Måtte is the Danish modal of permission and necessity, and it is two-faced in a way that catches every English speaker. In one breath må means "may, is allowed to" — du må gerne ryge ("you may smoke") — and in the next it means "must, have to" — jeg må gå nu ("I have to go now"). English splits these jobs across two different words ("may" vs "must"); Danish loads both onto a single verb and lets context decide. The single most important thing on this page is what happens when you add ikke: må ikke does not mean "needn't" — it means "must not". Getting that backwards can turn "you don't have to" into "you're forbidden to," so read the negation section carefully.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Past (datid) | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| (at) måtte | må | måtte | (har) måttet |
As with the other modals, the infinitive and the past tense are spelled identically — måtte — while the present, må, stands alone. The participle adds a second t: måttet. Note the å throughout: it is må, never maa, and the past is måtte, never maatte.
Måtte across the tenses
Måtte is a modal, so it is followed by a bare infinitive — the main verb with no at.
Present — må + bare infinitive:
Du må godt låne min cykel i dag.
You can borrow my bike today. (permission)
Past — måtte + bare infinitive:
Vi måtte vente en time på bussen.
We had to wait an hour for the bus. (necessity)
Present perfect — har + the participle måttet:
Jeg har aldrig måttet betale for at komme ind.
I have never had to pay to get in.
The perfect stacks just like English: har måttet betale = "have had to pay" — auxiliary + modal participle + bare infinitive.
The two senses: permission and necessity
1. Permission — "may, is allowed to." This is må in the positive. Danes very often soften it with gerne or godt, which add a friendly "go ahead" flavour. Bare du må can sound clipped or even like a command, so du må gerne / du må godt is the everyday polite form.
Må jeg sidde her?
May I sit here?
Børnene må godt være oppe lidt længere i aften.
The kids are allowed to stay up a bit longer tonight.
2. Necessity — "must, have to." Here må expresses an internal or circumstantial obligation, often something the speaker imposes on themselves. It frequently carries a note of reluctant inevitability — "I really must," "there's nothing for it but."
Jeg må desværre løbe — mit tog går om ti minutter.
I'm afraid I have to run — my train leaves in ten minutes.
Det må være en fejl.
That must be a mistake. (logical conclusion)
That last example shows a third, lighter use: må for a confident inference, exactly like English "must be." Hun må være hjemme nu = "She must be home by now."
The permission/prohibition asymmetry: må vs må ikke
Here is the heart of måtte, and the place English speakers go wrong. Watch what negation does:
- Må (positive) = "may, is allowed to" — the permission reading dominates.
- Må ikke (negative) = "must not, may not" — a flat prohibition.
The negation does not simply negate the permission to give "is allowed not to." It flips the whole statement into a ban. So du må ryge her ("you may smoke here") becomes, when negated, du må ikke ryge her — "you must not / are not allowed to smoke here," never "you don't have to smoke here."
Man må ikke parkere foran porten.
You must not park in front of the gate. (it is forbidden)
Du må ikke fortælle det til nogen.
You mustn't tell anyone.
Common collocations and fixed expressions
A handful of high-frequency patterns are worth memorising whole:
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| må gerne / må godt | is (warmly) allowed to, "feel free to" |
| må ikke | must not, is forbidden to |
| må jeg bede om…? | may I have…? (polite request, e.g. ordering) |
| det må man ikke | that's not allowed |
| hvad må jeg byde på? | what may I offer you? (host to guest) |
Må jeg bede om en kop kaffe?
May I have a cup of coffee, please?
Det må man altså ikke!
You're really not allowed to do that!
A short dialogue
– Må jeg godt få lidt mere kage? – Ja, det må du gerne, men du må ikke spise det hele.
– Can I have a bit more cake? – Yes, you may, but you mustn't eat all of it.
Notice all three faces of måtte in one exchange: a request (må jeg), granted permission (det må du gerne), and a prohibition (du må ikke).
Common mistakes
❌ Du må ikke komme — det er helt frivilligt.
Wrong if you mean 'you don't have to come.' Du må ikke komme = 'you are forbidden to come,' which contradicts 'it's voluntary.'
✅ Du behøver ikke at komme — det er helt frivilligt.
Correct: behøver ikke / skal ikke expresses absence of obligation ('needn't').
❌ Jeg må at gå nu.
Wrong: a modal takes a bare infinitive — no at after må.
✅ Jeg må gå nu.
Correct: må + bare infinitive (gå).
❌ Jeg har måtte vente længe.
Wrong participle: the past participle of måtte is måttet, with -et.
✅ Jeg har måttet vente længe.
Correct: har måttet vente = 'have had to wait.'
❌ Maa jeg sidde her?
Wrong orthography: the å is a real letter and is required — never write aa in modern Danish running text.
✅ Må jeg sidde her?
Correct: må with the å.
Key takeaways
- Må does double duty: permission ("may") and necessity ("must"). Context, not the verb, tells you which.
- Må ikke = "must not," a prohibition — never "needn't." For "don't have to," use behøver ikke or skal ikke.
- It's a modal: bare infinitive after it, no at. The participle is måttet; the perfect is har måttet.
- Soften permission with gerne or godt: du må gerne… is the friendly, everyday form.
For the bigger picture of how må, kan, skal and vil divide up the modal space, see modals overview, and for the permission/ability contrast specifically, expressing ability and permission.
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Modal Verbs: An OverviewA2 — The six core Danish modals — kunne, ville, skulle, måtte, burde, turde — their present and past forms, and the iron rule that they take a bare infinitive with no at.
- Ability and PermissionA2 — How to say can, be able to, may, and be allowed to in Danish — kan (godt), må (gerne), and have lov til at — with graded model sentences, the må-ikke prohibition trap, and a substitution table.
- SkulleA1 — The modal verb skulle — obligation, plans and arrangements, the reportative 'is said to', and skal vi…? — with full principal parts and tenses.
- KunneB2 — Full reference for the modal kunne ('can / be able to / could'): a preterite-present verb that takes a bare infinitive.
- Adding At After ModalsA1 — Danish modal verbs take a bare infinitive with no 'at' — so 'jeg vil at gå' is wrong; it's 'jeg vil gå', mirroring English 'I want to go' minus the 'to'.