Anbefale | Danish Grammar

Anbefale ('to recommend') is one of the verbs you reach for constantly the moment you start giving opinions in Danish — about a restaurant, a film, a doctor, a route. It is a perfectly regular weak verb, so once you have the principal parts there are no surprises in the paradigm. The interesting part is its syntax: it is ditransitive (it can take two objects), and the way it combines with an infinitive or an at-clause is subtly different from English "recommend."

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Past	Past participle	Imperative
(at) anbefale	anbefaler	anbefalede	anbefalet	anbefal!

This is a textbook weak verb of the -ede class: past in -ede, participle in -et. The stem stays anbefal- throughout, with no vowel change and no stød shift — what you see in the infinitive is what you build everything from.

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Danish verbs do not agree with their subject. Anbefaler is the present-tense form for jeg, du, han, vi, I, de alike — one form covers every person and number. Coming from English you already expect this for most forms, but Danish takes it all the way: there is no "-s" on the third person and no separate plural.

Present tense

The present form anbefaler is used for general recommendations, standing advice, and opinions you hold right now.

Jeg anbefaler den lille café nede ved havnen.

I recommend the little café down by the harbour.

Lægen anbefaler, at du drikker mere vand.

The doctor recommends that you drink more water.

Vi anbefaler altid at booke bord i weekenden.

We always recommend booking a table at the weekend.

Notice the second example: where English says "recommends that you drink" with a bare verb, Danish uses an ordinary indicative — at du drikker. Danish has no subjunctive here, so you simply use the normal present tense inside the at-clause. This trips up speakers of languages that do force a subjunctive (Spanish, French), but for English speakers it is actually easier than it looks: just say it in the plain present.

Past tense

The past anbefalede describes a recommendation that was made at a specific point in the past.

Min kollega anbefalede en rigtig god tandlæge i sidste uge.

My colleague recommended a really good dentist last week.

De anbefalede os at tage toget i stedet for bilen.

They recommended that we take the train instead of the car.

Present perfect

The perfect is formed with har (the auxiliary have, not være) plus the participle anbefalet. Use it for recommendations whose relevance reaches into the present — something that has been recommended and still stands.

Flere venner har anbefalet den serie, så nu må jeg se den.

Several friends have recommended that series, so now I really have to watch it.

Har du nogensinde fået anbefalet en bog, du så hadede?

Have you ever had a book recommended to you that you then hated?

That last sentence shows the passive built on the participle (fået anbefalet — "had recommended to you"). A plain -s passive is also common, especially in reviews and instructions: Denne model anbefales ikke til begyndere ("This model is not recommended for beginners") (formal).

The ditransitive frame: anbefale nogen noget

The most useful structural fact about anbefale is that it is ditransitive — it can take an indirect object (the person) and a direct object (the thing) with no preposition between them:

Kan du anbefale mig en god frisør?

Can you recommend me a good hairdresser?

Here mig is the person and en god frisør is the thing — exactly the order English uses in "recommend me a hairdresser." You can also drop the person entirely (Kan du anbefale en god frisør?) when context makes it obvious.

When the recommendation is an action rather than a thing, you have two natural patterns:

anbefale nogen at + infinitive — recommend someone to do something
anbefale at + infinitive / at-clause — recommend doing something / that...

Jeg vil anbefale dig at læse den, før du ser filmen.

I'd recommend you read it before you see the film.

Eksperterne anbefaler at vaske hænder grundigt.

The experts recommend washing your hands thoroughly.

Collocations worth memorising

These fixed combinations come up again and again, especially in service situations, reviews and casual advice:

jeg kan anbefale... — "I can recommend..." (the single most common opener for a recommendation) (informal/neutral)
kan varmt anbefales — "can warmly be recommended", a set phrase in reviews (neutral)
anbefale nogen noget — recommend someone something (ditransitive)
en anbefaling — a recommendation; efter anbefaling — on/following a recommendation
anbefales ikke — "is not recommended" (the standard warning formula) (formal)

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Jeg kan anbefale... is the frame to drill. It softens the assertion ("I'm able to recommend") and sounds more natural and polite than a blunt jeg anbefaler. In a restaurant or shop, Jeg kan anbefale... is what a native speaker actually says.

A dialogue in context

— Hvad kan du anbefale? — Jeg kan varmt anbefale dagens fisk, og så har de en rigtig god husvin.

— What can you recommend? — I can warmly recommend the catch of the day, and they've got a really good house wine too.

Closely related to anbefale is foreslå, "to suggest/propose" — foreslå puts an idea on the table for consideration, while anbefale endorses something you actually think is good. For the patterns with at and the bare infinitive, see uses of the infinitive, and for ordering and reacting to food, see the restaurant expressions.

Common mistakes

❌ Jeg anbefaler du at læse bogen.

Incorrect — you can't mix the at-clause and the infinitive frame like this.

✅ Jeg anbefaler dig at læse bogen.

Correct — anbefale + person (dig) + at + infinitive.

❌ Lægen anbefaler at du drikker mere vand. Lægen anbefaler du drikke mere vand.

Incorrect — the at-clause needs the connector at and a normal finite verb.

✅ Lægen anbefaler, at du drikker mere vand.

Correct — anbefale + at + finite clause (no subjunctive in Danish).

❌ Han anbefalte en god film.

Incorrect — anbefale is an -ede verb, not an -te verb.

✅ Han anbefalede en god film.

Correct — past tense is anbefalede.

❌ Vi har anbefaleret restauranten.

Incorrect — over-inflected participle; there is no extra -er-.

✅ Vi har anbefalet restauranten.

Correct — the participle is simply anbefalet.

Key takeaways

Fully regular weak verb: anbefaler / anbefalede / anbefalet, perfect with har.
One present form for every subject — no agreement.
Ditransitive: anbefale nogen noget; with actions use anbefale (nogen) at + infinitive or an at-clause with a normal verb.
Drill jeg kan anbefale... as your go-to recommendation opener.

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