Many of the most useful connectors in written and formal Danish are not single words but fixed multi-word prepositional phrases: på grund af ('because of'), i stedet for ('instead of'), på trods af ('despite'). The preposition inside these phrases is lexically frozen — you cannot work it out from the English equivalent, and swapping it produces something that is simply wrong. This page is a working reference, grouped by function, of the phrases an advanced learner most needs, plus one genuinely structural surprise: the discontinuous for ... siden frame for 'ago'.
Reference table
| Danish phrase | English | Function |
|---|---|---|
| på grund af | because of, due to | cause |
| ved hjælp af | by means of, with the help of | cause / means |
| i kraft af | by virtue of | cause |
| i forhold til | in relation to, compared with | comparison |
| med hensyn til | regarding, with respect to | reference |
| med henblik på | with a view to, for the purpose of | purpose |
| i forbindelse med | in connection with | reference |
| i stedet for | instead of | substitution |
| på trods af | despite, in spite of | concession |
| til trods for | despite (more formal) | concession |
| for ... skyld | for the sake of | purpose |
| i løbet af | during, over the course of | time |
| for ... siden | ... ago | time |
Cause and means
På grund af is the everyday 'because of'. It introduces a noun phrase; to introduce a whole clause you switch to the conjunction fordi ('because'). Ved hjælp af ('by means of, with the help of') and the more formal i kraft af ('by virtue of') express instrument or enabling cause.
Toget er forsinket på grund af sneen.
The train is delayed because of the snow.
Vi løste problemet ved hjælp af en simpel formel.
We solved the problem by means of a simple formula.
I kraft af sin erfaring fik hun jobbet.
By virtue of her experience, she got the job. (formal)
Comparison and reference
I forhold til is one of the workhorses of formal Danish, covering both 'in relation to' and 'compared with'. Med hensyn til ('regarding') and i forbindelse med ('in connection with') are staples of administrative and academic register; med henblik på ('with a view to') flags purpose.
Priserne er steget i forhold til sidste år.
Prices have risen compared with last year.
Med hensyn til betalingen vender vi tilbage i morgen.
Regarding the payment, we'll get back to you tomorrow. (formal)
Vi indkalder til møde med henblik på en endelig aftale.
We are calling a meeting with a view to a final agreement. (formal)
Substitution, concession, purpose
I stedet for means 'instead of'. På trods af and the slightly more literary til trods for both mean 'despite'. The phrase for ... skyld ('for the sake of') is discontinuous: the possessor sits inside it (for min skyld 'for my sake', for fredens skyld 'for the sake of peace').
Lad os tage cyklen i stedet for bilen.
Let's take the bike instead of the car.
På trods af regnen blev kampen spillet.
Despite the rain, the match was played.
Gør det nu for min skyld.
Do it for my sake.
Time: i løbet af and the 'ago' frame
I løbet af means 'during / over the course of' a span of time.
Hun læste tre bøger i løbet af ferien.
She read three books during the holiday.
The structural surprise is for ... siden, the Danish equivalent of English 'ago'. English puts a single word after the time span: three days ago. Danish wraps the time span in a discontinuous frame — the preposition for comes before the span and the particle siden comes after it. There is no single word for 'ago'; the meaning lives in the bracket.
Jeg mødte hende for tre dage siden.
I met her three days ago.
Firmaet blev grundlagt for over hundrede år siden.
The company was founded over a hundred years ago.
Vi flyttede hertil for ikke så længe siden.
We moved here not so long ago.
Source-language note
English speakers go wrong here in two systematic ways. First, preposition transfer: English because of tempts you toward *for grund af, English with the help of toward *med hjælp af (correct is ved hjælp af). The Danish prepositions inside these frames are fixed and frequently differ from the English ones, so the only safe approach is to memorise the whole phrase. Second, literal calquing of 'ago': because English uses one trailing word, learners reach for a single Danish preposition and produce word orders like *siden tre dage, which is meaningless in Danish. The bracket for ... siden has no English structural parallel and must be learned as a pattern.
Common Mistakes
❌ Mødet er aflyst for grund af vejret.
Incorrect — 'because of' is på grund af, not for grund af.
✅ Mødet er aflyst på grund af vejret.
The meeting is cancelled because of the weather.
❌ Vi løste det med hjælp af en kollega.
Incorrect — the fixed phrase is ved hjælp af, not med hjælp af.
✅ Vi løste det ved hjælp af en kollega.
We solved it with the help of a colleague.
❌ Jeg så ham siden tre dage.
Incorrect — 'three days ago' uses the discontinuous for ... siden frame.
✅ Jeg så ham for tre dage siden.
I saw him three days ago.
❌ I forhold med sidste år er salget faldet.
Incorrect — the fixed phrase is i forhold til, not i forhold med.
✅ I forhold til sidste år er salget faldet.
Compared with last year, sales have fallen.
❌ Trods af regnen gik vi en tur.
Incorrect — 'despite' is på trods af or til trods for; bare 'trods af' is wrong.
✅ På trods af regnen gik vi en tur.
Despite the rain, we went for a walk.
Key takeaways
- Learn each phrase as one frozen unit; the internal preposition is not predictable from English.
- High-frequency cause/comparison/concession frames: på grund af, ved hjælp af, i forhold til, med hensyn til, i stedet for, på trods af.
- 'Ago' is the discontinuous bracket for [span] siden — no single word exists.
- 'During' a span = i løbet af; 'for the sake of' = the split frame for ... skyld.
- Resist English preposition transfer: because of is på grund af, never for grund af.
Now practice Danish
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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.
- Danish Prepositions: An OverviewA1 — Why Danish prepositions are easy grammatically but hard to choose — and how to learn them by Danish logic instead of English glosses.
- Nominalisation and Written StyleC1 — How formal and administrative Danish compresses clauses into noun phrases — the heavy nominal style (kancellistil), how to read it, and why a verb is usually clearer.