Slå is a short, blunt strong verb that covers a wide arc of meanings: to hit, to strike, to beat, to mow, even to ring (of a clock). Its real importance for a learner, though, is twofold. First, it is a model strong verb whose past changes the vowel dramatically — slå → slog — so it drills the strong pattern beautifully. Second, it is the engine of a large family of idioms (slå op, slå fejl, slå ihjel) that you simply cannot do without in everyday Danish.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Past | Past participle | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (at) slå | slår | slog | slået | slå! |
Slå is strong: the past slog is a stem-vowel change (the å becomes o), and the participle slået takes the strong -et added straight onto the long vowel — note the two dots are gone in slået but the stress and length remain. The imperative is simply slå! ('hit it!').
Present: slår
Mit hjerte slår helt vildt lige nu.
My heart is beating like crazy right now.
Klokken slår tolv om lidt.
The clock strikes twelve in a moment.
Slå ikke hunden!
Don't hit the dog!
Past: slog
The strong past slog is the form learners most often get wrong, because the impulse is to add a regular ending. Resist it: there is no slåede.
Han slog hovedet mod skabet.
He hit his head on the cupboard.
Danmark slog Frankrig i finalen.
Denmark beat France in the final.
Det slog mig pludselig, at jeg havde glemt nøglerne.
It suddenly struck me that I'd forgotten my keys.
Present perfect: har slået
Slå takes the auxiliary have — har slået — because it is a transitive verb of action, not a verb of motion or change of state. (Contrast verbs like gå or blive, which can take være.)
Jeg har lige slået græsset.
I've just mowed the lawn.
Hvem har slået ruden i stykker?
Who has broken the window?
Key idioms and particle verbs
This is where slå truly lives. Each of these keeps the strong past slog and the participle slået.
- slå op — has two very common, very different senses: (1) 'look something up' (in a book, a dictionary, online), and (2) 'break up' (end a relationship).
Jeg måtte slå ordet op i ordbogen.
I had to look the word up in the dictionary.
De slog op efter tre år sammen.
They broke up after three years together.
- slå græsset — 'mow the lawn'. The everyday phrase for this chore; slå here means to cut down with a sweeping motion.
Naboen slår altid græsset søndag morgen.
The neighbour always mows the lawn on Sunday morning.
- slå fejl — 'fail', 'go wrong'. Used of plans, attempts, experiments — not of people.
Planen slog fejl i sidste øjeblik.
The plan fell through at the last minute.
- slå ihjel — 'kill' (literally 'strike to death'). Also figuratively slå tid ihjel ('kill time').
Vi spillede kort for at slå tiden ihjel.
We played cards to kill time.
- det slår mig, at... — 'it strikes me that...'. A natural way to introduce a sudden thought or observation.
Det slår mig, at vi aldrig har mødt hinanden før.
It strikes me that we've never met before.
Slå versus ramme — two ways to "hit"
English uses 'hit' for both delivering a blow and reaching a target, but Danish splits these. Slå is to strike — to bring force down on something, as with a hand, a hammer, or a clock. To hit a target — an arrow hitting the bullseye, a stone hitting the window, a remark hitting home — Danish prefers ramme.
Stenen ramte ruden, men han slog den ikke med vilje.
The stone hit the window, but he didn't strike it on purpose.
So bolden ramte stangen ('the ball hit the post') uses ramme, while han slog på trommen ('he beat the drum') uses slå. If force is being applied by a striker, use slå; if a projectile or remark lands on a target, use ramme.
Common Mistakes
❌ Han slåede sømmet i væggen.
Incorrect — slå is strong; there is no weak past 'slåede'.
✅ Han slog sømmet i væggen.
He hammered the nail into the wall.
❌ Jeg har slåede græsset.
Incorrect — the participle is slået, not 'slåede'.
✅ Jeg har slået græsset.
I've mowed the lawn.
❌ Pilen slog lige i midten.
Incorrect — an arrow reaching a target uses ramme, not slå.
✅ Pilen ramte lige i midten.
The arrow hit dead centre.
❌ Vi slog op ordet på nettet.
Incorrect word order/preposition — to look up, the object follows slå and you slå op i a source.
✅ Vi slog ordet op på nettet.
We looked the word up online.
The deepest trap is over-regularizing the past: because slå ends in a vowel, learners reach for slåede by analogy with weak verbs. Slog has to be memorised — but it pays off, because the same å → o vowel change recurs in related strong verbs and helps you recognise the strong family at a glance.
Key takeaways
- Strong pattern: slå / slog / slået. No slåede ever.
- Perfect uses have: har slået.
- Core idioms: slå op (look up / break up), slå fejl (fail), slå græsset (mow), slå ihjel (kill), det slår mig at... (it strikes me that...).
- Use slå for delivering a blow; use ramme for hitting a target.
Now practice Danish
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