Høre | Danish Grammar

Høre is the everyday Danish verb for perceiving sound — "to hear." But it does far more than describe what reaches your ears. With a small set of particles it also means to belong to, to pay attention, to hear about, and to hear from someone, which makes it one of the most useful and most idiomatic verbs in the language. English speakers should keep one distinction sharp from the start: høre is passive perception (sound arrives), while lytte is active listening (you direct your attention) — exactly the "hear" vs. "listen" split English already makes.

Principal parts

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) høre	to hear
Present	hører	hear(s)
Past	hørte	heard
Past participle	hørt	heard
Imperative	hør!	hear! / listen!

Høre is a regular weak verb of the -te class: the past is hørte and the participle hørt. Verbs whose stem ends in a "soft" or voiced-feeling consonant such as r typically take this -te / -t pattern rather than the heavier -ede / -et of verbs like snakke.

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Danish verbs never inflect for person or number. Jeg hører, du hører, vi hører, de hører — a single present form, hører, serves every subject. There is no third-person -s to add.

Present tense

Jeg hører fugle ude i haven.

I hear birds out in the garden.

Kan du høre mig nu?

Can you hear me now?

Hun hører dårligt på det venstre øre.

She hears poorly in her left ear.

Past tense

Vi hørte en mærkelig lyd i natten.

We heard a strange sound in the night.

Jeg hørte aldrig, hvad han sagde.

I never heard what he said.

Present perfect

Høre describes perception, an activity, so it takes the auxiliary har in the perfect — never er. The participle is hørt.

Har du hørt den nye sang?

Have you heard the new song?

Jeg har aldrig hørt om det sted.

I've never heard of that place.

The imperative hør! is worth singling out. On its own it means "listen!" or, as a conversational opener, simply "say —" or "look —," the way English uses "listen" to flag that you are about to make a point.

Hør, har du tid på lørdag?

Listen, do you have time on Saturday?

Particle phrases — where høre earns its keep

Each particle gives høre a distinct, fixed meaning. These are not optional flourishes; they are core vocabulary.

Phrase	Meaning
høre efter	to pay attention, to listen (to instructions)
høre til	to belong to, to be among
høre om	to hear about
høre fra (nogen)	to hear from (someone)
høre op	to stop, to cease (literary/older)

Du hører ikke efter, hvad jeg siger!

You're not paying attention to what I'm saying!

Den slags hører fortiden til.

That kind of thing belongs to the past.

Jeg glæder mig til at høre fra dig.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Note the difference between høre efter and høre om: høre efter is to listen attentively (active, despite using høre), while høre om is to receive news of something. And høre til is the standard way to say something belongs to a group or category, where English would use "belong."

A natural dialogue

— Har du hørt fra Mette? — Nej, jeg har ikke hørt noget i ugevis.

— Have you heard from Mette? — No, I haven't heard anything in weeks.

— Hører du efter? — Undskyld, jeg var et helt andet sted.

— Are you listening? — Sorry, I was miles away.

Høre vs. lytte — hear vs. listen

This is the distinction English speakers must hold onto. Høre is involuntary perception: sound reaches you whether or not you meant it to. Lytte is the deliberate act of directing your attention toward a sound — you lytte til music, a podcast, advice.

Jeg hører musik = I (can) hear music (it's audible, perhaps in the background).
Jeg lytter til musik = I'm listening to music (I've chosen to, attentively).

In practice Danes often use høre loosely for "listen to" in casual speech — Jeg hører Radiohead ("I'm into / listening to Radiohead") is perfectly normal. But when the attentiveness is the point — listening to advice, to a teacher, to a warning — lytte (til) or the phrase høre efter is the precise choice.

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To say someone won't listen in the sense of "won't heed you," use høre efter or lytte, not plain høre. Han vil ikke høre efter = "He won't listen / won't be told."

Common mistakes

❌ Du skal høre til din lærer.

Wrong — høre til means 'belong to'; for heeding a teacher you need høre efter or lytte til.

✅ Du skal høre efter, hvad din lærer siger.

You should listen to what your teacher says.

❌ Jeg lytter en lyd.

Wrong — lytte cannot take a plain object; either use høre, or lytte til.

✅ Jeg hører en lyd.

I hear a sound.

❌ Vi har hørte det før.

Wrong — after har use the participle hørt, not the past tense hørte.

✅ Vi har hørt det før.

We've heard it before.

❌ Jeg er hørt fra hende.

Wrong auxiliary — høre takes har, not er.

✅ Jeg har hørt fra hende.

I've heard from her.

❌ Jeg hører om dig snart.

Wrong particle — to 'hear from' someone, use høre fra.

✅ Jeg hører fra dig snart, håber jeg.

I'll hear from you soon, I hope.

Key takeaways

Høre is a regular -te verb: hører / hørte / hørt, perfect with har.
The four particle phrases to own are høre efter (pay attention), høre til (belong to), høre om (hear about), and høre fra (hear from).
Keep the hear/listen split: høre = passive perception, lytte (til) = active, attentive listening; for "heed," use høre efter.

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