"If it rains, we'll stay home." "If I were rich, I'd buy a house." "If I had known, I would have called." Danish builds all three of these on the conjunction hvis ("if"), but the tense inside the hvis-clause shifts depending on how real the condition is. This page gives you graded models to copy, a slot table for swapping in your own content, and the one word-order rule that trips up almost every English speaker: when the hvis-clause comes first, the main clause inverts.
Real conditions: present + present (or future)
A real condition is something that may genuinely happen. Both clauses use the present tense, just as English often does in the spoken language.
Hvis det regner, bliver vi hjemme.
If it rains, we'll stay home.
Hvis du er sulten, kan vi spise nu.
If you're hungry, we can eat now.
Jeg ringer til dig, hvis der sker noget.
I'll call you if anything happens.
Danish has no separate future tense, so the present bliver / kan / ringer carries the future meaning. Crucially, you do not put vil ("will") inside the hvis-clause — Danish, like English, keeps the if-clause in the present even when the meaning is future.
Unreal conditions (present counterfactual): past + ville
To talk about something contrary to present fact — "if I were rich" — Danish backshifts the hvis-clause one step into the past tense, and the main clause uses ville + infinitive. This is the direct parallel of English "If I were..., I would...".
Hvis jeg var rig, ville jeg købe et hus ved havet.
If I were rich, I'd buy a house by the sea.
Hvis vi havde mere tid, ville vi blive en uge til.
If we had more time, we'd stay another week.
The past-tense var / havde here does not refer to the past at all — it signals unreality, exactly as the English "were" does. This use of the past for the hypothetical is one of the cleanest correspondences between the two languages.
Past counterfactual (pluperfect): havde + participle + ville have
For something contrary to past fact — "if I had known" — push back one more step: the hvis-clause takes the pluperfect (havde + past participle), and the main clause takes ville have + past participle.
Hvis jeg havde vidst det, ville jeg have sagt det til dig.
If I had known, I would have told you.
Hvis vi var taget tidligere af sted, havde vi nået toget.
If we'd left earlier, we'd have caught the train.
Notice the second example: in casual Danish the main clause's ville have is often shortened to a bare pluperfect (havde nået), just as English speech drops "would have" to "would've". Both versions are correct; ville have nået is the fuller, more careful form.
The word-order rule: front the hvis-clause, invert the main clause
This is the point to memorise. Danish is a V2 language: the finite verb must be the second element of a main clause. When you put the whole hvis-clause first, that subordinate clause occupies the first slot — so the main-clause verb must come immediately next, before its subject. The subject and verb swap places.
| Order | Sentence |
|---|---|
| Main clause first (no inversion) | Vi bliver hjemme, hvis det regner. |
| Hvis-clause first (inversion) | Hvis det regner, bliver vi hjemme. |
Hvis du spørger pænt, hjælper jeg dig gerne.
If you ask nicely, I'll gladly help you.
In hjælper jeg, the verb precedes the subject jeg because the fronted hvis-clause already filled the first position. English does not invert here ("If you ask nicely, I help"), which is exactly why learners forget to. For the underlying first-slot logic, see the sentence schema. For the conjunction itself, see conditional clauses with hvis.
Build-your-own: the substitution table
Keep the frame, swap the slots. Each column slots into the model Hvis [condition], [result].
| Type | Hvis-clause (verb) | Main clause (inverted) |
|---|---|---|
| Real (present) | Hvis det regner, | bliver vi hjemme |
| Real (present) | Hvis du vil, | kan vi tage afsted nu |
| Unreal (past) | Hvis jeg var dig, | ville jeg sige nej |
| Unreal (past) | Hvis vi havde råd, | ville vi rejse mere |
| Past counterfactual | Hvis han havde spurgt, | havde jeg svaret ja |
Hvis jeg var dig, ville jeg tage imod tilbuddet.
If I were you, I'd accept the offer.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hvis det vil regne, bliver vi hjemme.
Incorrect — no vil inside the hvis-clause; the present tense already carries the future.
✅ Hvis det regner, bliver vi hjemme.
If it rains, we'll stay home.
❌ Hvis jeg ville være rig, ville jeg købe et hus.
Incorrect — the unreal hvis-clause takes the plain past var, not ville.
✅ Hvis jeg var rig, ville jeg købe et hus.
If I were rich, I'd buy a house.
❌ Hvis det regner, vi bliver hjemme.
Incorrect — no inversion after the fronted hvis-clause; verb and subject must swap.
✅ Hvis det regner, bliver vi hjemme.
If it rains, we'll stay home.
❌ Hvis jeg havde vidst det, jeg ville have sagt det.
Incorrect — the main clause must invert (ville jeg), not stay subject-first.
✅ Hvis jeg havde vidst det, ville jeg have sagt det.
If I had known, I would have told you.
❌ Hvis du var sulten, kan vi spise nu.
Incorrect — mixed reality: a present-time real condition needs present er, not past var.
✅ Hvis du er sulten, kan vi spise nu.
If you're hungry, we can eat now.
Key Takeaways
- Real: present + present — Hvis det regner, bliver vi hjemme. Never vil in the hvis-clause.
- Unreal (now): past + ville — Hvis jeg var rig, ville jeg...
- Counterfactual (then): pluperfect + ville have — Hvis jeg havde vidst det, ville jeg have...
- Front the hvis-clause and the main clause inverts (verb before subject) — every time.
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
- Conditionals: Hvis-clauses and VilleB1 — Real and unreal conditional sentences in Danish — and why the language uses the plain past tense, not a special subjunctive, for hypothetical situations.
- The Diderichsen Sentence SchemaC1 — The sætningsskema — the field model taught in Danish schools that generates correct Danish word order, from which V2, inversion, and ikke-placement all fall out automatically.
- Conditional and Concessive Conjunctions: Hvis, Medmindre, SelvomB1 — How to build conditional and concessive clauses in Danish with hvis, medmindre and selvom — including subordinate word order, main-clause inversion, and the hvis-vs-om trap.
- Word Order After Each ConjunctionB2 — A lookup table mapping every common Danish conjunction to the word order it triggers — main-clause V2 after coordinators, subordinate order after subordinators.