Greetings and Farewells

Greetings are the first thing you'll use and the first thing Danes will judge your fluency by — and the good news is that Danish greeting culture is refreshingly flat. One word, hej, covers almost every situation, formal or casual, and the same word doubled even means goodbye. This page walks through the everyday greetings and farewells, flags which ones are formal and which are casual, and points out the little grammar each one quietly relies on.

Saying hello

Hej — the all-purpose hello

Hej (pronounced like English "hi") is the default greeting in Denmark. You can say it to a friend, a shop assistant, a colleague, or your boss. Unlike many languages, Danish does not force you to choose a formal greeting in most settings — hej fits nearly everywhere.

Dav and davs — casual hello

Dav (and the variant davs) is a relaxed, friendly "hi", a little old-fashioned and warm, common among older speakers and in informal settings. (informal)

Goddag — the formal hello

Goddag (literally "good day") is the formal greeting, used when you want to be polite and a touch distant — addressing a stranger formally, an official, or in a service setting where you don't know the person. (formal) Among peers it sounds stiff, even comically so, which is exactly the over-formality mistake to avoid.

Time-of-day greetings

These are friendly and very common. Each is written as one word:

Saying goodbye

Hej hej — the casual goodbye

Here is the famous Danish quirk: doubling the hello gives you the goodbye. Hej hej is the warm, everyday "bye". So hej greets you coming in and hej hej sends you off — the single most useful thing to remember on this page. (informal)

Farvel — the standard goodbye

Farvel is the neutral, all-purpose "goodbye", slightly more formal or final than hej hej. You can use it anywhere; it's never wrong.

Vi ses — "see you"

Vi ses literally means "we see each other" and is the everyday "see you (later)". It uses a reflexive-flavoured construction: the -s ending on ses carries the reciprocal "each other" meaning, so you never add a separate word for it. (informal)

Hav det godt — "take care"

Hav det godt ("have it good") is a warm sign-off wishing the person well, like English "take care" or "have a good one".

På gensyn — "until we meet again"

På gensyn is more formal and a touch literary — the kind of farewell a host says at the end of an event, or a presenter ends a broadcast with. (formal)

Godnat — goodnight

Godnat ("good night") is said when parting at night or before bed, exactly as in English.

Quick reference

A short dialogue

Two colleagues meeting in the morning and parting at the end of the day:

Notice how hej opens and hej hej closes — the same word bookending the conversation.

A bit of grammar hiding inside

• Vi ses ends in -s, a leftover passive/reciprocal ending meaning "(see) each other". You'll meet this -s form again in verbs like mødes ("meet up") and snakkes ("talk to each other").
• When you front a time word after a greeting — I morgen ses vi — the verb hops to second place and the subject follows it. That's Danish inversion, the same rule behind questions.

Common Mistakes

Goddag among peers sounds stiff and ironic. Use hej (or dav) with friends.

Don't translate "bye for now" word for word. The natural casual goodbye is the doubled hej hej.

Godmorgen, godaften, godnat, goddag are each written as a single word.

The farewell needs the -s ending: ses, not ser.

Key Takeaways

• hej is the universal hello; doubling it (hej hej) is the casual goodbye.
• goddag is formal — fine with strangers and officials, stiff among friends.
• farvel is the neutral all-purpose goodbye; vi ses and hav det godt are warmer and casual.
• godmorgen / godaften / godnat / goddag are written as single words.
• på gensyn is the formal "until we meet again".