Få ("to get / to receive") is one of the busiest verbs in Danish, and it does much more than English "get." Beyond plain receiving (jeg fik en gave, "I got a present"), it builds the Danish causative — få plus a past participle means "have something done" (jeg fik klippet håret, "I got my hair cut"). It also carries "be allowed to" and "manage to" with the fixed phrases få lov til and få tid til. The verb is short and strong, with the unpredictable past fik, and English speakers usually under-use its most useful construction, the causative.
Principal parts
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) få | to get, to receive |
| Present | får | get(s) |
| Past | fik | got |
| Past participle | fået | got / gotten |
| Imperative | få! | get! (rare) |
Present: får
| Subject | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| jeg | får | jeg får løn den sidste i måneden |
| du | får | du får et brev i morgen |
| han / hun | får | hun får en idé |
| vi | får | vi får gæster i aften |
| de | får | de får et barn til foråret |
Jeg får løn den sidste hverdag i måneden.
I get paid on the last working day of the month.
Vi får gæster i aften, så jeg skal lige gøre rent.
We're having guests over tonight, so I need to tidy up quickly.
Notice får et barn ("are having a baby") and får gæster ("are having guests") — where English uses "have," Danish often uses få for things that are coming to you.
Past: fik
The past fik is short, strong, and extremely common.
Jeg fik en bog af min mormor til jul.
I got a book from my grandmother for Christmas.
Vi fik aldrig svar på vores ansøgning.
We never got an answer to our application.
Present perfect: har fået
The perfect uses har plus the participle fået.
Har du fået min besked?
Have you gotten my message?
Jeg har lige fået en mail fra chefen.
I've just gotten an email from the boss.
The big point: få + past participle (the causative)
This is the construction English speakers under-use, and the main reason this page is at A2. To say you had something done by someone else — a haircut, a repair, a delivery — Danish uses få plus a past participle: få klippet håret ("get one's hair cut"), få repareret bilen ("get the car repaired"). The participle describes what was done; få signals that you arranged it but someone else carried it out.
Jeg fik klippet håret i går — kan du se det?
I got my hair cut yesterday — can you tell?
Vi skal have repareret bilen, før vi kører på ferie.
We need to get the car repaired before we drive off on holiday.
Har du fået ordnet det med banken?
Have you gotten that sorted out with the bank?
The key contrast: if you say jeg klippede mit hår, you are claiming you cut your own hair with your own scissors. To mean a barber did it, you must use the causative: jeg fik klippet håret. This is the single most common få error among English speakers, who reach for a plain past tense.
'Be allowed' and 'manage': få lov, få tid
Få also expresses permission and managing to do something, almost always through fixed phrases. Få lov (til) means "be allowed to"; få tid til means "find / have the time to."
Må jeg få lov til at gå tidligt i dag?
May I be allowed to leave early today?
Jeg fik aldrig tid til at ringe tilbage — undskyld.
I never found the time to call back — sorry.
In children's speech especially, få lov is everywhere: må jeg få lov? ("can I please?"). Adults soften it the same way in polite requests.
Imperative: få! (rare)
The bare imperative få! is unusual on its own; you will mostly meet it inside set encouragements like få nu sovet ("do get some sleep").
Få nu noget at spise, før vi kører.
Do get something to eat before we drive.
Common collocations and fixed expressions
- få lov (til) — to be allowed to
- få tid til — to have / find the time to
- få fat i / på — to get hold of, reach
- få det bedre — to feel / get better
- få styr på — to get a handle on, sort out
Jeg kunne ikke få fat i dig i går — din telefon var lukket.
I couldn't get hold of you yesterday — your phone was off.
There is a dedicated list of these patterns at Få collocations.
A natural exchange
— Du ser frisk ud! — Tak, jeg fik klippet håret og fik endelig styr på min søvn. — Heldige dig, jeg får aldrig tid til den slags.
— You look fresh! — Thanks, I got my hair cut and finally sorted out my sleep. — Lucky you, I never find the time for that kind of thing.
The reply packs in three uses: fik klippet (causative — a barber did it), fik styr på (managed to sort out), and får tid til (find the time). That is the whole personality of få in one breath.
Common mistakes
❌ Jeg klippede mit hår i går (meaning: at the barber's).
Misleading — this says you cut your own hair; for the barber you need the causative.
✅ Jeg fik klippet håret i går.
I got my hair cut yesterday.
❌ Hun fikkede en gave.
Incorrect — få is strong; the past is fik, not a regular -ede form.
✅ Hun fik en gave.
She got a present.
❌ Har du få min besked?
Wrong form — the perfect needs the participle fået, not the infinitive få.
✅ Har du fået min besked?
Have you gotten my message?
❌ Må jeg gå tidligt? — meant as a humble request for permission
Fine, but the idiomatic 'be allowed to' adds lov: få lov til.
✅ Må jeg få lov til at gå tidligt?
May I be allowed to leave early?
❌ Vi skal repareret bilen.
Incomplete — the causative needs få: skal have fået / få repareret bilen.
✅ Vi skal have repareret bilen.
We need to get the car repaired.
Related Topics
- Collocations with FåB2 — The fixed expressions built on få ('get') — få at vide, få lov til, få fat i, få øje på — and the all-important causative få nogen til at ('make someone do').
- GiveA1 — Full reference for give ('to give') — principal parts, all core tenses in natural sentences, the two-object word order (giver ham bogen), and the everyday idiom det giver mening.
- TageA2 — Full reference for the strong verb tage ('to take'), the silent -g, and its central role in talking about transport.
- MåtteA2 — The modal verb måtte — permission ('may'), obligation ('must'), and the crucial trap of må ikke ('must not', never 'needn't') — with full principal parts and tenses.
- The Present PerfectA2 — How Danish builds the present perfect with have (or være) plus the past participle — and the one rule English speakers need: definite past time takes the simple past, not the perfect.
- Present and Past ParticiplesB1 — Danish's two participles — the -ende present participle and the -et/-t/strong past participle — their forms, and the active/ongoing versus passive/completed split that governs them.