Skynde sig | Danish Grammar

Skynde sig ("to hurry, to hurry up") is one of the most useful verbs to know the moment life in Danish gets busy — at the train station, in the morning rush, anywhere someone needs to get a move on. It is a weak verb with a regular past, but its defining feature is that it is essentially reflexive: in ordinary use it never appears without its pronoun. (A rare transitive skynde på nogen — "to hurry someone along" — does exist, but you will almost never meet it; for "I'm hurrying," skynde sig is the only living form.) The reflexive pronoun (mig, dig, sig, os, jer) is not optional decoration — it is part of the verb, and it changes to match the subject.

Principal parts

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) skynde sig	to hurry
Present	skynder sig	hurries
Past	skyndte sig	hurried
Past participle	skyndt sig	hurried
Imperative	Skynd dig!	Hurry up!

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No agreement on the verb itself, as always in Danish: the verb form is skynder (present) and skyndte (past) for every subject. The thing that does change is the reflexive pronoun after it — and that is the whole point of this verb.

The past skyndte and participle skyndt drop the -e- of the stem, giving a -dt- / -dt cluster. This is normal for stems ending in -nd: compare vende → vendte → vendt ("turn"). The d here is pronounced as a soft stop, not silenced.

The reflexive pronoun is obligatory and agrees with the subject

This is the heart of the page. English says "I hurry" with no extra word. Danish requires a reflexive pronoun, and that pronoun must match who is doing the hurrying:

Subject	Verb + reflexive	Meaning
jeg	skynder mig	I hurry
du	skynder dig	you hurry
han / hun	skynder sig	he / she hurries
vi	skynder os	we hurry
I	skynder jer	you (pl.) hurry
de	skynder sig	they hurry

The form sig is reserved for the third person (han, hun, den, det, de). For the first and second persons you use the ordinary object pronouns mig, dig, os, jer. Getting this mapping wrong — saying jeg skynder sig — is the single most common error, because the dictionary form skynde sig makes sig look like a fixed part of the word. It is not; it is a slot that must be filled with the right person.

Jeg skynder mig — toget går om to minutter!

I'm hurrying — the train leaves in two minutes!

Du skal ikke skynde dig, vi har god tid.

You don't need to rush, we have plenty of time.

Hun skynder sig altid om morgenen.

She's always in a rush in the morning.

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Why a reflexive at all? Historically the action loops back on the doer: you are urging yourself on. Many Danish verbs of self-directed motion and self-care work this way — sætte sig (sit down), føle sig (feel), glæde sig (look forward to). Once you accept that the pronoun belongs to the verb, skynde sig stops feeling strange. See reflexive verbs for the wider pattern.

Present: skynder sig

The present describes hurrying right now or as a habit. There is no separate progressive form in Danish, so skynder sig covers both "hurries" and "is hurrying."

Vi skynder os hjem, før det begynder at regne.

We're hurrying home before it starts to rain.

Børnene skynder sig ud i haven.

The children rush out into the garden.

Past: skyndte sig

Han skyndte sig ned på perronen, men toget var allerede væk.

He hurried down to the platform, but the train was already gone.

Vi skyndte os at spise, så vi ikke kom for sent.

We hurried to eat so we wouldn't be late.

Present perfect: har skyndt sig

The perfect uses have as auxiliary, with the participle skyndt and the reflexive in its usual position.

Jeg har skyndt mig hele dagen, og nu er jeg helt udmattet.

I've been rushing all day, and now I'm completely worn out.

The imperative: Skynd dig!

In commands the verb appears as the bare stem skynd, and the reflexive still has to agree with whoever you are talking to: dig for one person, jer for several.

Skynd dig, vi skal afsted nu!

Hurry up, we have to leave now!

Skynd jer, bussen kommer!

Hurry up (you lot), the bus is coming!

Common collocations

skynde sig at + infinitive — to hurry to do something (skynd dig at komme)
skynde sig hjem / ud / videre — to hurry home / out / onward
skynde sig lidt — to hurry up a bit (kan du ikke skynde dig lidt?)
tag det roligt — opposite advice: "take it easy," what you say when nobody needs to rush
i en fart — "in a hurry," a near-synonym phrase (jeg lavede mad i en fart)

Skynd dig at komme, festen er allerede begyndt.

Hurry up and come, the party has already started.

A natural exchange

— Skynd dig, vi misser filmen! — Jeg skynder mig jo! Jeg kan bare ikke finde mine nøgler. — Tag det roligt, de ligger på bordet.

— Hurry up, we'll miss the film! — I am hurrying! I just can't find my keys. — Relax, they're on the table.

Common mistakes

❌ Jeg skynder. Vi skal afsted.

Wrong — skynde never appears without a reflexive pronoun.

✅ Jeg skynder mig. Vi skal afsted.

I'm hurrying. We have to go.

❌ Jeg skynder sig.

Wrong pronoun — sig is third person only, not for jeg.

✅ Jeg skynder mig.

I'm hurrying.

❌ Vi skynder sig hjem.

Wrong — vi needs os, not sig.

✅ Vi skynder os hjem.

We're hurrying home.

❌ Skynd! Toget kører.

Wrong — the imperative still needs the reflexive: dig (or jer).

✅ Skynd dig! Toget kører.

Hurry up! The train's leaving.

❌ Han skyndede sig ud.

Wrong past form — skynde contracts to skyndte, not skyndede.

✅ Han skyndte sig ud.

He hurried out.

Key takeaways

Skynde sig is essentially reflexive: in everyday use it never appears without sig (the rare transitive skynde på nogen aside).
The verb form (skynder / skyndte / skyndt) never changes for the subject, but the reflexive pronoun does: mig, dig, sig, os, jer, sig.
Use sig only for the third person; first and second persons take mig, dig, os, jer.
The imperative is Skynd dig! (one person) or Skynd jer! (several) — never just Skynd!

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