Giving Instructions | Danish Grammar

Whenever you tell someone how to do something — a recipe, assembly instructions, a how-to, directions — you reach for a small toolkit of patterns. Danish gives you two registers for it: the imperative (direct, spoken, "do this") and the -s passive (impersonal, written, "this is done"). On top of those you stack sequencing words to order the steps and Husk at ... to flag what not to forget. This page is a builder: learn the four patterns, then mix and match.

Pattern 1: The imperative — bare stem

The Danish imperative is wonderfully simple: it is just the verb stem — the infinitive with the final -e removed. No ending, no subject. At tage → tag!; at blande → bland!; at trykke → tryk!. (For the full paradigm and the few irregulars, see imperative.)

Infinitive	Imperative	Meaning
at tage	tag!	take!
at blande	bland!	mix!
at trykke	tryk!	press!
at skære	skær!	cut!
at vente	vent!	wait!

The imperative opens its clause — the verb comes first, and any object follows.

Tag to æg og pisk dem sammen.

Take two eggs and whisk them together.

Tryk på den grønne knap.

Press the green button.

Skær løget i små tern.

Cut the onion into small cubes.

This is the everyday register: a friend giving directions, a recipe written in a chatty style, a parent telling a child what to do. To soften it (the imperative can sound brusque), add a politeness particle like lige or bare: Tryk bare på knappen ("Just press the button, go ahead").

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The imperative is the bare stem — infinitive minus -e. The number one beginner error is leaving the infinitive -e on: tage and trykke are infinitives, tag and tryk are commands.

Pattern 2: The -s passive — impersonal, written instructions

Formal and written instructions — official forms, appliance manuals, package directions — avoid telling "you" what to do. Instead they state what gets done, using the -s passive: add -s to the verb (usually the present-stem + -s). Døren åbnes = "the door is (to be) opened"; knappen trykkes = "the button is (to be) pressed". This is the impersonal voice of officialdom and printed procedure (see passive-s).

Døren åbnes ved at trykke på knappen.

The door is opened by pressing the button. (written/impersonal)

Formularen udfyldes med blokbogstaver.

The form is to be filled in in block letters. (formal instruction)

Blandingen røres, til den er glat.

The mixture is stirred until it is smooth. (recipe, written register)

Notice the difference in feel. Tryk på knappen speaks to the reader ("you, press it"); knappen trykkes describes the procedure with no "you" at all. Recipes and manuals lean on the -s passive precisely because it sounds neutral and authoritative; a spoken explanation uses the imperative.

Imperative (spoken)	-s passive (written)	Meaning
Åbn døren.	Døren åbnes.	Open the door / The door is opened.
Tryk på knappen.	Knappen trykkes.	Press the button / The button is pressed.
Rør dejen.	Dejen røres.	Stir the dough / The dough is stirred.
Bland ingredienserne.	Ingredienserne blandes.	Mix the ingredients / The ingredients are mixed.

Pattern 3: Sequencing the steps

A set of instructions needs ordering words. The core sequence is først ("first") → så / derefter ("then / after that") → til sidst ("finally / last of all"). These are sentence adverbs and connectors; when one of them opens the clause, Danish verb-second word order pushes the subject after the verb (so "Først tager du...", verb before subject). For the fuller inventory see sequential.

Connector	Meaning	Position in the sequence
først	first	opening step
så	then / next	following step (very common, spoken)
derefter	after that / thereupon	following step (slightly more formal)
bagefter	afterwards	following step
til sidst	finally / last of all	closing step

Først skræller du kartoflerne.

First you peel the potatoes.

Så koger du dem i tyve minutter.

Then you boil them for twenty minutes.

Derefter hælder du vandet fra.

After that you pour off the water.

Til sidst moser du dem med lidt smør.

Finally you mash them with a little butter.

Note the word order in every one of these: because Først / Så / Derefter / Til sidst opens the clause, the verb (skræller, koger, hælder, moser) comes second, and the subject (du) comes third. This inversion is automatic and obligatory — fronting anything but the subject triggers it.

Pattern 4: Husk at ... — reminders

To flag something the reader must not forget, Danish uses Husk at + infinitive ("Remember to ..."). Husk is itself the imperative of at huske ("to remember"), and the at here is the infinitive marker (see infinitive-and-at).

Husk at slukke ovnen, når du er færdig.

Remember to turn off the oven when you're done.

Husk at gemme dokumentet, før du lukker.

Remember to save the document before you close it.

You can negate it as Husk ikke at ... is awkward; for "don't forget to", Danes simply say Husk at ..., or Glem ikke at ... ("Don't forget to ...").

Glem ikke at tage kvitteringen med.

Don't forget to take the receipt with you.

Putting it together — a mini recipe

Here is a short graded sequence combining all four patterns. Read it as a model and swap in your own verbs.

Først blander du mel og sukker i en skål.

First you mix flour and sugar in a bowl.

Tilsæt så to æg og rør det godt sammen.

Then add two eggs and stir it together well.

Derefter hældes dejen i en form.

After that the dough is poured into a tin. (-s passive — recipe register)

Til sidst bager du kagen i tredive minutter. Husk at lade den køle af.

Finally you bake the cake for thirty minutes. Remember to let it cool.

A substitution table to build your own

Pick one cell from each column to assemble a step. (Imperative row shown; for the written register, swap the verb for its -s form: skæres, koges, blandes.)

Connector	Imperative verb	Object	Extra
Først	skær	grøntsagerne	i små stykker
Så	kog	pastaen	i ti minutter
Derefter	bland	det hele	i en skål
Til sidst	tilsæt	lidt salt	og rør rundt

For example: Først skær grøntsagerne i små stykker. Så kog pastaen i ti minutter. — "First cut the vegetables into small pieces. Then boil the pasta for ten minutes."

Common Mistakes

1. Keeping the infinitive -e on the imperative. The imperative is the bare stem; tage, trykke, blande are infinitives, not commands.

❌ Tage bogen og åbne den.

Incorrect — these are infinitives; the imperative drops the -e.

✅ Tag bogen og åbn den.

Take the book and open it.

2. Forgetting inversion after a fronted sequencer. When Først / Så / Derefter opens the clause, the verb must come before the subject.

❌ Så du tilsætter sukkeret.

Incorrect word order — fronted 'så' forces verb-before-subject.

✅ Så tilsætter du sukkeret.

Then you add the sugar.

3. Mixing registers — imperative and -s passive in the same breath. Pick one register per text; a printed manual stays in the -s passive, a chatty recipe stays in the imperative.

❌ Døren åbnes, og tryk så på knappen.

Jarring register mix — impersonal passive then a direct command.

✅ Døren åbnes, og knappen trykkes.

The door is opened, and the button is pressed. (consistent written register)

4. Using at + infinitive as a standalone instruction. An infinitive isn't a command on its own; you need the imperative (or the -s passive).

❌ At trykke på knappen.

Incorrect as an instruction — this is just 'to press the button', not a command.

✅ Tryk på knappen.

Press the button.

5. Adding a subject to the imperative. The imperative has no subject — drop the "you".

❌ Du tag bogen.

Incorrect — the imperative takes no subject pronoun.

✅ Tag bogen.

Take the book.

Key Takeaways

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Two registers: the bare-stem imperative (tag, bland, tryk) for spoken/casual instructions, and the -s passive (døren åbnes, knappen trykkes) for written/impersonal ones — don't mix them in one text. Order the steps with først → så / derefter → til sidst (and remember inversion when they open the clause), and flag must-dos with Husk at ... / Glem ikke at ....

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