Synge | Danish Grammar

Synge ("to sing") is the textbook example of the strong i–a–u class, and the kindest one for an English speaker, because it matches English step for step: synge / sang / sunget lines up with sing / sang / sung. The same vowel ladder runs through drikke / drak / drukket, finde / fandt / fundet and springe / sprang / sprunget. Learn synge well and you have a model you can reuse across the whole class. Two everyday extensions follow it: synge med ("sing along") and the nouns en sang ("a song") and en sanger ("a singer").

Principal parts

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) synge	to sing
Present	synger	sing(s)
Past	sang	sang
Past participle	sunget	sung
Imperative	syng!	sing!

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Synge is your model for the strong i–a–u ladder: present y/i-sound (synger), past a (sang), participle u (sunget) — mirroring English sing / sang / sung. Watch one spelling detail: the participle keeps a single -g, sunget, not *sungget. And, as always, no agreement — synger is the whole present and sang the whole past, for every subject. See Strong past tense overview.

Present: synger

Subject	Form	Example
jeg	synger	jeg synger i et kor
du	synger	du synger så smukt
han / hun	synger	hun synger for børnene
vi	synger	vi synger altid i bilen
de	synger	de synger falsk, men glad

Jeg synger altid med, når den sang kommer i radioen.

I always sing along when that song comes on the radio.

Hun synger i kirkens kor hver søndag.

She sings in the church choir every Sunday.

Why single synge out among the strong verbs? Because it is the friendliest doorway into a class that otherwise feels arbitrary. English speakers already carry the i–a–u ladder in their heads — sing / sang / sung, ring / rang / rung, drink / drank / drunk. Danish reuses the very same vowel steps for the cognate verbs synge / sang / sunget, springe / sprang / sprunget and drikke / drak / drukket. Anchor the pattern on synge, and the rest of the class falls into place by analogy rather than by brute memorisation. The trade-off is that the past has no ending to lean on: where a weak verb signals the past with -ede or -te, synge signals it only with the vowel change to sang. There is nothing extra to add — and nothing extra you may add, because *syngede is simply wrong.

Past: sang

The past is the strong sang — short, with the a vowel, exactly like English "sang." There is no -ede ending; the vowel change is the past.

Vi sang fødselsdagssangen, og så blev lysene pustet ud.

We sang the birthday song, and then the candles were blown out.

Min farfar sang gamle viser, mens han lavede mad.

My grandfather sang old ballads while he cooked.

Present perfect: har sunget

The perfect uses the default auxiliary har plus the participle sunget, with the u vowel and that single -g.

Har du nogensinde sunget på en scene foran publikum?

Have you ever sung on a stage in front of an audience?

Koret har sunget sammen i over tyve år.

The choir has sung together for over twenty years.

Synge med: sing along

With the particle med, synge means "to sing along" — to join in with a song others are singing or that is playing. The med signals participation.

Kom nu, syng med — du kan godt teksten!

Come on, sing along — you know the words!

Hele salen sang med på det sidste omkvæd.

The whole hall sang along on the final chorus.

The nouns: en sang, en sanger

From synge come two high-frequency nouns. En sang ("a song"), plural sange. And en sanger ("a singer"), plural sangere — the agent noun, like English "singer." A female singer is traditionally en sangerinde, though sanger is increasingly used for everyone.

Det er den smukkeste sang, jeg har hørt i lang tid.

That's the most beautiful song I've heard in a long time.

Hun er en dygtig sanger og spiller også guitar.

She's a talented singer and also plays the guitar.

Imperative: syng!

Syng en sang for os, før vi går i seng.

Sing a song for us before we go to bed.

Common collocations and fixed expressions

synge med — to sing along
synge falsk / rent — to sing out of tune / in tune
synge for — to lead the singing, sing the lead
synge en vuggevise — to sing a lullaby
det er ikke sunget endnu — it isn't over yet (literally: it hasn't been sung yet)

Far synger en vuggevise, hver gang den lille ikke kan sove.

Dad sings a lullaby every time the little one can't sleep.

A natural exchange

— Sang I noget til festen? — Ja, vi sang for fødselaren, og bagefter sang alle med på de gamle slagere. — Har du selv sunget i kor? — Ja, jeg synger stadig hver onsdag.

— Did you sing anything at the party? — Yes, we sang for the birthday person, and afterwards everyone sang along to the old hits. — Have you sung in a choir yourself? — Yes, I still sing every Wednesday.

The three principal parts appear together here: sang (past), sang med (past with the particle), sunget (participle in the perfect) and synger (present). One scene, the whole i–a–u ladder.

Common mistakes

❌ Vi syngede en sang.

Incorrect — synge is strong; the past is sang, not a regular -ede form.

✅ Vi sang en sang.

We sang a song.

❌ Har du sang i koret?

Wrong form — the perfect needs the participle sunget, not the past sang.

✅ Har du sunget i koret?

Have you sung in the choir?

❌ Jeg har sungget hele dagen.

Spelling error — the participle keeps a single -g: sunget, not sungget.

✅ Jeg har sunget hele dagen.

I've sung all day.

❌ Syng efter, hvis du kan teksten.

Wrong particle — 'sing along' is synge med, not synge efter.

✅ Syng med, hvis du kan teksten.

Sing along if you know the words.

❌ Hun er en god synger.

Wrong noun — the agent noun is sanger (from sang), not synger (which is the verb).

✅ Hun er en god sanger.

She's a good singer.

For the strong class as a whole, see Strong past tense overview; the cognate model drikke / drak / drukket is at Drikke.

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