Huske means to remember. It is the verb you reach for dozens of times a day — to ask whether someone recalls a fact, to remind yourself to do something, to confirm that a memory is intact. It pairs naturally with its opposite, glemme (to forget), and the two are best learned together.
Principal parts
Huske is a regular weak verb of the -ede class — the big, predictable group. All its tenses fall out of these five forms.
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) huske | to remember |
| Present | husker | remember(s) |
| Past (datid) | huskede | remembered |
| Past participle | husket | remembered |
| Imperative | husk! | remember! |
The imperative husk! is extremely common — it heads countless reminders and notes: Husk paraply! (Remember your umbrella!), Husk at låse døren (Remember to lock the door).
The present: husker
Husker covers both remember and am remembering, since Danish has no separate progressive. The single most useful phrase to memorise is the question Kan du huske...? — Do you remember...? Danish almost always frames this with the modal kunne (can), where English uses a plain verb.
Kan du huske, hvad hun hed?
Do you remember what her name was?
Jeg husker stadig min første skoledag tydeligt.
I still remember my first day of school clearly.
Husker du os? Vi mødtes til Lones fødselsdag.
Do you remember us? We met at Lone's birthday.
Two patterns: huske noget vs. huske at
This is where the meaning sharpens. Huske behaves differently depending on what follows it.
Huske + object means to remember a thing, a fact, or a person — to have it in your memory.
Jeg kan ikke huske hans telefonnummer.
I can't remember his phone number.
Huske at + infinitive means to remember to do something — not to forget to carry out an action.
Husk at tage din medicin, før du går i seng.
Remember to take your medicine before you go to bed.
Jeg huskede at slukke ovnen, heldigvis.
I remembered to turn off the oven, luckily.
Keeping these apart matters: Jeg husker mødet means I remember the meeting (it is in my memory), while Jeg husker at gå til mødet means I remember to go to the meeting (I don't forget to attend). English makes the very same distinction with remember doing versus remember to do, so the logic should feel familiar — Danish simply marks the second pattern with the linking word at plus the infinitive.
Husker du at låse, eller skal jeg minde dig om det hver gang?
Do you remember to lock up, or do I have to remind you every time?
There is also huske på, which means to keep in mind or to bear in mind — a slightly more deliberate act of holding something present in your thoughts.
Husk på, at vejene er glatte i dag.
Bear in mind that the roads are slippery today.
The past: huskede
The simple past is huskede, the regular -ede ending. Use it for a remembering that happened at a specific past moment.
Først da jeg stod i butikken, huskede jeg indkøbssedlen derhjemme.
Only when I was standing in the shop did I remember the shopping list back home.
The present perfect: har husket
Huske takes har in the perfect — it is not a change-of-state verb, so there is no temptation toward være here. See the present perfect for the full pattern.
Jeg har husket alt undtagen din fødselsdag — undskyld!
I've remembered everything except your birthday — sorry!
A note on mindes (formal)
In formal or literary Danish you may meet mindes (to recall, to commemorate), an -s verb: Jeg mindes en sommer for længe siden — I recall a summer long ago. It carries a wistful, elevated tone (literary/formal) and is not used in everyday speech. In conversation, always use huske.
Common collocations
- kan du huske...? — do you remember...?
- huske at
- infinitive — remember to (do)
- huske på — keep / bear in mind
- huske forkert — to misremember (literally "remember wrongly")
- så vidt jeg husker — as far as I remember (formal-ish, common in writing)
Så vidt jeg husker, lukker apoteket klokken sytten.
As far as I remember, the pharmacy closes at five.
In conversation
— Kan du huske at købe mælk på vej hjem? — Ja ja, det husker jeg nok.
— Can you remember to buy milk on the way home? — Yeah yeah, I'll remember.
Common mistakes
❌ Jeg husker glemme min nøgle.
Incorrect — huske and glemme are opposites and can't stack like this.
✅ Jeg glemte min nøgle.
I forgot my key.
Don't confuse huske (remember) with glemme (forget). They are a clean antonym pair — learn them side by side.
❌ Husk gå til lægen i morgen.
Incorrect — 'remember to do' needs the linking 'at'.
✅ Husk at gå til lægen i morgen.
Remember to go to the doctor tomorrow.
When huske is followed by an action, you need huske at + infinitive. Dropping the at is a very common beginner slip.
❌ Du husker mig fra skolen?
Stilted — Danish prefers the modal framing.
✅ Kan du huske mig fra skolen?
Do you remember me from school?
To ask whether someone remembers something, Danish strongly prefers Kan du huske...? with the modal kunne, where English uses a bare Do you remember...?
❌ Jeg mindes ikke hans navn.
Too formal/literary for casual speech.
✅ Jeg kan ikke huske hans navn.
I can't remember his name.
Mindes exists, but in everyday conversation it sounds bookish. Stick with huske.
Key takeaways
- Huske is a regular -ede verb: huske – husker – huskede – husket.
- Huske + object = remember a thing; huske at + infinitive = remember to do something.
- Huske på = keep in mind.
- Questions about memory almost always use Kan du huske...?.
- Its opposite is glemme; the formal, literary cousin mindes stays in writing.
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- GlemmeA2 — How to use glemme (to forget) — its -te past, the patterns glemme at and glemme noget, and how it pairs with huske.
- SynesB2 — Full reference for the deponent -s verb synes ('to think / find / seem'), the synes/syntes spelling trap, and how it differs from tro, mene and tænke.
- TroA2 — Full reference for tro — to believe, to think, to suppose — and how it fits into the Danish three-way think split with synes and tænke.
- Weak Past: The -ede ClassA1 — The largest, productive class of Danish regular verbs — past in -ede, participle in -et — and the safe default for any verb you don't recognise.
- The Present PerfectA2 — How Danish builds the present perfect with have (or være) plus the past participle — and the one rule English speakers need: definite past time takes the simple past, not the perfect.