Låne | Danish Grammar

Here is the single most important thing to know about låne: it is one verb for what English splits into two — borrow and lend. Danish does not distinguish the two directions in the verb at all. Instead, the construction tells you which way the object is moving: you borrow something af ("from") someone, and you lend something til ("to") someone or ud ("out"). Internalise that and you have mastered the verb; miss it and you will say the opposite of what you mean.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Past	Past participle	Imperative
(at) låne	låner	lånte	lånt	lån!

This is a weak verb of the -te class: past lånte, participle lånt (note: not lånede / lånet). The stem keeps its å throughout — never write aa in running text. The imperative is Lån mig en tier ("Lend me a tenner").

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Danish verbs have no person agreement: låner serves jeg, du, han, vi, I, de alike. So the whole borrow/lend distinction that English builds into two separate verbs simply isn't carried by the Danish verb form — it lives entirely in the preposition.

One verb, two directions

The verb is identical; only the frame changes. Think of it as a single act of "temporary transfer" whose direction you specify:

Direction	Construction	Meaning
towards me	låne noget af nogen	borrow something from someone
away from me	låne nogen noget	lend someone something (ditransitive)
away from me	låne noget ud (til nogen)	lend something out (to someone)

The mental hook: af = from = it comes to me (borrow); til / ud = to / out = it leaves me (lend).

Borrowing (af = from)

Må jeg låne din oplader af dig?

Can I borrow your charger from you?

Jeg lånte den her bog af min nabo.

I borrowed this book from my neighbour.

Vi låner ofte værktøj af hinanden.

We often borrow tools from each other.

When the lender is obvious you simply drop the af-phrase: Må jeg låne din oplader? is the everyday way to ask.

Lending (til / ud = to / out)

Lending most naturally uses the ditransitive frame — person first, then thing, no preposition:

Kan du låne mig hundrede kroner indtil i morgen?

Can you lend me a hundred kroner until tomorrow?

Jeg lånte hende min cykel i weekenden.

I lent her my bike at the weekend.

The particle verb låne ud ("lend out") highlights the act of letting something leave your hands:

Biblioteket låner e-bøger ud gratis.

The library lends out e-books for free.

Jeg låner aldrig mine bøger ud — jeg får dem aldrig tilbage.

I never lend my books out — I never get them back.

Past and perfect

Han lånte penge af banken og betalte dem tilbage på et år.

He borrowed money from the bank and paid it back within a year.

The perfect uses har (auxiliary have) with the participle lånt:

Jeg har lånt din paraply — håber, det er okay.

I've borrowed your umbrella — hope that's okay.

Har du lånt mig den der film? Jeg kan ikke huske det.

Did you lend me that film? I can't remember.

The passive appears in fixed notices: Bøger lånes ud i skranken ("Books are lent out at the desk") (formal/institutional).

Useful collocations and the noun

låne noget af nogen — borrow something from someone
låne nogen noget — lend someone something
låne noget ud — lend something out
et lån — a loan; optage et lån / tage et lån — take out a loan
et boliglån — a home/mortgage loan; et studielån — a student loan
låne penge — borrow/lend money (direction from the frame)

De optog et stort lån for at købe huset.

They took out a large loan to buy the house.

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Because the same verb runs both ways, Danish leans on the preposition to disambiguate. If you ever feel the sentence is genuinely ambiguous, anchor it: låne ... af pulls the object toward the subject (borrow), låne ... *ud / til* pushes it away (lend).

This borrow/lend split mirrors a deeper point about transitive frames; compare give, which is also ditransitive (give nogen noget) but only ever moves things away from the giver. For the prepositions doing the directional work here, see af, med, om, and for the at + infinitive in for at købe, see uses of the infinitive.

A dialogue in context

— Kan jeg låne din bil i morgen? — Ja, men jeg lånte den selv af min bror, så spørg lige ham også.

— Can I borrow your car tomorrow? — Yes, but I borrowed it from my brother myself, so check with him too.

Common mistakes

❌ Jeg vil gerne lende dig en bog.

Incorrect — there is no separate verb 'lende'; Danish uses låne for both directions.

✅ Jeg vil gerne låne dig en bog.

Correct — låne nogen noget = lend someone something.

❌ Må jeg låne din oplader til dig?

Incorrect — til makes it 'lend to you', the opposite of what you mean when asking to borrow.

✅ Må jeg låne din oplader af dig?

Correct — af = 'from', so this is 'borrow from you'.

❌ Han lånede mig tusind kroner.

Incorrect — wrong inflection class; låne is a -te verb.

✅ Han lånte mig tusind kroner.

Correct — past tense is lånte, participle lånt.

❌ Biblioteket låner e-bøger af gratis.

Incorrect — af is 'from'; lending out needs the particle ud.

✅ Biblioteket låner e-bøger ud gratis.

Correct — låne ud = lend out.

Key takeaways

One verb for borrow and lend: låner / lånte / lånt (a -te verb), perfect with har.
Direction comes from the frame, not the verb: af = borrow from; til / ud = lend to / out.
Borrow: låne noget af nogen. Lend: låne nogen noget or låne noget ud.
The noun is et lån; you tager / optager et lån.

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