Passe på is a high-frequency Danish phrasal verb with two everyday meanings: be careful / watch out and take care of / look after. Both grow naturally out of the same idea — paying attention to something so that nothing goes wrong. The plain verb passe without the particle means something quite different (fit, suit, mind), so the little word på is doing real work here.
Principal parts
Passe på is built on the weak -ede verb passe. Only the verb conjugates; på is fixed.
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) passe på | to be careful / take care of |
| Present | passer på | watch(es) out / look(s) after |
| Past | passede på | watched out / looked after |
| Past participle | passet på | watched out / looked after |
| Imperative | Pas på! | Watch out! / Be careful! |
Two meanings, one idea
The particle på turns passe into a verb of vigilance. The two senses split by whether there is an object:
- Without an object — be careful / watch out. The imperative Pas på! is the standard Danish warning shout: Watch out! It is what you yell when a cyclist is about to hit someone.
- With an object (with på) — look after / take care of. Passe på børnene means look after the children; passe på sine ting means take care of one's belongings.
Pas på! Der kommer en bil.
Watch out! There's a car coming.
Kan du passe på hunden, mens jeg er på arbejde?
Can you look after the dog while I'm at work?
Du må passe på, at du ikke falder på det glatte gulv.
You have to be careful not to slip on the wet floor.
In the warning sense, passe på is often followed by med + a noun, or by at + a clause: pas på med kniven (be careful with the knife), pas på, at du ikke … (be careful that you don't …).
Present tense
Jeg passer på mine bedsteforældres hus, mens de er bortrejst.
I'm looking after my grandparents' house while they're away.
Han passer altid på, når han krydser vejen.
He's always careful when he crosses the road.
Past tense
The past is passede på, with the regular -ede ending.
Hun passede på sin lillebror hele eftermiddagen.
She looked after her little brother all afternoon.
Vi passede på ikke at vække de andre.
We were careful not to wake the others.
Present perfect
The perfect uses har plus the participle passet, with på intact.
Tak, fordi du har passet på blomsterne i ferien.
Thanks for taking care of the flowers over the holidays.
Har du passet på dig selv? Du ser træt ud.
Have you been taking care of yourself? You look tired.
Common collocations
- Pas på! — Watch out! / Be careful!
- passe på nogen / noget — look after someone / something
- passe på med
- noun — be careful with: pas på med ilden
- passe på sig selv — take care of oneself
- pas (godt) på dig selv — take care (of yourself) — a common, warm goodbye
Vi ses i næste uge — pas godt på dig selv!
See you next week — take good care of yourself!
Passe på vs. plain passe
Without the particle, passe is a completely different verb. Its core sense is fit / suit / be the right size, plus mind / tend:
- passe (fit / suit) — Skoene passer (the shoes fit); Det passer mig fint (that suits me fine).
- passe (be true) — Det passer ikke (that's not true / that's not right).
- passe (tend / mind) — passe sit arbejde (mind one's own work), passe en butik (mind a shop).
Adding på narrows it to vigilance: watch / guard / look after. So Skoene passer (the shoes fit) and Pas på skoene (mind / look after the shoes) are built on the same verb but mean very different things. See passe for the plain verb in full, and note that the warning Pas på! is an imperative — review the imperative if its form is unfamiliar.
Jakken passer perfekt, men pas på den — den var dyr.
The jacket fits perfectly, but look after it — it was expensive.
Mini-dialogue
— Jeg skal til møde nu. Kan du passe på Emil i en time? — Selvfølgelig. Pas på på trapperne med ham — de er glatte. — Det skal jeg nok. Pas godt på dig selv i mellemtiden.
— I've got a meeting now. Can you look after Emil for an hour? — Of course. Be careful with him on the stairs — they're slippery. — I will. Take good care of yourself in the meantime.
Common mistakes
❌ Kan du passe børnene i aften? — meaning 'look after them'.
Incorrect for 'look after' in the caring sense — without på this reads as the more neutral 'mind/tend'; idiomatic Danish for 'look after' is passe på.
✅ Kan du passe på børnene i aften?
Correct — passe på børnene for looking after the children.
❌ Pas! Der kommer en cykel.
Incorrect — the warning needs the particle: Pas på!
✅ Pas på! Der kommer en cykel.
Correct — Pas på! is the fixed warning.
❌ Pas på skoene — de passer på mig fint.
Incorrect — 'the shoes fit me' is plain passe, not passe på.
✅ Pas på skoene — de passer mig fint.
Correct — passe (no på) for fitting/suiting.
❌ Har du passet på dig selv? using passede.
Incorrect — after har the participle is passet, not the past tense passede.
✅ Har du passet på dig selv?
Correct — har + passet på.
Key takeaways
- passe på = be careful / watch out (no object) and take care of / look after (with object). Conjugate only passe (passer / passede / passet); på is fixed.
- Pas på! is the everyday warning shout.
- Plain passe (no particle) means fit / suit / be true / mind — a different verb entirely.
- Pas godt på dig selv is a warm, natural way to say take care.
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- PasseB2 — Full reference for the many-sided passe — fit/suit, look after, match, tend, and the idiom det passer ('that's true') — with the right particle for each sense and the regular -ede past.
- KommeA2 — Full reference for the strong verb komme ('to come'), its være-perfect, and the high-value idiom komme til at.
- The ImperativeA1 — How to give commands, requests and suggestions in Danish — the bare-stem imperative, polite softeners, and the idiomatic 'don't' with lad være med at.