Sige | Danish Grammar

Sige ("to say") is the basic reporting verb of Danish — the one you use to quote or paraphrase someone's words: han siger, at han kommer ("he says he's coming"). It also lives inside the everyday idiom det vil sige ("that is to say / i.e."). The real challenge for English speakers is not sige itself but the four-way split Danish makes where English has "say, tell, speak, talk": sige (say), fortælle (tell), tale (speak) and snakke (talk/chat). Choose the wrong one and you sound off, even though the grammar is correct.

Principal parts

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) sige	to say
Present	siger	say(s)
Past	sagde	said
Past participle	sagt	said
Imperative	sig!	say!

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Sige is a mixed verb with a notorious spelling trap: the past sagde has a silent d and is pronounced roughly "sa-e" (not "sag-de"). The participle sagt is pronounced with a t. Beginners often write *sigde or *sagte; the correct forms are sagde and sagt. No agreement, as always — siger is the whole present and sagde the whole past.

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The imperative drops the -e: sig! ("say!"). The perfect uses the default auxiliary har: har sagt ("have said").

Present: siger

Subject	Form	Example
jeg	siger	jeg siger sandheden
du	siger	du siger ikke meget
han / hun	siger	hun siger ja
vi	siger	vi siger tak
de	siger	de siger det samme

Hvad siger du til en kop te?

What do you say to a cup of tea?

Folk siger, at vinteren bliver kold i år.

People say the winter will be cold this year.

Past: sagde

The past sagde has the silent d — say it "sa-e."

Hun sagde ikke et ord hele aftenen.

She didn't say a word all evening.

Hvad sagde lægen egentlig?

What did the doctor actually say?

Present perfect: har sagt

Jeg har allerede sagt undskyld tre gange.

I've already said sorry three times.

Har du sagt det til din chef?

Have you told that to your boss? (literally: said it)

Past perfect: havde sagt

Han havde sagt farvel, før jeg nåede frem.

He had said goodbye before I got there.

Sige as a reporting verb: siger, at...

This is sige's core job: introducing reported speech with the conjunction at ("that"). Danish keeps a comma before at in writing, and — importantly — the at-clause keeps subject–verb order but moves sentence adverbs like ikke before the verb (subordinate word order).

Han siger, at han ikke kan komme i aften.

He says (that) he can't come tonight.

Hun sagde, at toget var forsinket.

She said the train was delayed.

Unlike English, where "that" is freely dropped, Danish at is very often kept after sige, especially in writing. For how these clauses are built, see At-clauses (Content Clauses).

Det vil sige: 'that is to say'

The fixed phrase det vil sige (often abbreviated dvs. in writing) means "that is to say / i.e. / in other words." It introduces a clarification or restatement.

Vi mødes i næste uge, det vil sige på tirsdag.

We'll meet next week, that is to say on Tuesday.

Butikken har lukket på helligdage, dvs. også i morgen.

The shop is closed on public holidays, i.e. tomorrow too.

Imperative: sig!

Sig det nu, du kan godt.

Just say it, you can do it.

The four-way split: sige, fortælle, tale, snakke

This is where English speakers slip, because English's four words map onto Danish in a way that is close but not identical:

sige — say: to utter words, to report what someone said. Focuses on the words themselves.
fortælle — tell: to relate information or a story to someone. Focuses on conveying content to a listener.
tale — speak: more formal; to speak a language, to give a talk, to speak with someone (tale med).
snakke — talk / chat: informal; to chat, to have a conversation. The everyday spoken word.

Hun sagde tak og fortalte mig hele historien.

She said thanks and told me the whole story. (say words vs tell content)

Taler du dansk? — Ja, men jeg snakker bedre, end jeg skriver.

Do you speak Danish? — Yes, but I talk better than I write. (formal speak vs casual talk)

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A quick test: if a listener is the grammatical object (you tell someone something), you usually want fortælle, not sige. Jeg fortalte ham det ("I told him") is natural; *jeg sagde ham det is wrong — with sige you say something to someone: jeg sagde det til ham.

The complete decision guide, with edge cases, is in Tale, Snakke, Sige, Fortælle; see also Tale and Snakke.

Common collocations and fixed expressions

sige ja / nej (til) — to say yes / no (to)
sige tak — to say thank you
sige undskyld — to apologise
det vil sige (dvs.) — that is to say / i.e.
sige op — to quit (a job), give notice

Jeg har besluttet at sige op og rejse et år.

I've decided to quit my job and travel for a year.

A natural exchange

— Hvad sagde hun? — Hun sagde ikke så meget, men hun fortalte, at hun flytter til Aarhus. — Sagde hun hvornår? — Nej, det sagde hun ikke.

— What did she say? — She didn't say much, but she told me she's moving to Aarhus. — Did she say when? — No, she didn't (say).

Common mistakes

❌ Jeg sigde det til ham.

Incorrect spelling — the past is sagde (silent d), not sigde.

✅ Jeg sagde det til ham.

I said it to him.

❌ Hun sagde mig en hemmelighed.

Wrong verb — you don't say someone something; to convey to a listener use fortælle.

✅ Hun fortalte mig en hemmelighed.

She told me a secret.

❌ Han siger han kommer.

Missing the comma before at; in writing Danish keeps both: siger, at.

✅ Han siger, at han kommer.

He says (that) he's coming.

❌ Jeg har sagt med min nabo.

Wrong verb — you talk/speak with someone using snakke/tale med, not sige.

✅ Jeg har snakket med min nabo.

I've talked with my neighbour.

❌ Hun har sagte tak.

Incorrect participle — it is sagt, not sagte (that's the past spelling error too).

✅ Hun har sagt tak.

She has said thank you.

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