Ankomme ('to arrive') is the prefix verb an- + the strong verb komme ('to come'), and it inherits komme's entire strong conjugation. It is noticeably more formal than plain komme or the everyday phrase nå frem ('get there'), so you will meet it mostly in timetables, news, and official notices. Its standout grammatical feature for English speakers is that it builds its perfect with være, not have.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Past | Past participle | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (at) ankomme | ankommer | ankom | ankommet | (ankom — rare) |
The vowel pattern o → o in the past (komme → kom, ankomme → ankom) and the -et participle are the marks of komme's strong class. The related noun is en ankomst ('an arrival'), as on the ankomsthal (arrivals hall) at the airport.
The prefix an- is a loan from Low German (compare German ankommen, Dutch aankomen), and it is unstressed and inseparable: it never breaks off from the verb the way a native stressed particle like frem does. This matters for word order. With the inseparable an-, the verb stays in one piece — toget ankommer kl. 14 — whereas the everyday equivalent nå frem splits, putting frem at the end: toget når frem kl. 14. So even though ankomme and nå frem mean nearly the same thing, they build their sentences differently, and knowing that an- is glued on saves you from wrongly trying to separate it.
Strong past: ankom, not ankommede
The past tense is ankom — short, vowelled, no ending. Since komme never has a weak past kommede, neither does ankomme. Watch the participle: it is ankommet with a double m and -et.
Toget ankom præcis til tiden.
The train arrived exactly on time.
Delegationen ankom til København tirsdag morgen.
The delegation arrived in Copenhagen on Tuesday morning.
Pakken er endnu ikke ankommet.
The parcel has not arrived yet.
The perfect takes være, not have
This is the heart of the page. Ankomme describes a change of place — a movement that lands you somewhere new. In Danish, verbs of motion and change of state that reach a new condition or location take være as their perfect auxiliary, focusing on the resulting state ("now here") rather than on the activity. So:
Vi er lige ankommet til hotellet.
We have just arrived at the hotel.
Er flyet ankommet endnu?
Has the plane arrived yet?
Compare this with English, which uses have for everything: "we have arrived." A learner who maps English have straight onto Danish produces the very common error har ankommet. The test is the one Danish shares with German, Dutch, and French: if the verb moves you from A to B (or changes your state), use være; if it describes an ongoing or transitive activity, use have. Ankomme, komme, gå, rejse, blive, and dø all pass the motion/change test and take være. For the full rule and its exceptions, see [verbs/perfect-have-vaere].
ankomme til — the right preposition
To say you arrive at or in a place, Danish uses ankomme til + place. Not i, not på — always til, because til marks the destination of a movement.
Vi ankommer til lufthavnen klokken syv.
We arrive at the airport at seven o'clock.
Hun ankom til Aarhus efter en lang rejse.
She arrived in Aarhus after a long journey.
Register: when to use komme instead
In spoken, everyday Danish, ankomme can sound stiff. Native speakers usually say komme or nå frem in casual contexts and save ankomme for the formal register.
- (formal / written) Toget ankommer kl. 14. — The train arrives at 2 p.m. (timetable)
- (informal / spoken) Hvornår kommer du? — When are you getting here?
- (informal) Vi nåede frem ved midnat. — We got there at midnight.
Hvornår kommer I? Vi venter på jer.
When are you coming? We're waiting for you.
So a tourist asking a friend "when do you arrive?" should say Hvornår kommer du?, not Hvornår ankommer du? — the latter sounds like an announcement over the station loudspeaker.
This register gap is wider than English speakers expect, because English arrive is perfectly ordinary in conversation ("what time do you arrive?"). Danish has, in effect, two registers split across two verbs: the neutral everyday komme and the elevated ankomme. The closest English feel for ankomme is something like to be due in or to make landfall — correct, but conspicuously formal in a casual setting. A reliable rule of thumb: if a public-address system, a printed schedule, or a newspaper would say it, ankomme fits; if you are speaking to one person about their own trip, switch to komme.
Passagerer til Berlin bedes bemærke, at flyet ankommer forsinket.
Passengers to Berlin please note that the flight will arrive late. (announcement)
Common mistakes
❌ Vi har ankommet til hotellet.
Incorrect — ankomme is a motion verb, so the perfect takes være.
✅ Vi er ankommet til hotellet.
We have arrived at the hotel.
❌ Toget ankommede til tiden.
Incorrect — ankomme is strong; the past is ankom.
✅ Toget ankom til tiden.
The train arrived on time.
❌ Vi ankommer i København i morgen.
Incorrect — arrival destination takes til, not i.
✅ Vi ankommer til København i morgen.
We arrive in Copenhagen tomorrow.
❌ Hvornår ankommer du til festen i aften?
Awkward — ankomme is too formal here; use komme in casual speech.
✅ Hvornår kommer du til festen i aften?
When are you coming to the party tonight?
Key takeaways
- Principal parts: ankomme – ankommer – ankom – ankommet. Strong (the komme class).
- Perfect with være: er ankommet, never har ankommet. It's a change-of-place verb.
- Destination preposition is til: ankomme til København.
- Formal/written; in speech prefer komme or nå frem. Noun: en ankomst.
The base verb is covered at [verb-reference/komme]; the auxiliary error is treated at [mistakes/wrong-auxiliary-motion].
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- KommeA2 — Full reference for the strong verb komme ('to come'), its være-perfect, and the high-value idiom komme til at.
- Choosing Have or Være in the PerfectB1 — Why most Danish verbs build the perfect with have, but verbs of motion and change of state use være — and how the same verb can take either.
- Wrong Perfect Auxiliary for MotionB1 — Why Danish uses er (not har) in the perfect for arrival, departure, and change of state — and why the same verb can take both.