Ringe til | Danish Grammar

Ringe til is how Danish says "to phone / call someone" — and the two things to lock down are the preposition and the false friend. First, the person you call is governed by til: you ringe til your mother, not ringe your mother. Second, English "call" tempts you toward the look-alike kalde — but kalde means "to name / summon / call out", never "to telephone". To telephone a person, it is always ringe til. The base verb ringe is a tidy regular weak verb; this page focuses on the til-construction and the particle verbs that grow out of it. For the second meaning of ringe — a phone or bell sounding — see the companion page ringe.

Principal parts

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) ringe til	to phone / call
Present	ringer til	phone(s) / call(s)
Past	ringede til	phoned / called
Past participle	ringet til	phoned / called
Imperative	ring til!	call!

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Ringe is a regular weak verb of the -ede / -et type: past ringede, participle ringet. The particle til rides along unchanged: ringer til, ringede til, har ringet til. See the weak past with -ede.

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No agreement. Ringer til is the whole present for every subject — jeg ringer til, du ringer til, hun ringer til, vi ringer til, de ringer til. No third-person -s.

Present: ringer til

Subject	Form	Example
jeg	ringer til	jeg ringer til dig
du	ringer til	du ringer til lægen
han / hun	ringer til	hun ringer til sin mor
vi	ringer til	vi ringer til jer senere
de	ringer til	de ringer til kundeservice

Jeg ringer til dig, så snart toget kører.

I'll call you as soon as the train leaves.

Hun ringer til sin mor hver søndag.

She calls her mother every Sunday.

The big point: til governs the person — and don't use kalde

To phone a person, the person comes after til. Drop the til and the sentence falls apart, because ringe on its own means a phone or bell is ringing, not that you are calling someone.

Ring til mig, når du er fremme.

Call me when you get there.

Kan du ringe til tandlægen og bestille en tid?

Can you call the dentist and book an appointment?

The deeper trap is the false friend kalde. English "call" does triple duty — phone, summon, and name — but Danish splits these across different verbs:

Danish	Sense of "call"	Example
ringe til	to telephone	jeg ringer til dig
kalde (på)	to summon / call out to	han kalder på tjeneren
kalde / hedde	to name / be called	vi kalder ham Lars

Vi kalder hunden Max.

We call the dog Max. (naming — kalde, not ringe)

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Only ringe til involves a phone. You ringer til a friend, you kalder på the waiter across the room, and a dog is kaldt (named) Max. If a telephone is in the picture, it is never kalde. See kalde for the summon/name verb.

Past: ringede til

The past is the regular ringede til — stem plus -ede.

Jeg ringede til dig tre gange i går, men du tog den ikke.

I called you three times yesterday, but you didn't pick up.

De ringede til politiet med det samme.

They called the police right away.

Present perfect: har ringet til

The perfect takes the default auxiliary har plus the participle ringet.

Har du ringet til banken endnu?

Have you called the bank yet?

Jeg har ringet til hende to gange, men hun svarer ikke.

I've called her twice, but she's not answering.

Past perfect: havde ringet til

Hun havde allerede ringet til lægen, da jeg kom hjem.

She had already called the doctor by the time I got home.

Imperative: ring til!

The imperative drops the -e: at ringe → ring! The til stays.

Ring til mig i aften, så aftaler vi det.

Call me tonight and we'll sort it out.

Particle verbs with ringe

A few particles refine the basic act of phoning. These are everyday vocabulary, not advanced idiom.

ringe op — to phone up, give someone a ring (often a touch more emphatic than plain ringe til)
ringe tilbage — to call back, return a call
ringe efter — to call for (a taxi, an ambulance, the doctor)

Jeg ringer dig op i aften.

I'll give you a ring tonight.

Kan du ikke lige ringe tilbage om ti minutter?

Could you just call back in ten minutes?

Skynd dig at ringe efter en ambulance!

Quick, call for an ambulance!

Notice that ringe op lets the person become a plain object (ringe dig op), while ringe til keeps the preposition (ringe til dig). Both are correct; ringe op just feels slightly more energetic.

Common collocations and fixed expressions

ringe til (nogen) — to phone (someone)
ringe op — to call up, give a ring
ringe tilbage — to call back
ringe efter (en taxa / en ambulance) — to call for (a taxi / an ambulance)
ringe og høre (om noget) — to call and ask (about something)

Jeg ringer lige og hører, om de har åbent.

I'll just call and ask whether they're open.

A natural exchange

— Har du ringet til Peter? — Nej, jeg ringede, men der var optaget. Jeg ringer tilbage senere. — Okay. Skal jeg ringe efter en taxa imens?

— Have you called Peter? — No, I called, but it was busy. I'll call back later. — Okay. Shall I call for a taxi in the meantime?

Common mistakes

❌ Jeg kalder dig i aften.

False friend — kalde never means 'phone'. To telephone someone, use ringe til.

✅ Jeg ringer til dig i aften.

I'll call you tonight.

❌ Jeg ringer dig i morgen.

Missing the preposition — phoning a person needs til: ringe til dig.

✅ Jeg ringer til dig i morgen.

I'll call you tomorrow.

❌ Telefonen ringte hele natten.

Wrong past form — ringe is an -ede verb, so the past is ringede, not ringte.

✅ Telefonen ringede hele natten.

The phone rang all night.

❌ Har du ring til hende?

Wrong form — the perfect needs the participle ringet, not the imperative ring.

✅ Har du ringet til hende?

Have you called her?

❌ Ringe til mig senere.

Wrong command form — the imperative drops the -e: ring til mig.

✅ Ring til mig senere.

Call me later.

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