Verb + Preposition Reference | Danish Grammar

Many Danish verbs demand a specific preposition before their object, and there is rarely any logic that lets you predict it — you simply have to learn the verb and its preposition as a unit, the way you learn to depend on or to consist of in English. The catch for English speakers is that the Danish preposition is frequently not the one you'd translate from English: you don't wait for a bus in Danish, you wait on it (vente *på bussen); you don't think *about something, you think on it (tænke på). This page is a reference table of the most common pairs where Danish and English diverge, so you can stop translating the preposition and start memorising the chunk.

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Learn the verb and its preposition as one inseparable unit — vente på, tænke på, bede om — and never translate the preposition from English. The preposition is part of the verb's "spelling."

Reference table

The pairs below are sorted alphabetically by verb. Each gives the English equivalent and a model sentence. The column to watch is the preposition — these are precisely the cases where English transfer leads you astray.

Danish verb + prep.	English	Model sentence
bede om	ask for	Han bad om en kop kaffe.
bekymre sig om	worry about	Hun bekymrer sig om alt.
bestå af	consist of (be made up of)	Holdet består af ti spillere.
bestå i	consist in (lie in)	Problemet består i, at vi mangler tid.
deltage i	take part in	Vil du deltage i mødet?
glæde sig til	look forward to	Jeg glæder mig til ferien.
handle om	be about (a story, film)	Filmen handler om en familie i krig.
holde af	be fond of	Jeg holder meget af min mormor.
høre om	hear about	Har du hørt om ulykken?
lede efter	look for (search)	Jeg leder efter mine nøgler.
minde om	remind of / resemble	Du minder mig om min bror.
passe på	look after / watch out	Pas på trinet!
regne med	count on / expect	Du kan regne med mig.
stole på	rely on / trust	Jeg stoler ikke på ham.
sørge for	see to / make sure	Sørg for at låse døren.
tage sig af	take care of / handle	Jeg tager mig af det i morgen.
tro på	believe in	Hun tror på spøgelser.
tænke på	think of / about	Jeg tænker tit på dig.
vente på	wait for	Vi venter på bussen.
være glad for	be happy about / glad of	Jeg er glad for mit nye job.

The clusters worth memorising

Some prepositions recur often enough that grouping the verbs helps them stick.

The på cluster — vente på, tænke på, tro på, stole på, passe på. Many "directed mental or physical attention" verbs take på where English uses for, of, in, or on (note that the near-neighbour regne med, "count on," breaks the pattern with med):

Vi venter på bussen — den er ti minutter forsinket.

We're waiting for the bus — it's ten minutes late.

Jeg tænker tit på dig, når jeg hører den sang.

I often think of you when I hear that song.

Du kan godt stole på hende; hun holder altid sit ord.

You can rely on her; she always keeps her word.

The om cluster — bede om, høre om, handle om, bekymre sig om, minde om. Roughly the "concerning / about" group:

Filmen handler om en familie, der flygter fra krigen.

The film is about a family fleeing the war.

Du må ikke bekymre dig om mig — jeg klarer mig fint.

You mustn't worry about me — I'll be fine.

Han bad om hjælp, men ingen reagerede.

He asked for help, but no one responded.

The til surprise — glæde sig til ("look forward to") is the one most learners get wrong, because the English "to" tempts you toward an infinitive rather than the preposition til:

Jeg glæder mig så meget til sommerferien.

I'm so looking forward to the summer holiday.

The af / i minimal pair — bestå af means "consist of / be made up of" (the parts), while bestå i means "consist in / lie in" (the essence). Same English verb, different Danish preposition and meaning:

Kagen består af mel, sukker og æg.

The cake consists of flour, sugar and eggs.

Kunsten består i at vide, hvornår man skal holde op.

The art consists in knowing when to stop.

How this differs from English

English verb-preposition pairs are themselves arbitrary (depend on, consist of, believe in), so the concept of memorising the pair is familiar. What trips learners up is interference: the English pair you already know overwrites the Danish one. You "know" you wait for something, so vente for feels right — but it's wrong, it's vente på. The defence is to treat each Danish pair as a fresh vocabulary item with no English ancestor, and to drill the model sentence rather than the rule. Note too that several of these verbs are reflexive in Danish (glæde sig til, bekymre sig om, tage sig af), so you must carry the sig along with the preposition.

Common Mistakes

❌ Vi venter for bussen.

Incorrect — English 'wait for' transferred; Danish is vente på.

✅ Vi venter på bussen.

We're waiting for the bus.

❌ Jeg tænker om dig.

Incorrect — 'think about' transferred; Danish is tænke på.

✅ Jeg tænker på dig.

I'm thinking of you.

❌ Hun tror i spøgelser.

Incorrect — English 'believe in' transferred literally; Danish is tro på.

✅ Hun tror på spøgelser.

She believes in ghosts.

❌ Jeg leder for mine nøgler.

Incorrect — 'look for' transferred; the search verb is lede efter.

✅ Jeg leder efter mine nøgler.

I'm looking for my keys.

❌ Jeg glæder mig for ferien.

Incorrect — 'look forward to' takes til, not for.

✅ Jeg glæder mig til ferien.

I'm looking forward to the holiday.

Key Takeaways

Danish verbs carry a fixed preposition that is often not the English one — learn the pair, never translate the preposition.
The big clusters: på (vente, tænke, tro, stole, passe), om (bede, høre, handle, bekymre sig, minde), and the odd ones out (glæde sig til, lede efter, bestå af vs bestå i).
Watch the reflexives — glæde sig til, bekymre sig om, tage sig af — and carry the sig.

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