Stå ('to stand') is a high-frequency strong verb with one feature that surprises every English speaker: der står is the normal Danish way to say 'it says' — what is written on a sign, in a newspaper, or in a text. Where English uses "say" for written words ("the sign says..."), Danish uses stå, literally 'to stand'. Master that idiom and you unlock a daily Danish construction.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Past | Past participle | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (at) stå | står | stod | stået | stå! |
Stå is a strong verb: the past stod is a vowel change in the stem, and the participle stået keeps the strong -et.
Present: står
The literal sense is physical standing — being upright, or being located somewhere (Danish uses position verbs stå / ligge / sidde where English just says "is").
Bilen står foran huset.
The car is (parked) in front of the house.
Der står en mand og venter udenfor.
There's a man standing and waiting outside.
Mælken står i køleskabet.
The milk is in the fridge.
Past: stod
Vi stod i kø i en time.
We stood in line for an hour.
Der stod ikke noget om det i avisen.
There was nothing about it in the newspaper.
Present perfect: har stået
Stå takes the auxiliary have — har stået.
Bilen har stået her i tre dage.
The car has stood here for three days.
Jeg har stået og ventet på dig i tyve minutter.
I've been standing waiting for you for twenty minutes.
The key idiom: der står — 'it says (in writing)'
This is the most important point on the page. To report what is written somewhere — a sign, a letter, a screen, a newspaper — Danish uses der står ('there stands'), not a verb of saying.
Der står i avisen, at priserne stiger.
It says in the newspaper that prices are rising.
Hvad står der på skiltet?
What does the sign say?
Der står dit navn på pakken.
Your name is on the parcel (lit. there stands your name).
Der stod ingenting i kontrakten om det.
There was nothing in the contract about it.
English uses "say" for written text ("the label says..."), and sige would sound odd here in Danish — sige is for spoken words. When the source is a written one, reach for der står.
Other key expressions with stå
stå op — to get up / to stand up
This can mean rising from bed or getting to your feet. The "get out of bed" sense is common enough to have its own page: stå op.
Jeg står op klokken seks hver morgen.
I get up at six every morning.
Alle stod op, da hun kom ind.
Everyone stood up when she came in.
stå for — to be responsible for, be in charge of
Hvem står for maden til festen?
Who's in charge of the food for the party?
stå stille — to stand still / to be at a standstill
Toget stod stille i en halv time uden forklaring.
The train stood still for half an hour with no explanation.
Why 'stands' for written text — the deeper logic
The 'it says' idiom makes more sense once you see the metaphor behind it. Danish treats written words as standing on the page — the letters are upright marks that stand there, fixed and visible. So der står... is literally 'there stands...', and what stands is the text. This is the same family of thinking that gives Danish its three position verbs — stå (stand), ligge (lie), sidde (sit) — where English simply says "is". Danish is unusually attentive to how something occupies space, and a line of print is conceived as standing. English, by contrast, personifies the document and makes it speak: "the sign says". Neither is more logical; they are two different metaphors for the same situation. The practical takeaway: for anything written, your default verb is stå, and der står will carry you through signs, menus, contracts, letters, and screens.
A short dialogue
— Hvad står der på menuen i dag? — Der står, at de har fisk. — Hvem står for at bestille? — Det gør jeg, så snart jeg har stået op ordentligt!
— What does it say on the menu today? — It says they have fish. — Who's in charge of ordering? — I am, as soon as I've properly woken up!
Common mistakes
The defining English-speaker error is missing the 'it says' sense of står. For written text, do not use sige.
❌ Skiltet siger, at vejen er lukket.
Wrong — 'sige' is for spoken words; written text uses 'stå'.
✅ Der står på skiltet, at vejen er lukket.
The sign says the road is closed.
❌ Hvad siger der i brevet?
Wrong — for a written letter, use 'står', not 'siger'.
✅ Hvad står der i brevet?
What does the letter say?
Use have, not være, in the perfect — stå is not a motion-to-a-goal verb.
❌ Bilen er stået her længe.
Wrong auxiliary.
✅ Bilen har stået her længe.
The car has stood here a long time.
Don't reduce the strong past to a weak -de form.
❌ Vi ståede i kø.
Wrong — 'stå' is strong; the past is 'stod'.
✅ Vi stod i kø.
We stood in line.
Finally, keep stå for (be responsible for) distinct from stå på (be located on / be written on). The preposition changes the meaning.
✅ Hun står for økonomien, og prisen står på kvitteringen.
She's in charge of the finances, and the price is on the receipt.
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
- Stå opB2 — Full reference for the phrasal verb stå op ('get up / be standing'), its two senses with two different perfect auxiliaries, and how it differs from vågne and rejse sig.
- SeA2 — Full reference for the strong verb se ('to see'), including se ud, se på, and the reciprocal vi ses.
- KommeA2 — Full reference for the strong verb komme ('to come'), its være-perfect, and the high-value idiom komme til at.
- 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.