Regne | Danish Grammar

Regne is a small word that pulls triple duty. It is the weather verb — det regner, "it's raining." It is the arithmetic verb — regne et stykke, "to do a sum." And in the phrase regne med, it means "to count on" or "to expect." Three meanings, one regular conjugation, and three different ways of building a sentence around it. This page keeps them straight.

Principal parts

Infinitive	Present	Past	Past participle	Imperative
(at) regne	regner	regnede	regnet	regn!

Regne is a regular weak verb of the -ede class: past regnede, participle regnet. The imperative regn! belongs to the "calculate" sense (Regn det ud! — "Work it out!"); you obviously cannot order the sky to rain.

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Danish verbs never change for person or number. Whether the subject is det (the weather), jeg (doing maths), or vi (counting on something), the present is always regner.

Sense 1: to rain (impersonal det)

For weather, Danish uses a "dummy" subject det, exactly as English uses "it." There is no real thing doing the raining; det simply fills the subject slot Danish word order requires.

Det regner — tag en paraply med.

It's raining — take an umbrella.

Det regnede hele natten, men nu er det tørt.

It rained all night, but now it's dry.

Det har regnet i tre dage i træk.

It's been raining three days in a row.

That last example shows the perfect: har + regnet. Note that English's "it has been raining" collapses into Danish's simple perfect det har regnet — Danish has no separate continuous form.

Sense 2: to calculate / do maths

When regne means arithmetic, it takes an object or a particle. Regne et stykke is "to do a sum"; regne ud is "to work out / figure out."

Børnene lærer at regne i skolen.

The children are learning to do maths at school.

Kan du regne ud, hvor meget vi skylder hver?

Can you work out how much we each owe?

Jeg regnede forkert og betalte for meget.

I miscalculated and paid too much.

Note how this sense extends from literal numbers to "figuring out" anything — regne ud covers working out a problem, a route, or a person's intentions.

Sense 3: regne med — to count on / expect

This is the sense that catches learners. Regne med + noun or at-clause means "to count on," "to expect," or "to assume." The preposition is fixed: it is always med, never på.

Jeg regner med, at du kommer til mødet.

I'm counting on you coming to the meeting.

Vi regner med godt vejr i morgen.

We're expecting good weather tomorrow.

Du kan regne med mig.

You can count on me.

English makes you choose between "count on," "expect," and "reckon with"; Danish folds all three into regne med. The mental image is from arithmetic — when you regne med something, you "include it in the calculation" of what will happen. That is the thread tying this sense back to maths.

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Watch the preposition. Regne med is "count on / expect." There is also a rarer regne på ("calculate on / do figures about"), used literally in maths and engineering — de regner på løsningen. For everyday "count on someone," it is always med.

Past and present perfect across the senses

All three senses share the same forms: past regnede, perfect har + regnet.

Jeg havde regnet med, at toget kørte til tiden.

I'd counted on the train running on time.

Vi har regnet på det, og det kan ikke betale sig.

We've done the figures on it, and it isn't worth it.

Common collocations and fixed expressions

regne med + noun/clause — to count on / expect
regne ud — to work out / figure out
regne et stykke — to do a sum
det regner ned — it's pouring (emphatic; also det øsregner, "it's bucketing down")
alt taget i betragtning, regner jeg ikke med … — all things considered, I'm not counting on …

Det øsregner — vi venter lige fem minutter.

It's bucketing down — let's wait five minutes.

A short dialogue

— Regner du med, at vi når toget? — Det håber jeg, men hvis det bliver ved med at regne så meget, kan vi lige så godt regne ud, hvornår det næste går.

— Do you reckon we'll make the train? — I hope so, but if it keeps raining this hard, we might as well work out when the next one leaves.

All three senses in two sentences: regner med (count on), regne (rain), regne ud (work out). If you can parse that exchange, you own the verb.

Common mistakes

❌ Jeg regner på, at du kommer.

Wrong — 'count on' is regne med; regne på is literal calculation.

✅ Jeg regner med, at du kommer.

I'm counting on you coming.

❌ Jeg regner, at det bliver en god dag.

Wrong — 'expect/reckon that' needs the particle med.

✅ Jeg regner med, at det bliver en god dag.

I reckon it'll be a good day.

❌ Regner i dag.

Wrong — the weather sense needs the dummy subject det.

✅ Det regner i dag.

It's raining today.

❌ Det har regnede hele dagen.

Wrong — the perfect uses the participle regnet, not the past regnede.

✅ Det har regnet hele dagen.

It's rained all day.

Key takeaways

Regne is a regular -ede weak verb: regne / regner / regnede / regnet; perfect with har.
Sense 1: to rain — always with the dummy subject det (det regner).
Sense 2: to calculate — regne et stykke, regne ud ("work out").
Sense 3: regne med — "to count on / expect," with the fixed preposition med (not på).

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