Tale | Danish Grammar

Tale ("to speak / to talk") is worth learning twice over: once as a high-frequency verb in its own right, and once as the model for the weak -te class — the large group of Danish verbs whose past ends in -te rather than -ede. Master tale → talte → talt and you have the template for hundreds of verbs. In meaning it leans slightly formal: tale is "speak / talk," while its everyday cousin snakke is closer to "chat." For naming a language ("speak Danish"), tale is the standard verb.

Principal parts

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) tale	to speak, to talk
Present	taler	speak(s)
Past	talte	spoke
Past participle	talt	spoken
Imperative	tal!	speak!

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Tale belongs to the weak -te class: the past adds -te (not -ede) to the stem, giving talte, and the participle adds -t, giving talt. A verb lands in the -te class when its stem ends in a "non-voiced" or long-vowel-plus-single-consonant sound — tale, læse, rejse, spise all behave this way. The full rule is at The weak -te past.

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No agreement, as always: taler is the whole present — jeg taler, du taler, hun taler, vi taler, de taler — and talte is the whole past, for every subject.

Present: taler

Subject	Form	Example
jeg	taler	jeg taler tre sprog
du	taler	du taler for hurtigt
han / hun	taler	hun taler med chefen
vi	taler	vi taler om vejret
de	taler	de taler dansk derhjemme

Jeg taler kun lidt fransk, men jeg forstår det meste.

I only speak a little French, but I understand most of it.

Kan du tale lidt langsommere? Jeg er lige begyndt at lære dansk.

Could you speak a bit more slowly? I've only just started learning Danish.

Past: talte

The past is talte — a clean -te form. Beware the temptation to write talede; that regularised form is wrong.

Vi talte sammen i timevis i går aftes.

We talked together for hours last night.

Hun talte aldrig om sin barndom.

She never talked about her childhood.

Present perfect: har talt

The perfect uses har plus the participle talt.

Jeg har lige talt med din mor i telefonen.

I've just spoken with your mother on the phone.

Har I talt om, hvor I skal holde ferie?

Have you talked about where you're going on holiday?

The key collocations: tale med, tale om, tale dansk

Most of tale's frequency comes from three patterns, and English speakers need to fix the prepositions:

tale med (nogen) — to talk to / with someone. Danish uses med ("with"), never til, for a two-way conversation.
tale om (noget) — to talk about something.
tale + language — to speak a language, with no article: tale dansk, tale engelsk.

Jeg vil gerne tale med dig om noget vigtigt.

I'd like to talk to you about something important.

Lad os ikke tale om arbejde i aften.

Let's not talk about work tonight.

Hun taler flydende dansk, selvom hun voksede op i Spanien.

She speaks fluent Danish, even though she grew up in Spain.

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For "talk to someone," use tale med, not tale til. Tale til exists but means addressing an audience one-way — taleren talte til forsamlingen ("the speaker addressed the assembly"). For an ordinary conversation it is always tale med. There is a dedicated page at Tale med.

Tale vs snakke: register

Tale and snakke overlap heavily, but they sit at different levels. Tale is the neutral-to-slightly-formal verb — it is what you "speak" languages in, what radio hosts and teachers do. Snakke (informal) is "chat / talk," the warm everyday verb you use with friends. Both are extremely common; the difference is tone, not grammar.

Vi sad og snakkede om gamle dage. (informal)

We sat chatting about the old days.

Ministeren talte om de nye reformer. (formal)

The minister spoke about the new reforms.

The choice between tale, snakke, sige and fortælle trips up many learners; the full comparison is at Tale, snakke, sige or fortælle, and the casual cousin has its own page at Snakke.

Imperative: tal!

Tal nu pænt til din lillebror!

Speak nicely to your little brother now!

Common collocations and fixed expressions

tale med — to talk to / with
tale om — to talk about
tale sammen — to talk (to each other)
det er der ikke tale om — that's out of the question (literally "there's no talk of that")
tale for sig selv — to speak for itself

Resultaterne taler for sig selv — vi behøver ikke sige mere.

The results speak for themselves — we don't need to say any more.

A natural exchange

— Har du talt med Mette om festen? — Ja, vi talte sammen i går. Hun vil gerne snakke om det igen i weekenden. — Fint, så taler vi om detaljerne der.

— Have you talked to Mette about the party? — Yes, we talked yesterday. She'd like to chat about it again over the weekend. — Great, then we'll talk about the details then.

Notice how tale and snakke sit comfortably side by side here — talte and taler for the more deliberate "discussing," snakke for the lighter "chat." A native speaker mixes them naturally.

Common mistakes

❌ Vi talede sammen hele aftenen.

Incorrect — tale is a -te verb; the past is talte, not the regularised talede.

✅ Vi talte sammen hele aftenen.

We talked together all evening.

❌ Jeg vil gerne tale til dig om noget.

Wrong preposition for a conversation — use tale med for talking to someone.

✅ Jeg vil gerne tale med dig om noget.

I'd like to talk to you about something.

❌ Hun taler det danske.

Wrong — languages take no article after tale: tale dansk.

✅ Hun taler dansk.

She speaks Danish.

❌ Har du tale med lægen?

Wrong form — the perfect needs the participle talt, not the infinitive tale.

✅ Har du talt med lægen?

Have you spoken with the doctor?

❌ Vi taler over arbejde.

Wrong preposition — 'talk about' is tale om, not tale over.

✅ Vi taler om arbejde.

We talk about work.

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