Finde ud af | Danish Grammar

Finde ud af is one of the most useful phrasal verbs in everyday Danish. It means find out or figure out — the act of discovering a fact, solving a puzzle, or working something through. The thing that makes it tricky for English speakers is the cluster of three little words after the verb: ud af. They look like two separate particles, but they behave as a single unit that you must keep together.

Principal parts

Finde ud af is built on the strong verb finde (find). Only the verb conjugates; ud af never changes.

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) finde ud af	to find out / figure out
Present	finder ud af	find(s) out
Past	fandt ud af	found out
Past participle	fundet ud af	found out
Imperative	Find ud af det!	Find it out! / Sort it out!

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Danish verbs do not change for person or number. Jeg finder ud af det, hun finder ud af det, de finder ud af det — one present form serves every subject, and the past is fandt for everyone.

Ud af travels as a unit

The base verb finde means find in the physical sense — locate an object you were looking for. Add ud af and the meaning shifts from locate to discover or figure out: you arrive at a piece of knowledge rather than a physical thing.

The key rule is that ud and af stay together as a block. You do not split them, and you do not drop the af. English speakers often want to say finde ud (mirroring find out) and forget the af — but a bare finde ud is not idiomatic Danish in this meaning.

Jeg fandt ud af, at toget var aflyst.

I found out that the train was cancelled.

Kan du finde ud af, hvad det koster?

Can you find out what it costs?

Vi prøver at finde ud af, hvorfor computeren går så langsomt.

We're trying to figure out why the computer is running so slowly.

A direct object, when there is one, follows the whole cluster: finde ud af det, finde ud af sandheden. The pronoun det is extremely common here and means it / that whole matter.

Present tense

Jeg finder altid ud af, hvad ungerne har lavet i skolen.

I always find out what the kids did at school.

Hvis vi spørger Mette, finder vi ud af det med det samme.

If we ask Mette, we'll find out right away.

Past tense

The past is fandt (strong verb), plus the fixed ud af.

Hun fandt ud af det, før jeg nåede at sige noget.

She figured it out before I had a chance to say anything.

Vi fandt aldrig ud af, hvem der havde sendt brevet.

We never found out who had sent the letter.

Present perfect

The perfect uses har plus the participle fundet — again with ud af intact.

Har du fundet ud af, hvornår mødet starter?

Have you found out when the meeting starts?

Jeg har endelig fundet ud af, hvordan maskinen virker.

I've finally figured out how the machine works.

Common collocations

finde ud af det — sort it out, work it out (the all-purpose phrase)
finde ud af, at … — find out that … (introducing a fact)
finde ud af, hvordan / hvorfor / hvem … — figure out how / why / who …
finde ud af det med hinanden — work things out with each other (e.g. in a relationship or dispute)
ikke kunne finde ud af
- noun/infinitive — not be able to manage / cope with: han kan ikke finde ud af at lave mad

Bare rolig — vi skal nok finde ud af det.

Don't worry — we'll sort it out.

Han kan slet ikke finde ud af den nye telefon.

He can't make heads or tails of the new phone.

Finde ud af vs. plain finde and opdage

Three verbs cluster around the idea of finding:

finde — locate a physical thing you were looking for (jeg fandt mine nøgler). See finde.
finde ud af — discover a fact through investigation or effort; figure out.
opdage — notice / discover something, often suddenly and without trying. See opdage.

The difference between finde ud af and opdage is effort: you finder ud af something by digging for it, but you opdager something that simply catches your attention.

Jeg opdagede en fejl i regnskabet og fandt ud af, hvor pengene var blevet af.

I noticed an error in the accounts and figured out where the money had gone.

Mini-dialogue

— Hvornår lukker biblioteket i dag? — Det ved jeg faktisk ikke. Jeg finder ud af det og skriver til dig. — Tak! Sidst fandt du ud af, at de havde lukket tidligt.

— When does the library close today? — I don't actually know. I'll find out and text you. — Thanks! Last time you found out they'd closed early.

Common mistakes

❌ Jeg vil gerne finde ud, hvad der skete.

Incorrect — dropping af; finde ud alone is not idiomatic here.

✅ Jeg vil gerne finde ud af, hvad der skete.

Correct — ud af must stay together.

❌ Kan du finde af ud det?

Incorrect — the particles are reversed; the order is fixed as ud af.

✅ Kan du finde ud af det?

Correct — ud af in that order, object after the cluster.

❌ Jeg fandt mine nøgler ud af i tasken.

Incorrect — locating a physical object is plain finde, not finde ud af.

✅ Jeg fandt mine nøgler i tasken.

Correct — use plain finde for locating an object.

❌ Har du finde ud af, hvornår vi mødes?

Incorrect — after har you need the participle fundet, not the infinitive.

✅ Har du fundet ud af, hvornår vi mødes?

Correct — har + fundet ud af.

Key takeaways

finde ud af = find out / figure out; conjugate only finde (finder / fandt / fundet) and keep ud af as a fixed block.
Never drop the af and never reorder the particles.
An object follows the whole cluster: finde ud af det.
Use plain finde to locate a thing, opdage to notice something by chance, and finde ud af to discover a fact through effort.

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