Følge means to follow — physically behind someone, along a path, a rule, or a piece of advice. It earns its place among the high-frequency verbs largely through one combination, følge med, which Danes use constantly to mean "keep up," "pay attention," or "come along." The verb is also a mixed verb: it changes its stem vowel like a strong verb and adds a -t ending like a weak one, giving the past fulgte (not følgede). This page covers the conjugation, the core senses, and the particle verbs you'll hear every day.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Past | Past participle | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (at) følge | følger | fulgte | fulgt | følg! |
The mixed pattern is the thing to memorise: the vowel shifts ø → u (følge → fulgte) and the ending is -te, with the participle fulgt losing the -e. This is the same family as bringe → bragte → bragt and sælge → solgte → solgt; see verbs/past-strong-mixed for the whole group.
Present tense
Hunden følger mig overalt.
The dog follows me everywhere.
Vi følger den samme rute hver morgen.
We follow the same route every morning.
Følger du nyhederne om valget?
Are you following the news about the election?
Past tense
The mixed past fulgte is where over-regularisation strikes; resist the urge to write følgede.
Jeg fulgte hende hjem efter festen.
I walked her home after the party.
De fulgte lægens råd og blev hjemme.
They followed the doctor's advice and stayed home.
Present perfect
The perfect takes har + fulgt.
Har du fulgt med i, hvad der er sket?
Have you kept up with what's happened?
Vi har fulgt sagen tæt i flere uger.
We've followed the case closely for several weeks.
Følge med — the verb's workhorse
Følge med is one of the most frequent particle verbs in spoken Danish, and it spans three related senses English splits across different words:
- keep up (physically or mentally) — not fall behind
- pay attention / stay informed — track what's going on
- come along — accompany someone
Vent lige — jeg kan ikke følge med, du går for hurtigt.
Hang on — I can't keep up, you're walking too fast.
Det er svært at følge med i undervisningen, når man er træt.
It's hard to follow along in class when you're tired.
Vil du følge med ind og se den nye lejlighed?
Do you want to come along and see the new flat?
Other particle verbs and the preposition ifølge
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| følge efter | to follow behind (someone) |
| følge op (på) | to follow up (on) |
| følge nogen hjem | to walk / see someone home |
| ifølge (+ noun) | according to (preposition) |
| som følge af | as a result of |
En mistænkelig bil fulgte efter os hele vejen hjem.
A suspicious car followed behind us the whole way home.
Ifølge vejrudsigten bliver det regn i morgen.
According to the forecast, it'll rain tomorrow.
Mange butikker lukkede som følge af krisen.
Many shops closed as a result of the crisis.
Notice that ifølge and som følge af are frozen forms built from følge but used as prepositions, not verbs — you don't conjugate them. They are extremely common in news and formal writing.
A dialogue
– Skal du også til mødet? – Ja, jeg følger lige med dig derhen, så jeg kan følge med i det hele.
– Are you going to the meeting too? – Yes, I'll just come along with you, so I can keep up with everything.
Common mistakes
❌ Jeg følgede hende hjem.
Incorrect — følge is a mixed verb; the past is fulgte, not følgede.
✅ Jeg fulgte hende hjem.
I walked her home.
❌ Jeg kan ikke følge dig, du går for hurtigt.
Wrong sense — plain følge means 'follow/accompany'; 'keep up' with a pace needs følge med.
✅ Jeg kan ikke følge med, du går for hurtigt.
I can't keep up, you're walking too fast.
❌ Har du fulgte med i nyhederne?
Incorrect — the perfect needs the participle fulgt, not the past fulgte.
✅ Har du fulgt med i nyhederne?
Have you kept up with the news?
❌ Ifølge til vejrudsigten bliver det regn.
Incorrect — ifølge takes the noun directly; no extra til.
✅ Ifølge vejrudsigten bliver det regn.
According to the forecast, it'll rain.
❌ Vi skal i biografen. Må jeg følge?
Wrong — for 'may I come along?' the particle med is obligatory; plain følge needs an object (følge nogen = accompany someone).
✅ Vi skal i biografen. Må jeg følge med?
We're going to the cinema. May I come along?
Key takeaways
- Følge is a mixed verb: følger / fulgte / fulgt, imperative følg! — never følgede.
- Plain følge = follow/accompany/obey (a path, a person, a rule, advice).
- Følge med is the high-frequency multitool: keep up / follow along / come along.
- Ifølge ("according to") and som følge af ("as a result of") are frozen prepositions from the same root.
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Mixed and Irregular VerbsB1 — Danish verbs that change their vowel and add a dental ending — plus the wholly irregular core verbs every learner must memorise.
- KommeA2 — Full reference for the strong verb komme ('to come'), its være-perfect, and the high-value idiom komme til at.
- GåA1 — Full reference for gå ('to walk / to go') — principal parts, all core tenses in natural sentences, the core idioms hvordan går det? and det går, and why 'go on foot' takes være in the perfect while 'go by vehicle' is køre or tage.
- Tage medA2 — How to use the phrasal verb tage med ('to bring along / come along') — the everyday Danish way to say 'bring', and how it differs from bringe and have med.