Just as Danish verbs lock onto particular prepositions, so do many adjectives. Good at something is god til something; happy about something is glad for something; afraid of something is bange for something. The adjective chooses its preposition lexically, the choice is rarely the one English would predict, and getting it wrong is one of the most persistent advanced-learner errors. This government list is every bit as error-prone as the verb list — yet it is almost never taught as a set. This page fills that gap with the core pairs, the contrasting English, and the one distinction that catches everyone: enig i versus enig med.
Reference table
| Danish | English | Note on the mismatch |
|---|---|---|
| god til | good at | til, not i ("good in") |
| glad for | happy about / fond of | for, not "about" |
| bange for | afraid of | for, not "of" |
| interesseret i | interested in | i matches English here |
| vant til | used to / accustomed to | til, not "to" + gerund logic |
| afhængig af | dependent on | af, not "on" |
| stolt af | proud of | af, not "over" |
| ked af | sad about / sorry about | af, not "about" |
| nervøs for | nervous about | for, not "about" |
| ansvarlig for | responsible for | for matches English |
| typisk for | typical of | for, not "of" |
| parat / klar til | ready for / to | til, not "for" |
| enig i | in agreement on (a point) | i for a thing/statement |
| enig med | in agreement with (a person) | med for a person |
Ability, readiness, habit: til
A cluster of adjectives about competence and readiness governs til. God til ('good at'), dårlig til ('bad at'), vant til ('used to'), and parat/klar til ('ready for/to') all take it.
Hun er rigtig god til at tegne.
She's really good at drawing.
Jeg er ikke vant til at stå så tidligt op.
I'm not used to getting up so early.
Er du klar til eksamen?
Are you ready for the exam?
Note that English 'used to' takes a gerund (used to getting up), while Danish vant til takes the infinitive marker at (vant til at stå op).
Feelings and attitudes: for and af
Emotion adjectives split between for and af with no semantic rhyme or reason — they must be learned individually. Glad for ('happy about'), bange for ('afraid of'), and nervøs for ('nervous about') take for; stolt af ('proud of'), ked af ('sad/sorry about'), and træt af ('tired of') take af.
Jeg er så glad for den gave, du gav mig.
I'm so happy about the gift you gave me.
Børnene er bange for hunden.
The children are afraid of the dog.
Vi er meget stolte af vores datter.
We're very proud of our daughter.
Jeg er virkelig ked af det.
I'm really sorry about it. / I'm really sad about it.
The phrase ked af det deserves a flag: it is the everyday way to say 'I'm sorry' (regretful or sad), and the af is non-negotiable.
Dependence and relevance: af and for
Afhængig af ('dependent on') takes af where English uses on. Typisk for ('typical of') and ansvarlig for ('responsible for') take for.
Resultatet er helt afhængigt af vejret.
The outcome is entirely dependent on the weather.
Den slags humor er typisk for ham.
That kind of humour is typical of him.
Hvem er ansvarlig for projektet?
Who's responsible for the project?
The classic: enig i vs enig med
Enig ('in agreement') is the famous trap, because it governs two different prepositions depending on what you agree with:
- enig i
- a thing, point, or statement — you agree with the content.
- enig med
- a person — you agree with someone.
Jeg er helt enig i din konklusion.
I completely agree with your conclusion. (the content)
Jeg er helt enig med dig.
I completely agree with you. (the person)
You can even combine them: Jeg er enig med dig i, at ... ('I agree with you that ...'). The split is logical once you see it — i points at the proposition, med points at the partner — but because English uses with for both, learners reach for med everywhere and say *enig med din konklusion.
Er du enig med mig i, at vi bør vente?
Do you agree with me that we should wait?
Source-language note
English speakers fail here through straightforward preposition transfer: they map the English preposition onto Danish and assume it carries over. It usually does not. Good at tempts *god i; proud of tempts *stolt over (the German pattern, also wrong in Danish); dependent on tempts *afhængig på. Because the Danish preposition is fixed to the adjective and unrelated to its English counterpart, the only reliable strategy is to store the adjective and its preposition as a single lexical chunk and drill the handful that differ most sharply from English — which is most of them.
Common Mistakes
❌ Han er meget god i matematik.
Incorrect — 'good at' is god til, not god i (which would mean 'good in').
✅ Han er meget god til matematik.
He's very good at maths.
❌ Jeg er enig med din konklusion.
Incorrect — you agree i a conclusion (a point), med a person.
✅ Jeg er enig i din konklusion.
I agree with your conclusion.
❌ Vi er meget stolt over jer.
Incorrect — 'proud of' is stolt af; stolt over is a German-style calque.
✅ Vi er meget stolte af jer.
We're very proud of you (all).
❌ Resultatet er afhængig på flere ting.
Incorrect — 'dependent on' is afhængig af, not afhængig på.
✅ Resultatet er afhængigt af flere ting.
The outcome is dependent on several things.
❌ Jeg er glad om dit nye job.
Incorrect — 'happy about' is glad for, not glad om.
✅ Jeg er glad for dit nye job.
I'm happy about your new job.
Key takeaways
- The preposition belongs to the adjective; memorise them together as one chunk.
- Competence/readiness adjectives take til: god til, vant til, klar til.
- Emotion adjectives split unpredictably between for (glad for, bange for, nervøs for) and af (stolt af, ked af, træt af).
- Afhængig af (not på); stolt af (not over); god til (not i).
- Enig i a point, enig med a person — English with hides this split.
Now practice Danish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Verb + Preposition ReferenceB2 — An alphabetical reference of the high-frequency Danish verb + preposition pairs where the Danish preposition differs from the one English would use — bede om, vente på, tænke på, glæde sig til, and more.
- Verbs Governing PrepositionsC1 — Danish verbs that demand a fixed, unpredictable preposition — why tænke på, vente på and glæde sig til must be learned as units, and where they diverge from English.
- Indefinite Adjective Agreement: -Ø, -t, -eA1 — The Danish indefinite (strong) adjective paradigm: base form for common singular, -t for neuter singular, -e for plural — plus the full set of spelling rules for when -t is and isn't added, and consonant doubling before -e.