Se ('to see') is one of the high-frequency strong verbs you cannot avoid, and it carries far more than the literal act of seeing: it builds the everyday phrases vi ses ('see you'), se ud ('look, appear'), and se på ('look at'). It is also the source of the famous little homograph så, which is the past tense of se but also the very common adverb/conjunction 'so, then'.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Past | Past participle | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (at) se | ser | så | set | se! |
Se is a strong verb: the past så is formed by a vowel change in the stem, not by adding a -de or -te ending. The participle set is also irregular. There is nothing to derive here — these four forms must be memorised, just as English speakers memorise see / saw / seen.
Present: ser
The present ser covers both English "I see" and "I am seeing". Danish has no separate progressive tense, so context tells you which reading is meant.
Jeg ser ikke ret godt uden mine briller.
I don't see very well without my glasses.
Kan du se skiltet derovre?
Can you see the sign over there?
Vi ser en film i aften.
We're watching a film tonight.
Notice the last example: se also means 'to watch' when you are deliberately viewing something — a film, television, a match. English splits "see" and "watch"; Danish lets se do both jobs.
Past: så
Jeg så hende i går nede ved havnen.
I saw her yesterday down by the harbour.
Vi så hele kampen, men det var kedeligt.
We watched the whole match, but it was boring.
The form så is a notorious trap because it is a homograph with one of the most frequent little words in the language — the adverb/conjunction så ('so, then'):
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| så (verb) | saw (past of se) | Jeg så det. |
| så (adverb/conjunction) | so, then | Så gik vi hjem. |
Spelling is identical; only the sentence position and meaning tell them apart. Jeg så hende, så gik jeg ('I saw her, then I left') is a perfectly grammatical Danish sentence with two different så's back to back — the verb så in the first clause, the adverb så opening the second. (There is also a separate, unrelated verb at så 'to sow', but its past is the weak såede, so it is not spelled så and does not add to the confusion here.)
Present perfect: har set
Se takes the auxiliary have in the perfect — har set — because it is not a verb of motion or change of state. Use the perfect for experience and for a past action with present relevance.
Har du set min telefon? Jeg kan ikke finde den.
Have you seen my phone? I can't find it.
Jeg har aldrig set så meget sne.
I've never seen so much snow.
Key expressions with se
These collocations are part of daily Danish. Learn them as whole chunks.
se ud — to look, to appear
Se ud describes how someone or something looks. The phrase wraps around the adjective: du ser træt ud, literally 'you look tired out'.
Du ser træt ud — har du sovet dårligt?
You look tired — did you sleep badly?
Det ser ud til at blive regnvejr.
It looks like it's going to rain.
vi ses — see you
The reciprocal -s form ses means 'see each other'. As a goodbye, vi ses! is the everyday Danish equivalent of "see you!" or "see you around!". (informal)
Tak for i dag — vi ses i morgen!
Thanks for today — see you tomorrow!
se på — to look at
Where se alone means general seeing, se på means deliberately directing your gaze at something. The particle på ('at, on') is what adds the deliberate, fixed-gaze meaning — without it, se drifts toward involuntary perception. This is a recurring pattern in Danish: a bare verb plus a small particle produces a sharper, more specific verb.
Hold op med at se på din telefon, når jeg taler til dig.
Stop looking at your phone when I'm talking to you.
Vi sad bare og så på, mens de skændtes.
We just sat and watched while they argued.
lad mig se — let me see / let's have a look
A fixed conversational phrase used while you think or check something, exactly like English "let me see".
Lad mig se... jeg tror, mødet er på torsdag.
Let me see... I think the meeting is on Thursday.
se efter — to check, to look out for
The particle efter ('after') turns se into 'check' or 'keep an eye out for'.
Kan du lige se efter, om døren er låst?
Can you just check whether the door is locked?
Why one verb does so much
It helps to see the underlying logic. The bare verb se sits at the centre — pure perception — and each particle bends it in a predictable direction: på fixes the gaze (look at), ud turns it back on the subject's appearance (look, seem), efter sends it forward to check, and the reciprocal -s makes two people see each other (ses, meet). English uses three or four separate verbs ("see", "look", "watch", "appear", "check") for what Danish builds from se plus a particle. Once you internalise that the particle carries the specific meaning, you can decode — and produce — combinations you have never been taught.
A short dialogue
— Har du set den nye café på hjørnet? — Nej, hvordan ser den ud? — Rigtig hyggelig. Skal vi ses der i morgen? — Ja, vi ses kl. 10!
— Have you seen the new café on the corner? — No, what does it look like? — Really cosy. Shall we meet there tomorrow? — Yes, see you at 10!
Common mistakes
The biggest trap for English speakers is the se / kigge på distinction. English "look at" focuses your gaze deliberately; Danish often prefers kigge (to look) or se på for that, reserving plain se for involuntary or general seeing.
❌ Se den smukke solnedgang!
Marginal — 'se' alone sounds like 'do you see it?' rather than 'gaze at it'.
✅ Se på den smukke solnedgang!
Look at that beautiful sunset! — 'se på' directs the gaze deliberately.
Don't invent a progressive with er + -ende; the simple present already covers "am seeing".
❌ Jeg er seende en film.
Wrong — Danish has no progressive 'be seeing'.
✅ Jeg ser en film.
I'm watching a film.
Use the right auxiliary: se takes have, never være.
❌ Jeg er set den film tre gange.
Wrong auxiliary — 'se' is not a motion verb.
✅ Jeg har set den film tre gange.
I've seen that film three times.
Don't confuse the goodbye vi ses with a plain present. The -s form is reciprocal ('see each other'); without it you change the meaning.
❌ Vi ser i morgen!
Wrong as a goodbye — this means 'we'll watch tomorrow', not 'see you'.
✅ Vi ses i morgen!
See you tomorrow!
Finally, remember se can mean 'watch'. Don't reach for an English-style vatche — it doesn't exist.
✅ Vi ser fjernsyn hver aften.
We watch television every evening.
Now practice Danish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- KendeA2 — Full reference for kende ('to know, be acquainted with'), the regular -te past, and the crucial contrast with vide.
- StåA2 — Full reference for the strong verb stå ('to stand'), and the daily idiom der står for 'it says (in writing)'.
- Strong Verbs: Ablaut PatternsA2 — Danish strong verbs form their past by changing the stem vowel — learn the major ablaut series as families to turn memorisation into pattern recognition.
- The Present PerfectA2 — How Danish builds the present perfect with have (or være) plus the past participle — and the one rule English speakers need: definite past time takes the simple past, not the perfect.
- SigeA1 — Full reference for sige ('to say') — principal parts, all core tenses in natural sentences, its job as a reporting verb (han siger, at...), the idiom det vil sige, and how it differs from fortælle, tale and snakke.