Savne is the verb for missing someone or something in the emotional sense — the ache of longing for a person, a place, or a time that is gone. Jeg savner dig ("I miss you") is one of the most heartfelt phrases in Danish. It is a perfectly regular weak -ede verb, so its forms are easy. The real challenge is not the conjugation but the meaning: English "miss" sprawls across several different ideas, and Danish carves them up among three different words. Savne covers only the emotional one — long for, feel the absence of. For "lack / be short of" you need mangle, and for "miss out on an event" you need gå glip af.
Principal parts
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) savne | to miss / long for |
| Present | savner | miss(es) |
| Past | savnede | missed |
| Past participle | savnet | missed |
| Imperative | savn! | miss! (rare) |
The stem is savn- (a noun et savn also exists, meaning "a sense of loss / longing"). The imperative savn! is grammatically possible but rarely used — you do not usually command someone to long for something.
Savne = miss emotionally / long for
Savne takes a direct object: the person or thing whose absence you feel. It is transitive and needs no preposition.
Jeg savner dig allerede.
I miss you already.
Hun savner sin familie i Danmark.
She misses her family in Denmark.
Vi savner det gamle hus.
We miss the old house.
Past: savnede
Jeg savnede mine venner, da jeg boede i udlandet.
I missed my friends when I lived abroad.
Han savnede aldrig storbyen, efter han flyttede ud på landet.
He never missed the big city after he moved to the countryside.
Present perfect: har savnet
Jeg har savnet dig så meget!
I've missed you so much!
The three "miss" words — keep them apart
Here is the distinction that English speakers most need. Three Danish expressions all translate as "miss" in some context, but they are not interchangeable:
| Danish | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| savne | miss emotionally, long for | jeg savner dig |
| mangle | lack, be short of, be missing | jeg mangler tid |
| gå glip af | miss out on (an event/chance) | jeg gik glip af festen |
The classic trap is "I miss the bus." If you say jeg savner bussen, a Dane hears that you are emotionally pining for the bus, longing for it as if it were a lost friend. To say you failed to catch it, you use nå ("reach, make it to") in the negative, or a verb of failing:
Jeg nåede ikke bussen, så jeg kom for sent.
I missed the bus, so I was late.
Vi gik glip af koncerten, fordi vi sad fast i trafikken.
We missed the concert because we were stuck in traffic.
Skynd dig, ellers misser vi flyet!
Hurry up, or we'll miss the flight!
Common collocations
- savne nogen / noget — to miss someone / something
- savne sit gamle liv / hjemland — to miss one's old life / homeland
- komme til at savne — to come to miss, to end up missing (du kommer til at savne det)
- et stort savn — a great loss / a deep absence (the noun)
- savne tegn på liv — to lack signs of life (the gentler "be without" sense)
Du kommer til at savne det, når sommeren er forbi.
You'll miss this once the summer is over.
A natural exchange
— Hvordan går det i den nye by? — Fint, men jeg savner mine venner. — Det forstår jeg godt. Jeg savner også dig herhjemme.
— How's it going in the new city? — Fine, but I miss my friends. — I completely understand. I miss you back home too.
Common mistakes
❌ Jeg savner bussen.
Wrong meaning — this says you emotionally long for the bus, not that you failed to catch it.
✅ Jeg nåede ikke bussen.
I missed the bus.
❌ Jeg savner tid til at lave det.
Wrong word — 'be short of' is mangle, not savne.
✅ Jeg mangler tid til at lave det.
I don't have enough time to do it.
❌ Vi savnede festen i går.
Wrong — 'miss out on an event' is gå glip af, not savne.
✅ Vi gik glip af festen i går.
We missed the party yesterday.
❌ Hun savnte sin familie.
Wrong past form — savne is a regular -ede verb.
✅ Hun savnede sin familie.
She missed her family.
❌ Jeg har savne dig.
Missing the participle ending — the perfect needs savnet.
✅ Jeg har savnet dig.
I've missed you.
Key takeaways
- Savne is a regular -ede verb: savner / savnede / savnet.
- It means miss emotionally / long for, and takes a direct object with no preposition.
- It is not the word for failing to catch something (nå ikke) or missing out on an event (gå glip af).
- For "lack / be short of," use mangle instead.
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- MangleA2 — Full reference for mangle ('to lack / be short of / be missing') — a regular -ede verb, the impersonal Der mangler... construction, all core tenses, and how it differs from savne (to miss emotionally).
- Talking About Feelings and StatesA2 — How Danish reports how you feel — the have det frame for general wellbeing, the være frame for specific states, the reflexive jeg keder mig, and why feeling cold is jeg fryser, not jeg er kold.
- Glæde sigA2 — Full reference for glæde sig ('to look forward to / be glad') — a reflexive verb whose sig is obligatory and agrees with the subject, the glæde sig til construction, all core tenses, and how it differs from plain glæde ('to please').
- Danish Verbs: An OverviewA1 — A big-picture map of the Danish verb system — no person agreement, one present and one past form per verb, compound perfects, the passive, and modals.
- Weak Past: The -ede ClassA1 — The largest, productive class of Danish regular verbs — past in -ede, participle in -et — and the safe default for any verb you don't recognise.