Forsvinde means to disappear or to vanish. It is the single most important verb for understanding why Danish has two perfect auxiliaries, because it is intransitive, describes a pure change of state, and therefore takes være — not har — in the perfect. There is no direct English cognate, but the bare root svinde survives in English distantly through dwindle and means to dwindle, shrink away; the prefix for- intensifies it into vanish completely. The strong pattern is forsvinde → forsvandt → forsvundet, the same nasal-cluster ablaut you see in finde → fandt → fundet and binde → bandt → bundet.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Past | Past participle | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (at) forsvinde | forsvinder | forsvandt | forsvundet | forsvind |
The vowels follow the finde / binde family: i → a → u. Present forsvinder (i), past forsvandt (a, with the -dt cluster), participle forsvundet (u). If you already know finde – fandt – fundet, you have the whole pattern for free; just prefix for- and you get forsvinde – forsvandt – forsvundet.
The perfect: ALWAYS være
Because forsvinde describes something passing out of existence or out of view — a change of state, not an action performed on an object — its perfect is formed with være, never har.
Min telefon er forsvundet — jeg kan ikke finde den nogen steder.
My phone has disappeared — I can't find it anywhere.
Alle gæsterne var forsvundet, da jeg vågnede.
All the guests had vanished by the time I woke up.
Pludselig var smerten forsvundet helt.
Suddenly the pain had completely disappeared.
This is the same logic that governs blive, gå, komme, and dø: verbs of motion and change of state take være in the perfect. Forsvinde is perhaps the clearest example of all, because there is no transitive use to muddy the picture — disappearing is something a thing undergoes, never something it does to an object.
Basic usage
The present tense forsvinder covers both disappears (habitual) and is disappearing (right now), since Danish has no separate continuous form. Direction is added with the usual particles — forsvinde ind (disappear in), forsvinde væk (disappear away), forsvinde bag (disappear behind) — and these particles are also where motion shows most clearly, reinforcing the være-perfect.
Solen forsvandt bag skyerne, og det blev koldt.
The sun disappeared behind the clouds, and it turned cold.
Hver gang jeg ser efter den, forsvinder katten ind under sofaen.
Every time I look for it, the cat disappears under the sofa.
Mine nøgler er forsvundet ned bag radiatoren igen.
My keys have disappeared down behind the radiator again.
The related verbs: svinde, forsvinde, få til at forsvinde
It is worth seeing forsvinde against its relatives, because the family throws light on the meaning. The bare root svinde (to dwindle, wane, shrink away) is now somewhat literary but survives in everyday phrases like svinde ind (shrink, dwindle). Add the intensifying prefix for- and you get forsvinde — not just dwindling but vanishing entirely. To make the verb transitive — to make something disappear — Danish does not bend forsvinde itself; it uses the causative paraphrase få noget til at forsvinde (get something to disappear). This is why you will never see forsvinde with a direct object.
Magikeren fik kaninen til at forsvinde.
The magician made the rabbit disappear.
Hans formuer svandt ind år for år.
His fortunes dwindled year by year.
Forsvinde sporløst — vanish without a trace
The fixed collocation forsvinde sporløst (vanish without a trace) is common in news reporting and crime contexts. Sporløst literally means traceless-ly (from spor, a track/trace).
Skibet forsvandt sporløst i Nordsøen i 1923.
The ship vanished without a trace in the North Sea in 1923.
To vandrere er forsvundet sporløst i bjergene.
Two hikers have vanished without a trace in the mountains.
Tiden forsvinder — time slips away
Danish uses forsvinde idiomatically for time the way English says time flies — though the Danish image is of time vanishing rather than flying. The same metaphor stretches to money, opportunities, and symptoms: anything that is there one moment and gone the next can forsvinde.
Tiden forsvinder, når man har det sjovt.
Time slips away when you're having fun.
Pengene forsvinder bare mellem hænderne på mig.
The money just disappears between my fingers.
Forsvind! — get lost!
The imperative forsvind! is a sharp, dismissive command meaning get lost! or clear off! It is informal and confrontational — recognise it, and use it only when you genuinely mean to drive someone away.
Forsvind! Jeg vil ikke se dig her igen. (informal, confrontational)
Get lost! I don't want to see you here again.
Common Mistakes
❌ Min telefon har forsvundet.
Incorrect — forsvinde is a change-of-state verb; the perfect takes være.
✅ Min telefon er forsvundet.
My phone has disappeared.
This is the defining error for English speakers, because English uses have for every perfect. Danish forsvinde takes være: er forsvundet, var forsvundet. Never har forsvundet.
❌ Pengene forsvindede fra kontoen.
Incorrect — forsvinde is strong; the past is forsvandt, not forsvindede.
✅ Pengene forsvandt fra kontoen.
The money disappeared from the account.
No regular -ede past. The strong past is forsvandt, on the finde/fandt pattern.
❌ Skibet er forsvindet sporløst.
Incorrect participle — it's forsvundet (u), not forsvindet (i).
✅ Skibet er forsvundet sporløst.
The ship has vanished without a trace.
The participle vowel is u: forsvundet. Carrying the present-tense i into the participle is a frequent slip.
❌ Han forsvandte hurtigt rundt om hjørnet.
Incorrect — the past is forsvandt, with no extra -e.
✅ Han forsvandt hurtigt rundt om hjørnet.
He disappeared quickly around the corner.
The strong past already ends in -dt (forsvandt); adding -e on top of it produces a non-form.
Key Takeaways
- Principal parts: forsvinde – forsvandt – forsvundet (strong). Vowels: i, a, u — same as finde – fandt – fundet.
- The perfect is always være: er/var forsvundet, never har forsvundet.
- Root svinde relates distantly to English dwindle; the for- prefix means vanish completely.
- Useful set phrases: forsvinde sporløst (vanish without a trace), Forsvind! (get lost! — informal).
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Strong Verbs: Ablaut PatternsA2 — Danish strong verbs form their past by changing the stem vowel — learn the major ablaut series as families to turn memorisation into pattern recognition.
- Have vs Være in the PerfectB2 — Danish builds the perfect with two auxiliaries — default har, but er for motion-to-a-goal and change-of-state when you mean the resulting new location or state.
- BliveA1 — Full reference for blive ('to become / to stay') — principal parts, all core tenses in natural sentences, its double life as 'become' and 'remain', and its central role as the passive auxiliary and future marker.