An infinitive construction is a clause built around an infinitive — at gå, at lære — rather than a conjugated verb. Danish uses these constantly to express purpose, manner, and accompaniment without spinning up a full finite clause. The payoff is economy: where English often needs "in order that" or an -ing form, Danish reaches for a preposition plus at plus an infinitive. This page covers the prepositional infinitive clauses (for at, uden at, ved at, i stedet for at), the accusative-with-infinitive after perception and causative verbs, and til at complements — and the all-important question of whose action the infinitive describes.
A key fact runs through everything below: an infinitive clause has no overt subject. The subject is understood from context — a phenomenon called control. Knowing which noun "controls" the infinitive is what separates a correct sentence from a confusing one.
Prepositional infinitive clauses
Several prepositions combine with at + infinitive to form adverbial clauses. The preposition supplies the meaning; at + infinitive supplies the action.
for at — purpose ("in order to")
This is the workhorse. for at means "in order to" and answers the question why?
Jeg tog tidligt afsted for at nå toget.
I left early in order to catch the train.
Hun læser dansk for at kunne arbejde i København.
She's studying Danish so she can work in Copenhagen.
The understood subject of nå and kunne arbejde is the subject of the main clause — jeg, hun. This is subject control: the main-clause subject also performs the infinitive's action.
uden at — "without ...-ing"
uden at corresponds to English "without" + the -ing form.
Han gik forbi uden at sige et ord.
He walked past without saying a word.
De forlod festen uden at sige farvel.
They left the party without saying goodbye.
ved at — "by ...-ing"
ved at expresses the means by which something is achieved — English "by" + -ing. (Do not confuse this with ved at in the sense of være ved at = "be about to / in the middle of," which is a separate construction.)
Man lærer et sprog ved at bruge det hver dag.
You learn a language by using it every day.
Hun tjente penge ved at undervise om aftenen.
She earned money by teaching in the evenings.
i stedet for at — "instead of ...-ing"
Vi tog cyklen i stedet for at køre i bil.
We took the bike instead of driving.
Accusative-with-infinitive
After verbs of perception (se "see," høre "hear," føle "feel," mærke "notice") and after certain causatives, Danish uses an object followed by a bare infinitive — without at. The object of the main verb is simultaneously the understood subject of the infinitive. English has the very same structure ("I saw him leave"), which makes this easier to grasp than to remember to do.
After perception verbs — no at
Jeg så ham gå.
I saw him leave.
Vi hørte naboerne skændes hele natten.
We heard the neighbours quarrelling all night.
Here ham is the object of så and the subject of gå at the same time. Crucially, there is no at before the infinitive — Jeg så ham at gå is wrong.
Causative få ... til at — "get someone to"
The causative få ("get/make someone do something") takes the pattern få + object + til at + infinitive. Note that here the marker til at is required.
Jeg fik ham til at gå.
I got him to leave.
Læreren fik eleverne til at arbejde sammen.
The teacher got the pupils to work together.
Causative lade — "let/have someone do"
The verb lade ("let") also takes a bare infinitive, like the perception verbs:
Lad mig hjælpe dig.
Let me help you.
| Pattern | Marker | Example |
|---|---|---|
| perception (se, høre, mærke) | bare infinitive (no at) | Jeg så ham gå. |
| lade (let) | bare infinitive (no at) | Lad mig hjælpe. |
| få (get/make) | til at
| Jeg fik ham til at gå. |
til at complements
Many adjectives and nouns take a complement introduced by til at — "ready to," "easy to," "the chance to."
Er du klar til at gå?
Are you ready to leave?
Det er svært at forklare, men nemt at forstå, når man ser det.
It's hard to explain but easy to understand once you see it.
Hun fik chancen for at rejse til Grønland.
She got the chance to travel to Greenland.
Which preposition an adjective takes (klar til, glad for, bange for, god til) is lexically fixed and must be learned per adjective — see adjectives with prepositions. There is no rule that predicts it.
Control: whose action is it?
The understood subject of an infinitive is determined by the controlling verb:
- Subject control (for at, uden at, ved at, love at, prøve at): the main-clause subject does the infinitive's action. Jeg lovede at komme — I am the one coming.
- Object control (bede nogen om at, få nogen til at, tvinge nogen til at): the main-clause object does it. Jeg bad ham om at komme — he is the one coming.
Jeg lovede at hjælpe hende.
I promised to help her — I do the helping (subject control).
Jeg bad hende om at hjælpe.
I asked her to help — she does the helping (object control).
When you need a finite clause instead
If the infinitive's subject is different from the main subject and there is no object to control it, you cannot use a bare infinitive — you need a finite at-clause with its own subject.
Jeg håber, at du kommer.
I hope that you come — different subjects, so a finite clause is required.
Compare Jeg håber at komme ("I hope to come"), where the subject is the same and the infinitive works. The choice between an infinitive and a finite at-clause is exactly the choice of whether the two subjects coincide. See at-infinitive vs at-that.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jeg så ham at gå.
Incorrect — perception verbs take a bare infinitive, no at.
✅ Jeg så ham gå.
I saw him leave.
❌ Han gik forbi uden sige et ord.
Incorrect — uden meaning 'without ...-ing' needs at before the infinitive.
✅ Han gik forbi uden at sige et ord.
He walked past without saying a word.
❌ Man lærer et sprog ved at bruger det.
Incorrect — after at the verb is the infinitive (bruge), not the present (bruger).
✅ Man lærer et sprog ved at bruge det.
You learn a language by using it.
❌ Jeg fik ham gå.
Incorrect — causative få requires til at, not a bare infinitive.
✅ Jeg fik ham til at gå.
I got him to leave.
❌ Jeg håber at du at komme.
Incorrect — with different subjects use a finite at-clause, not a stacked infinitive.
✅ Jeg håber, at du kommer.
I hope (that) you come.
Key Takeaways
- Prepositional infinitive clauses use preposition + at + infinitive where English uses an -ing form: for at, uden at, ved at, i stedet for at.
- Perception verbs and lade take a bare infinitive (no at); causative få takes til at.
- til at also complements adjectives and nouns; the exact preposition is fixed per word.
- Control decides whose action the infinitive is: subject control vs. object control.
- If the subjects differ and there is no controlling object, switch to a finite at-clause.
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Uses of the InfinitiveB1 — Where the bare infinitive and the at-infinitive appear in Danish — after modals, after other verbs and prepositions, as subject or object, in for at / uden at / ved at, and as instructions on signs.
- For at, Uden at, I stedet for atB1 — The Danish conjunctions that take an infinitive rather than a finite clause — for at (in order to), uden at, ved at, i stedet for at — and the same-subject rule that governs them.
- Reported Speech and BackshiftB2 — How Danish turns direct quotes into indirect speech — the complementiser at, tense backshift, pronoun and deictic shifts, reported questions with om and hv-words, and modal backshift.
- Complex Grammar: An OverviewB2 — A map of the advanced syntactic territory of Danish — the full sentence schema, embedded clauses, object shift, extraposition, reported speech, complex passives, and information structure.
- The Infinitive and the Marker AtA1 — The Danish infinitive, the infinitive marker at ('to'), when to use it and when to drop it — and the notorious at/og spelling trap.