Mangle | Danish Grammar

Mangle is the practical, everyday verb for lacking, being short of, or being missing. Where savne is about emotional longing, mangle is about a concrete shortfall: there isn't enough of something, a piece is gone, you're out of milk. It is a fully regular weak -ede verb, and it appears in two very useful patterns — a personal one (jeg mangler tid, "I'm short of time") and an impersonal one (der mangler en knap, "there's a button missing"). Mastering both lets you talk about everything from a missing sock to a half-finished recipe.

Principal parts

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) mangle	to lack / be missing
Present	mangler	lack(s) / am missing
Past	manglede	lacked / was missing
Past participle	manglet	lacked / been missing
Imperative	(not used)	—

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No agreement, as always: mangler is the whole present (jeg mangler, du mangler, der mangler, vi mangler) and manglede the whole past. Fully regular: present -er, past -ede, participle -et. The imperative is grammatically possible but unused — you don't command something to be lacking.

Personal use: jeg mangler noget — I lack / am short of something

In the personal pattern, the subject is the person who is short of something, and the object is what is lacking. English often phrases this as "I'm out of," "I'm short of," "I don't have," or "I'm missing."

Jeg mangler tid.

I'm short of time.

Vi mangler mælk — kan du købe noget?

We're out of milk — can you buy some?

Han mangler kun ét fag for at blive færdig.

He's only one subject short of finishing.

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A very Danish use: mangle for what's left to do before something is complete — jeg mangler bare at vaske op ("I just have the washing-up left to do"). Here it takes at + infinitive and means "have something still to do." This is extremely common in everyday speech.

Jeg mangler bare at sende mailen, så er jeg færdig.

I just have to send the email, then I'm done.

Impersonal use: Der mangler... — there's ... missing

The impersonal construction uses the dummy subject der ("there") plus mangler to report that something is absent. It is the natural way to point out a gap, a shortage, or a missing part — and it maps closely onto English "there is/are ... missing." See there is / there are for the broader der-construction.

Der mangler en knap på din skjorte.

There's a button missing on your shirt.

Der mangler to stole til mødet.

There are two chairs missing for the meeting.

Der manglede salt i suppen.

The soup was lacking salt.

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Word order: because der fills the subject slot, the real noun comes after the verb — der mangler en knap — and the verb still stays in second position, obeying the V2 rule. Note that mangler does not change for a plural noun: der mangler to stole is correct, thanks to the no-agreement rule.

Past: manglede

Vi manglede penge i slutningen af måneden.

We were short of money at the end of the month.

Present perfect: har manglet

Jeg har manglet en god ordbog i årevis.

I've lacked a good dictionary for years.

mangle vs savne — be short of vs miss emotionally

This is the pair to lock in. Both can surface as English "miss," but they are not interchangeable:

mangle = lack, be short of, be missing (practical absence): jeg mangler tid.
savne = miss emotionally, long for (felt absence of someone dear): jeg savner dig.

If you say jeg mangler dig, it sounds oddly clinical — as if a person were an item you're short on. For the warm "I miss you," it has to be savne.

Jeg savner dig — men jeg mangler også din hjælp i køkkenet.

I miss you — but I'm also short of your help in the kitchen.

Common collocations

mangle tid / penge / søvn — to be short of time / money / sleep
mangle bare at + infinitive — to just have ... left to do
der mangler noget — there's something missing
det mangler bare — "that's all we need" (ironic) / "of course" (set phrase)
mangle ord — to be lost for words (jeg mangler ord)

Bare rolig, der mangler ikke noget — alt er klar.

Don't worry, nothing's missing — everything's ready.

A natural exchange

— Er vi klar til middagen? — Næsten. Vi mangler bare brød, og der mangler en gaffel på bordet. — Okay, jeg løber ned og køber brød.

— Are we ready for dinner? — Almost. We just need bread, and there's a fork missing on the table. — Okay, I'll run down and buy bread.

Common mistakes

❌ Jeg mangler dig.

Sounds clinical for a loved one — 'I miss you' emotionally is savne, not mangle.

✅ Jeg savner dig.

I miss you.

❌ Mangler en knap på din skjorte.

Wrong — the impersonal construction needs the dummy subject der.

✅ Der mangler en knap på din skjorte.

There's a button missing on your shirt.

❌ Der mangle to stole.

Wrong — the present is mangler; and it stays mangler even with a plural noun.

✅ Der mangler to stole.

There are two chairs missing.

❌ Vi manglede mælk, så jeg har mangle noget.

Wrong participle — the perfect needs manglet.

✅ Vi manglede mælk, så jeg har købt noget.

We were out of milk, so I've bought some.

❌ Jeg mangler at have brug for hjælp.

Garbled — to say you still need to do something, use mangle bare at + infinitive.

✅ Jeg mangler bare at rydde op.

I just have the tidying-up left to do.

Key takeaways

Mangle is a regular -ede verb: mangler / manglede / manglet.
Personal pattern: jeg mangler noget = I lack / am short of something; with at + infinitive it means "have ... left to do."
Impersonal pattern: Der mangler ... = "there's ... missing" — verb stays mangler even for plurals.
It means practical absence; for emotional "miss," use savne.

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