The verb tage ("to take") is one of Danish's busiest light verbs. Many of its collocations line up neatly with English take — but a handful do not, and those are exactly where English speakers slip. This page groups the most useful tage expressions by sense and flags the ones where your "take" instinct will betray you. For the verb's full conjugation, see the tage reference.
Decisions and stances
Danish uses tage for committing to a position — a decision, a stance, an attitude.
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| tage en beslutning | make a decision (everyday) |
| tage stilling til | take a stance on / decide about |
| tage hensyn til | take into consideration, show consideration for |
| tage imod | accept, receive (an offer, guests) |
Note that tage en beslutning is the conversational choice; the more formal register prefers træffe en beslutning (literary/formal). Both are correct — tage just sounds lighter.
Vi må tage en beslutning nu, ellers når vi ikke toget.
We have to make a decision now, or we won't catch the train.
Politikerne nægter at tage stilling til sagen.
The politicians refuse to take a stance on the matter.
Du må tage hensyn til, at hun lige har mistet sin far.
You have to be considerate of the fact that she's just lost her father.
Tak for tilbuddet — det tager jeg gerne imod.
Thanks for the offer — I'll gladly accept it.
For a deeper look at tage stilling til, there is a dedicated reference page.
Being wrong: tage fejl
This is the single most important tage idiom for an English speaker, because there is no "take" in the English equivalent at all. Tage fejl means "to be wrong / be mistaken." Crucially, it takes no article — never en fejl in this sense.
Hvis du tror, jeg har glemt det, så tager du fejl.
If you think I've forgotten it, you're mistaken.
Jeg tog fejl af tidspunktet — mødet var klokken ti, ikke elleve.
I was wrong about the time — the meeting was at ten, not eleven.
Contrast this with lave en fejl ("make a mistake"), which is about an error you produced and which does take an article. "Being mistaken" is tage fejl; "making an error" is lave en fejl. Mixing them is the classic trap (see Common Mistakes).
Taking care of and dealing with
Tage sig af (reflexive) means "to take care of, look after, deal with." The reflexive pronoun agrees with the subject (tager mig af, tager sig af).
Du skal ikke bekymre dig — jeg tager mig af det hele.
Don't worry — I'll take care of everything.
Hvem tager sig af børnene, mens I er væk?
Who's looking after the children while you're away?
Departures and motion
Tage af sted (also written tage afsted) means "to leave, set off." Tage hen/til/på + place means "to go to" a place — here Danish tage covers ground that English would give to "go."
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| tage af sted / afsted | leave, set off |
| tage hjem | go home |
| tage på ferie | go on holiday |
| tage med | come along, join |
Vi tager af sted klokken syv, så vær klar.
We're leaving at seven, so be ready.
Skal vi tage på ferie til Norge i år?
Shall we go on holiday to Norway this year?
Vil du tage med i biografen i aften?
Do you want to come along to the cinema tonight?
Separately, tage på without a place can mean "to gain weight" — a false friend you should keep apart from the motion sense, which context usually disambiguates.
Jeg har taget lidt på henover julen.
I've put on a bit of weight over Christmas.
Everyday physical routines
Here Danish and English agree comfortably: you take a bath, a break, a shower.
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| tage et bad | take a bath / shower |
| tage en pause | take a break |
| tage en lur | take a nap |
| tage tøj på | put clothes on, get dressed |
| tage et billede | take a photo |
Jeg tager lige et bad, før vi går.
I'll just take a quick shower before we go.
Lad os tage en pause — jeg er helt udkørt.
Let's take a break — I'm completely exhausted.
Note tage tøj på ("put on clothes"): the particle på attaches to the clothing, and you can slot the garment in between — tage trøjen på ("put the jumper on"). This is the same separable pattern as English "take it off / put it on," running in the opposite direction.
Tag en varm jakke på — det er koldt udenfor.
Put a warm jacket on — it's cold outside.
Where 'take' tempts you but Danish says no
Your English "take" reflex is right far more often than wrong with tage — tage et billede (take a photo), tage en taxa (take a taxi), tage bussen (take the bus) all work. The traps are narrow but sharp:
- "Take a decision" drifts to træffe/tage en beslutning (the noun is fine, but never gøre).
- "Make a mistake" is lave en fejl, not tage en fejl; while "be mistaken" is tage fejl with no article.
- "Take medicine" is tage medicin (fine), but "take an exam" is gå til eksamen or tage en eksamen depending on register — and "take care!" as a farewell is pas på dig selv, not a tage phrase at all.
Common mistakes
❌ Jeg tog en fejl, da jeg skrev adressen.
Incorrect — 'make a mistake' (produce an error) isn't built on tage.
✅ Jeg lavede en fejl, da jeg skrev adressen.
I made a mistake when I wrote the address.
❌ Du tager en fejl, hvis du tror det.
Incorrect — the be-mistaken phrase takes no article.
✅ Du tager fejl, hvis du tror det.
You're mistaken if you think that.
❌ Jeg tager omsorg for mine forældre.
Incorrect — calqued from English 'take care of'; Danish uses the reflexive tage sig af.
✅ Jeg tager mig af mine forældre.
I take care of my parents.
❌ Vi skal gøre en beslutning om, hvor vi skal bo.
Incorrect — gøre never pairs with beslutning.
✅ Vi skal tage en beslutning om, hvor vi skal bo.
We have to make a decision about where to live.
❌ Hun tog stilling sagen.
Incorrect — tage stilling requires the preposition til.
✅ Hun tog stilling til sagen med det samme.
She took a stance on the matter right away.
Key takeaways
- Tage covers English "take" for photos, taxis, baths, breaks — those map cleanly.
- Tage fejl (no article) = "be mistaken"; lave en fejl (with article) = "make an error." Keep them apart.
- "Make a decision" is tage/træffe en beslutning, never gøre.
- Tage sig af (reflexive) is the only way to say "take care of someone."
- Several tage idioms demand a fixed preposition — stilling til, hensyn til — so learn the whole frame.
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Collocations: An OverviewB2 — Why Danish pairs specific light verbs (tage, gøre, få, lave, holde) with specific nouns, and how to learn these fixed combinations instead of translating word-for-word.
- TageA2 — Full reference for the strong verb tage ('to take'), the silent -g, and its central role in talking about transport.
- Collocations with FåB2 — The fixed expressions built on få ('get') — få at vide, få lov til, få fat i, få øje på — and the all-important causative få nogen til at ('make someone do').
- Collocations with GøreB2 — The fixed expressions built on gøre ('do/make') — gøre rent, gøre ondt, gøre indtryk, gøre opmærksom på — and the gøre-versus-lave split that English speakers struggle with.
- Tage stillingB2 — Full reference for the fixed expression tage stilling (til) ('to take a position, form a view, decide on') — principal parts of tage, the article-less stilling, the obligatory til, and how it differs from beslutte and mene.