Passe | Danish Grammar

Passe is one of those small Danish verbs that does the work of half a dozen English ones. Depending on the particle that follows it — or no particle at all — it means "fit," "suit," "look after," "match," "tend," or "be true." The conjugation is a textbook regular -ede verb, so nothing is hard about the forms; the entire challenge is sorting the senses by their construction. This page groups them so you can predict the right one.

Principal parts

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) passe	to fit / look after / suit
Present	passer	fit(s) / look(s) after
Past	passede	fitted / looked after
Past participle	passet	fitted / looked after
Imperative	pas! (esp. pas på!)	watch out! / mind!

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Regular -ede verb, no person agreement: passer for every subject, passede for every subject. The perfect always takes har — every sense of passe describes a state or activity, never a change of location, so the auxiliary is never er: har passet.

Sense by construction

The fastest way to read passe is by what comes after it. Here is the map:

Construction	Meaning	Example fragment
passe (intransitive, of clothes)	to fit	trøjen passer
passe nogen (a time/plan)	to suit, be convenient	tidspunktet passer mig
passe til	to match, go with	skoene passer til kjolen
passe sammen	to go together, be a good fit	de passer godt sammen
passe noget	to look after, tend (a job, child, garden)	passe børnene / haven
passe på	to look after / watch out	pas på trinnet!
passe ind	to fit in (belong, socially or physically)	han passer ind i gruppen
det passer	that's right / true	det passer ikke

"Fit" and "suit": passer

Of clothes and physical fit, passe is intransitive — the garment is the subject.

Bukserne passer ikke længere — jeg er vokset.

The trousers don't fit anymore — I've grown.

Prøv den her størrelse, den passer dig bedre.

Try this size, it fits you better.

For a time or arrangement, passe + person means "suits / is convenient for":

Passer det dig, hvis vi mødes klokken to?

Does two o'clock work for you?

"Match / go with": passe til, passe sammen

Det tørklæde passer perfekt til din frakke.

That scarf goes perfectly with your coat.

De to passer rigtig godt sammen.

The two of them are really well matched.

"Look after / tend": passe noget, passe på

When passe takes a direct object — a child, a job, a garden — it means to mind or tend it. Add the particle på and you get "look after / take care of," and as a bare imperative pas på! it warns "watch out!"

Kan du passe børnene på lørdag?

Can you look after the kids on Saturday?

Hun passer sit arbejde samvittighedsfuldt.

She tends to her work conscientiously.

Pas på! Der kommer en bil.

Watch out! There's a car coming.

Pas godt på dig selv.

Take good care of yourself.

(For the full passe på treatment, see its dedicated page linked below.)

"Fit in": passe ind

Den nye kollega passede hurtigt ind i teamet.

The new colleague quickly fitted into the team.

"Be true": det passer

A sense with no English cognate logic at all: det passer means "that's right / that's true," and the negative det passer ikke means "that's not true." This is a high-frequency reaction in conversation and a classic trap, because out of context a learner reads det passer ikke as "it doesn't fit."

— Du var ikke til mødet i går. — Det passer ikke, jeg var der.

— You weren't at the meeting yesterday. — That's not true, I was there.

Passer det, at I skal flytte til Norge?

Is it true that you're moving to Norway?

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Det passer / det passer ikke = "that's true / that's not true." Context disambiguates from the clothing sense: with det and no garment in sight, it is about truth, not fit. Trøjen passer ikke ("the jumper doesn't fit") vs det passer ikke ("that's not true") — same verb, two worlds apart.

passe vs. matche

For "go with / match," everyday Danish prefers passe til; the loanword matche exists but is more colloquial and often used of pairing-up (apps, opponents, datasets). For taste, colour and outfit, passe til is the safer, more native choice.

De farver passer ikke til hinanden.

Those colours don't go together.

A natural exchange

— Passer den her skjorte til mig? — Den passer dig perfekt, og den passer godt til dine bukser. — Og passer det, at den var på udsalg? — Ja! Pas nu på, ellers køber du hele butikken.

— Does this shirt suit me? — It fits you perfectly, and it goes well with your trousers. — And is it true it was on sale? — Yes! Now watch out, or you'll buy the whole shop.

Common mistakes

❌ Det passer ikke. (meaning 'it doesn't fit', about a garment)

Ambiguous — with no garment as subject, 'det passer ikke' is heard as 'that's not true'. For clothes, name the item: trøjen passer ikke.

✅ Trøjen passer ikke.

The jumper doesn't fit.

❌ Pas dig! (intending 'be careful')

Wrong — 'pas dig' means 'mind your own business'. To warn someone, you need the particle på.

✅ Pas på!

Watch out! / Be careful!

❌ Skoene matcher til kjolen.

Mixed construction — passe takes til, but matche doesn't. Either 'passer til' or just 'matcher'.

✅ Skoene passer til kjolen.

The shoes go with the dress.

❌ Kan du passe på børnene at de ikke falder?

Overloaded — to look after the kids is 'passe børnene'; 'pas på' as a warning stands more simply.

✅ Kan du passe børnene og sørge for, at de ikke falder?

Can you look after the kids and make sure they don't fall?

❌ Jeg er passet hunden i weekenden.

Wrong auxiliary — every sense of passe takes har in the perfect: har passet.

✅ Jeg har passet hunden i weekenden.

I've looked after the dog over the weekend.

For the particle verb in full, see passe på; for how senses cluster around fixed partners, see collocations: an overview; for the reflexive pas dig type, see reflexive verbs; and for the particle patterns generally, see phrasal verbs and particles.

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