Grine ("to laugh") is the everyday word for laughing — the one you actually hear in conversation, on the street, and in text messages. It conjugates as a textbook -ede weak verb, so the forms hold no surprises. The real learning here is lexical: Danish has three nearby verbs — grine (laugh), le (a more formal, literary "laugh"), and smile (smile) — and English speakers blur them. Getting the choice right, plus the construction grine ad ("laugh at"), is what separates natural Danish from translated Danish.
Principal parts
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) grine | to laugh |
| Present | griner | laugh(s) |
| Past | grinede | laughed |
| Past participle | grinet | laughed |
| Imperative | grin! | laugh! |
Grine vs. le vs. smile
These three verbs sit on a spectrum from everyday to elevated to gentle:
| Verb | Meaning | Register | Past / Participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| grine | to laugh (out loud) | everyday, neutral-to-informal | grinede / grinet |
| le | to laugh | formal, literary, slightly old-fashioned | lo / leet |
| smile | to smile | everyday, neutral | smilede / smilet |
In spoken Danish you laugh with grine; le survives mainly in writing, fixed phrases, and a faintly literary tone. English has only one verb, "laugh," for the first two — so the instinct is to reach for le because it looks like "laugh." Resist it: in normal speech, choose grine.
Vi grinede så meget, at vi fik ondt i maven.
We laughed so hard our stomachs hurt.
Hun lo stille for sig selv. (literary)
She laughed quietly to herself. (literary register)
Han smilede høfligt, men sagde ikke noget.
He smiled politely but said nothing.
Present: griner
The present griner is identical for every subject.
| Subject | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| jeg | griner | jeg griner altid af hans vittigheder |
| du | griner | du griner ad mig |
| han / hun | griner | hun griner højt |
| vi | griner | vi griner sammen |
| de | griner | de griner ad filmen |
Børnene griner hver gang klovnen falder.
The kids laugh every time the clown falls over.
Hvorfor griner du? Sagde jeg noget dumt?
Why are you laughing? Did I say something stupid?
Past: grinede
Alle grinede, da han kom ind med håret fuldt af maling.
Everyone laughed when he walked in with his hair full of paint.
Jeg grinede så meget af den joke, at jeg ikke kunne få vejret.
I laughed so hard at that joke I couldn't breathe.
Present perfect: har grinet
The perfect takes har plus the participle grinet — laughing is an activity, so the auxiliary is always har, never er.
Jeg har ikke grinet så meget i årevis.
I haven't laughed that much in years.
Vi har grinet ad den historie mange gange siden.
We've laughed at that story many times since.
Past perfect: havde grinet
Bagefter skammede han sig, fordi han havde grinet ad hende.
Afterwards he felt ashamed because he had laughed at her.
Grine ad: laughing AT something
The phrasal pattern grine ad + noun targets the source of the laughter — a joke, a film, or, less kindly, a person.
Du skal ikke grine ad andre, når de laver fejl.
You shouldn't laugh at others when they make mistakes.
Vi grinede ad os selv bagefter.
We laughed at ourselves afterwards.
Common collocations and fixed expressions
- grine ad (+ noun) — to laugh at
- grine højt — to laugh out loud
- grine sig fordærvet / grine sig ihjel — to laugh oneself silly / to death (informal)
- få nogen til at grine — to make someone laugh
- grine indvendigt — to laugh inside, to be inwardly amused
Hun fik hele bordet til at grine med sin tale.
She got the whole table laughing with her speech.
A natural exchange
— Hvorfor griner I? — Vi griner bare ad en gammel video. Vi grinede os fordærvet sidste gang, vi så den. — Vis mig den! Jeg har ikke grinet ordentligt hele dagen.
— Why are you laughing? — We're just laughing at an old video. We laughed ourselves silly last time we watched it. — Show me! I haven't had a proper laugh all day.
Common mistakes
❌ Du skal ikke grine af mig.
Wrong preposition — 'laugh at' is grine ad, with ad, not af.
✅ Du skal ikke grine ad mig.
Don't laugh at me.
❌ Vi grinte hele aftenen.
Wrong past — grine is an -ede verb, so the past is grinede, not the -te form grinte.
✅ Vi grinede hele aftenen.
We laughed all evening.
❌ Hun smilede så højt, at naboerne hørte det.
Wrong verb — smile is to smile (silent); for audible laughter you need grine.
✅ Hun grinede så højt, at naboerne hørte det.
She laughed so loudly the neighbours heard it.
❌ Vi lo ad hans joke. (in casual speech)
Too formal for everyday talk — le is literary; in conversation use grine.
✅ Vi grinede ad hans joke.
We laughed at his joke.
❌ Jeg har grinede meget i dag.
Wrong form after har — the perfect needs the participle grinet, not the past grinede.
✅ Jeg har grinet meget i dag.
I've laughed a lot today.
To explore the wider vocabulary of moods and reactions, see expressing feelings, and review the regular past in the -ede past tense.
Now practice Danish
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