Købe ("to buy") is among the most useful verbs for daily life in Denmark, and one of the cleanest examples of the -te weak class. Its forms are fully predictable: present køber, past købte, participle købt. It pairs naturally with its antonym sælge ("to sell"), which is irregular — a useful contrast that shows just how tidy købe is. The one trap is the past tense: English speakers reflexively over-regularise it to *købede, but it must be købte.
Principal parts
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) købe | to buy |
| Present | køber | buy / buys |
| Past | købte | bought |
| Past participle | købt | bought |
| Imperative | køb! | buy! |
Mind the ø in every form: køber, købte, købt, køb. Writing kobe or kober is simply wrong — the vowel is always ø.
Present: køber
The present køber is identical for every subject and covers both "I buy" and "I am buying."
| Subject | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| jeg | køber | jeg køber ind |
| du | køber | du køber for meget |
| han / hun | køber | hun køber økologisk |
| vi | køber | vi køber en ny bil |
| de | køber | de køber huset |
Jeg køber altid brød hos bageren om morgenen.
I always buy bread at the bakery in the morning.
Køber du billetterne, eller skal jeg gøre det?
Are you buying the tickets, or shall I do it?
De køber et nyt hus til foråret.
They're buying a new house in the spring.
Past: købte
The past is købte — regular, just add -te. This is the form to drill, because the instinct to say *købede is strong.
Vi købte en masse frugt på markedet i går.
We bought a lot of fruit at the market yesterday.
Jeg købte den her trøje på udsalg — den var halv pris.
I bought this jumper on sale — it was half price.
Present perfect: har købt
The perfect uses the default auxiliary har plus the participle købt: har købt ("have bought"). Buying is an ordinary transitive activity, so it always takes have.
Har du købt mælk? Vi er løbet tør.
Have you bought milk? We've run out.
Jeg har lige købt en gave til min mor.
I've just bought a present for my mum.
Da vi nåede frem, havde de allerede købt alle billetterne.
By the time we arrived, they had already bought all the tickets.
That last sentence shows the past perfect, havde købt ("had bought").
Imperative: køb!
The imperative is køb — common in advice and advertising.
Køb nu den jakke — du har kigget på den i ugevis!
Just buy that jacket — you've been looking at it for weeks!
The antonym: købe vs sælge
It is worth learning købe alongside its opposite, sælge ("to sell"), because the pair shows the difference between a regular and an irregular verb at a glance. Købe is the tidy -te model; sælge is strong/irregular, with a vowel change in the past:
| Infinitive | Present | Past | Participle | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| buy | at købe | køber | købte | købt |
| sell | at sælge | sælger | solgte | solgt |
Vi købte huset for ti år siden og solgte det sidste sommer.
We bought the house ten years ago and sold it last summer.
Han køber gamle møbler billigt og sælger dem dyrt.
He buys old furniture cheaply and sells it expensively.
Common collocations and fixed expressions
- købe ind — to shop, do the grocery shopping
- købe noget til nogen — to buy something for someone
- købe på afbetaling — to buy in instalments / on credit
- købe og sælge — to buy and sell, to trade
- det køber jeg ikke — I don't buy that / I'm not convinced (figurative)
Kan du købe ind på vej hjem? Vi mangler mælk og æg.
Can you do the shopping on the way home? We're out of milk and eggs.
Han siger, han var syg, men det køber jeg ikke.
He says he was ill, but I don't buy it.
Passive: købes
Like most Danish verbs, købe has a neat -s passive: købes ("is bought / can be bought"). You meet it constantly in signs, ads, and notices, where it expresses what is available for purchase or where something can be obtained.
Billetterne købes på nettet eller i kiosken ved indgangen.
The tickets are bought online or at the kiosk by the entrance.
Brugte cykler købes og sælges her.
Used bicycles bought and sold here.
The -s passive lets Danish say "is bought" with a single word — no helper verb, no participle, just købes. Note that købes and sælges often appear as a pair on second-hand notices.
A natural exchange
— Har du købt gaven til Anne? — Ja, jeg købte en bog til hende. Jeg køber altid bøger, når jeg er i tvivl. — God idé!
— Have you bought the present for Anne? — Yes, I bought her a book. I always buy books when I'm in doubt. — Good idea!
Common mistakes
❌ Jeg købede en ny telefon i går.
Incorrect — købe is a -te verb, so the past is købte, not the over-regularised *købede.
✅ Jeg købte en ny telefon i går.
I bought a new phone yesterday.
❌ Vi har sælgte huset.
Incorrect — the participle of sælge is solgt, not *sælgte; only the meaning mirrors købe, not the forms.
✅ Vi har solgt huset.
We've sold the house.
❌ Jeg er købt en gave til min mor.
Incorrect auxiliary — buying is an activity, not a motion verb, so the perfect uses har.
✅ Jeg har købt en gave til min mor.
I've bought a present for my mum.
❌ Gør du købe billetterne?
Incorrect — Danish has no 'do'-support; just invert the verb itself.
✅ Køber du billetterne?
Are you buying the tickets?
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