)

Meget is the default all-purpose intensifier, equivalent to English very before an adjective or adverb.

But meget has a second life that English keeps separate. When it scales a verb or a noun quantity, it means much / a lot, where English switches words.

So the single Danish word meget covers both English very (with adjectives) and much / a lot (with verbs and quantities). English speakers rarely produce very where they need much, but they do sometimes try to wedge meget into a verb phrase in the wrong slot — see Common Mistakes.

For — TOO, not "for"

This is the single most important word on the page. Danish for before an adjective means too (excessively), as in too expensive, too late, too small. It does not mean English for.

An English reader who sees for dyr and parses it as "for expensive" gets nonsense; the correct reading is "too expensive." The excess meaning is built in: for always implies "more than is acceptable / desirable." (The preposition for, meaning English for, exists too — en gave for dig would actually be en gave til dig — but as a degree adverb in front of an adjective, for is unambiguously "too.")

To pile it on, Danish stacks alt for = far too / way too.

Så — so

Så before an adjective or adverb means so, expressing a high degree, often with an emotional or exclamatory flavour.

Så is extremely common in spoken Danish as an emphatic intensifier (informal), much like English so in that's so nice. Note that så is a hard-working little word with several other jobs (it also means then and that; see adverbs/overview) — but in front of an adjective it is the degree word so.

Ret and temmelig — rather / quite / fairly

Ret and temmelig both land in the middle of the scale: rather, fairly, quite — more than "a bit," less than "very."

Ret is the everyday, conversational choice (informal-to-neutral); temmelig is a touch more formal and is common in writing. A useful nuance: ret often carries a mildly positive surprise ("actually quite good"), while temmelig is more neutrally measuring.

Helt — completely / quite (all the way)

Helt means completely / entirely / all the way — it pushes an adjective to its full extent.

In casual speech helt can also soften into English quite / totally as a filler intensifier (det er helt vildt = "that's totally insane," informal). With an absolute adjective like tom (empty) or færdig (finished), helt is the natural partner because such adjectives describe an end-state that you reach fully.

Lidt and næsten — a little / almost

At the low end, lidt means a little / slightly, dialing an adjective down.

Næsten means almost / nearly — it says you have not quite reached the full degree.

Virkelig — really

Virkelig means really / truly and works as an emphatic intensifier, often signalling sincerity.

Note the orthography: virkelig with k, and the spelling has no special letters — but be careful, it is easy to under-pronounce; it is written in full even though it sounds compressed.

Quick reference

Common Mistakes

1. Reading for as English "for." This reverses the meaning of the whole sentence.

2. Using også ('also') when you mean too (excessively). English too is two different words in Danish.

3. Using meget to intensify a verb in the adjective slot. With a verb, meget means "a lot" and goes after the verb, not before it like English very.

4. Translating very much literally as meget meget. Danish does not double up; use rigtig meget or virkelig meget.

5. Putting the intensifier after the adjective. Danish degree adverbs always precede the adjective.

Key takeaways

• Degree adverbs go in front of the adjective or adverb they scale.
• for
  • adjective = too (excessively), never English "for." This is the one to burn into memory.
• meget = "very" with adjectives, "a lot / much" with verbs and quantities — one word, two English equivalents.
• The mid-scale words ret (conversational) and temmelig (more written) both mean "rather / fairly."
• For the also/as well sense of English too, you need også, a completely different word.