English has exactly one word for it. Danish has two — den and det — and choosing wrongly is one of the most persistent beginner errors, precisely because English never trains you to think about it. The good news: there are really only two questions to answer, and once you separate them, the system is tidy. This page handles both: when it agrees with a noun's gender, and the entirely separate case where det is a fixed dummy word that agrees with nothing.
Question 1: agreeing 'it' — den or det?
When it stands in for a specific noun, it must match that noun's gender. Danish nouns come in two genders:
- Common gender (en-words): take the indefinite article en. Their pronoun is den.
- Neuter (et-words): take the indefinite article et. Their pronoun is det.
So the choice between den and det is decided entirely by the noun you are replacing. Look at the article the noun would take, and you have your answer.
| Noun | Gender | Pronoun for 'it' |
|---|---|---|
| en bil (a car) | common | den |
| et hus (a house) | neuter | det |
| en stol (a chair) | common | den |
| et bord (a table) | neuter | det |
| en avis (a newspaper) | common | den |
| et æble (an apple) | neuter | det |
Hvor er bilen? — Den holder nede på gaden.
Where's the car? — It's parked down on the street.
Kan du lide huset? — Ja, det er rigtig hyggeligt.
Do you like the house? — Yes, it's really cosy.
The same agreeing den/det works after a preposition and as an object, because (as the case page covers) these pronouns never change for case — only for gender:
Avisen er gammel, men jeg vil gerne læse den færdig.
The newspaper is old, but I'd like to finish reading it.
Æblet er rådent — smid det ud.
The apple is rotten — throw it out.
A minimal pair
The clearest way to feel the distinction is to point at two objects and replace each with "it." A car (en bil, common) becomes den; a house (et hus, neuter) becomes det — same English word, two Danish answers:
Se den der! — bilen, jeg fortalte dig om.
Look at that one (it/that)! — the car I told you about.
Se det der! — huset på hjørnet.
Look at that one (it/that)! — the house on the corner.
Question 2: the fixed expletive det
Here is where many learners over-think things. In a whole class of sentences, it does not refer to any noun at all. English uses a "dummy" it in it's raining, it's cold, it's true that… — the it is not standing in for anything; it is just filling the subject slot because every English sentence needs a subject.
Danish does exactly the same — and in every one of these cases the dummy word is det, always, with no gender to agree with. Because nothing is being referred to, gender is simply irrelevant; det is the default, fixed form.
Weather and natural phenomena:
Det regner, og det blæser.
It's raining, and it's windy.
Det er blevet rigtig koldt udenfor.
It's got really cold outside.
Det sner i nat.
It's snowing tonight.
Impersonal statements about time, distance, and general states:
Det er mandag i dag, og det er allerede mørkt.
It's Monday today, and it's already dark.
Anticipatory 'it' before a clause — the dummy det holds the subject position while the real content comes later:
Det er sandt, at han har solgt huset.
It's true that he has sold the house.
Det er svært at lære dansk udtale.
It's hard to learn Danish pronunciation.
In every one of these, you must use det even when there is a common-gender noun lurking nearby — because the det is not agreeing with that noun. It is the impersonal, expletive det, and it never becomes den.
Why this matters: don't smuggle gender into the expletive
The trap runs in both directions. Beginners under-use den (defaulting to det for real, gendered "it") and sometimes over-think the expletive, trying to make it agree with a nearby noun. Keep the two questions apart:
- Replacing a noun? → match its gender (den for en-words, det for et-words).
- Filling an empty subject slot (weather/time/"it is … that")? → always det.
A sentence can even contain both in a row, which makes the contrast vivid:
Bilen? Den er ny, og det er dyrt at forsikre sådan en.
The car? It (den, = the car) is new, and it (det, dummy) is expensive to insure one like that.
Common mistakes
Defaulting to det for a common-gender 'it'. Because English has only it, learners reach for det everywhere. For an en-word, agreeing "it" must be den.
❌ Stolen er gammel — kan vi smide det ud?
Incorrect — 'stol' is a common-gender en-word, so 'it' is 'den'.
✅ Stolen er gammel — kan vi smide den ud?
The chair is old — can we throw it out?
Using den for the weather/impersonal 'it'. The dummy subject in weather and time sentences is always det, even if you have just been thinking about a common-gender noun.
❌ Den regner, så tag en paraply med.
Incorrect — impersonal 'it' is always 'det', never 'den'.
✅ Det regner, så tag en paraply med.
It's raining, so bring an umbrella.
Wrong gender after a preposition. The agreeing pronoun still copies the noun's gender after a preposition; it does not default to det.
❌ Jeg er glad for cyklen — jeg cykler på det hver dag.
Incorrect — 'cykel' is common gender, so 'it' is 'den'.
✅ Jeg er glad for cyklen — jeg cykler på den hver dag.
I love the bike — I ride it every day.
Trying to make the anticipatory det agree. In "it is true/hard/nice that…," the det points forward to the clause, not back to a noun, so it stays det.
❌ Den er svært at finde parkering her.
Incorrect — anticipatory 'it' before a clause is always 'det'.
✅ Det er svært at finde parkering her.
It's hard to find parking here.
Key takeaways
- Agreeing 'it' copies the replaced noun's gender: den for en-words, det for et-words. Look at the article (en/et) and you have your answer.
- Neither den nor det changes for case — they look the same as subject, object, and after a preposition.
- Expletive 'it' — in weather, time, distance, and "it is … that …" sentences — is a fixed det that agrees with nothing and is never den.
- Keep the two jobs separate, and the whole den/det problem dissolves.
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
- Personal Pronouns: Subject and Object FormsA1 — The Danish subject/object pronoun pairs (jeg/mig, du/dig, han/ham…), where each form goes, and the uniquely Danish capital I meaning 'you all'.
- Danish Pronouns: An OverviewA1 — A map of the whole Danish pronoun system for English speakers: personal pronouns with subject/object case, the gendered den/det for 'it', reflexive sig, the generic man, the formal De, and the relatives der/som/hvem/hvad.
- Anticipatory and Dummy DetB1 — The non-referential det — weather (Det regner), evaluatives (Det er svært at lære dansk), extraposition (Det glæder mig, at du kom), and clefts (Det er ham, der ringede) — collected in one place.
- Grammatical Gender: En-words vs Et-wordsA1 — Danish has two genders — common (en-words) and neuter (et-words). Gender is mostly unpredictable, must be learned with each noun, and controls articles, definite suffixes, adjectives, and pronouns.
- The Indefinite Article En and EtA1 — Danish 'a/an' is en (common) or et (neuter), agreeing with the noun's gender. There is no plural indefinite article, and the article is dropped before professions and nationalities.