Danse ("to dance") is a small relief after the strong, vowel-shifting verbs like sove and blive: it is perfectly regular from top to bottom. It belongs to the largest and most productive Danish verb class — the -ede verbs — and it never deviates. Use danse as your mental template: any new everyday verb that ends in a single consonant after its stem will most likely behave exactly like it. The trap here is not the verb but the instinct, after meeting so many irregular verbs, to go looking for an irregularity that simply isn't there.
Principal parts
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) danse | to dance |
| Present | danser | dance(s) |
| Past | dansede | danced |
| Past participle | danset | danced |
| Imperative | dans! | dance! |
Present: danser
The present danser is identical for every subject.
| Subject | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| jeg | danser | jeg danser hver fredag |
| du | danser | du danser godt |
| han / hun | danser | hun danser tango |
| vi | danser | vi danser i køkkenet |
| de | danser | de danser hele natten |
Vi danser tit i køkkenet, mens vi laver mad.
We often dance in the kitchen while we cook.
Hun danser virkelig godt — har hun gået til det?
She dances really well — has she taken lessons?
Past: dansede
The past is the regular dansede — stem plus -ede. This is the form learners are tempted to "irregularise," but resist: there is nothing to change.
Vi dansede til langt ud på natten.
We danced until late into the night.
Da bandet spillede, dansede alle med det samme.
When the band played, everyone danced right away.
Present perfect: har danset
The perfect takes har plus the participle danset.
Jeg har aldrig danset salsa før.
I've never danced salsa before.
Har I danset sammen længe?
Have you two been dancing together long?
Past perfect: havde danset
Vi var helt ømme dagen efter, fordi vi havde danset i timevis.
We were completely sore the next day because we'd danced for hours.
Why danse is worth dwelling on: the productive pattern
This is the teaching point. After wrestling with sove (sov) or blive (blev), learners start expecting irregularity and sometimes invent it — saying *dansede hesitantly, or worse, reaching for a fake strong past like *dans. Don't. Danse is a fully regular -ede verb, and the -ede class is by far the largest in the language and the one that all new and borrowed verbs join. When Danish borrows a verb — google, like, chatte — it conjugates it exactly like danse: googlede, likede, chattede.
Jeg googlede restauranten, før vi gik derhen.
I googled the restaurant before we went there.
Danse med and gå til dans: common collocations
To dance with someone is danse med, and to "go to dance" — i.e. take dance classes — is gå til dans, using the standard gå til construction for attending a regular activity.
Vil du danse med mig?
Would you like to dance with me?
Min datter går til dans om tirsdagen.
My daughter takes dance classes on Tuesdays.
Imperative: dans!
The imperative is dans — an encouragement you might shout on a dance floor.
Kom nu, dans med os!
Come on, dance with us!
Common collocations and fixed expressions
- danse med — to dance with (someone)
- gå til dans — to take dance classes
- danse tango / vals / salsa — to dance the tango / waltz / salsa
- danse efter ens pibe — to dance to someone's tune (idiom)
- danse hele natten — to dance all night
Jeg nægter at danse efter hans pibe.
I refuse to dance to his tune. (idiom: do whatever he wants)
A natural exchange
— Vil du danse? — Jeg kan ikke danse! — Det kunne jeg heller ikke, før jeg begyndte at gå til dans. Kom, vi danser bare. — Okay, men jeg dansede sidst til min søsters bryllup.
— Want to dance? — I can't dance! — Neither could I before I started taking classes. Come on, let's just dance. — Okay, but the last time I danced was at my sister's wedding.
Common mistakes
❌ Vi dansde til midnat.
Wrong past — the regular form is dansede, with the full -ede ending.
✅ Vi dansede til midnat.
We danced until midnight.
❌ Jeg har danse meget i aften.
Missing the participle ending — the perfect needs danset.
✅ Jeg har danset meget i aften.
I've danced a lot tonight.
❌ Vil du danse mig?
Missing the preposition — to dance with someone is danse med.
✅ Vil du danse med mig?
Would you like to dance with me?
❌ Danse med os!
Wrong form for a command — the imperative drops the -e: dans.
✅ Dans med os!
Dance with us!
❌ Min datter går til danse.
Wrong form — the fixed phrase uses the noun dans: gå til dans.
✅ Min datter går til dans.
My daughter takes dance classes.
Now practice Danish
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