Tillade ("to allow, permit") is the formal, rule-bound cousin of everyday lade ("let"). It is the verb of permissions, regulations and signs: what authorities tillader, what the rules tillader, what is or is not tilladt. Because it is built on the strong base lade, it inflects like lade — tillade → tillod → tilladt — not like a regular weak verb. This page gives you the principal parts, all the tenses, the two key frames (tillade nogen at and the polite tillade sig at), and the lines that separate tillade from lade, forbyde and the modal må.
Principal parts
Tillade is strong: the past is formed by a vowel change (a → o), exactly as in its base verb lade (lod). Do not add a weak -ede ending.
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) tillade | to allow / permit |
| Present | tillader | allow(s) / permit(s) |
| Past (datid) | tillod | allowed / permitted |
| Past participle | (har) tilladt | allowed / permitted |
| Imperative | tillad! | allow! |
Across the tenses
The perfect uses har, not er — tillade describes an act you perform on something, so it is a "have"-verb, like nearly all transitive verbs in Danish:
| Tense | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Reglerne tillader det ikke. | The rules don't allow it. |
| Past | Vejret tillod ikke en udflugt. | The weather didn't permit an outing. |
| Present perfect | Chefen har tilladt os at gå tidligt. | The boss has allowed us to leave early. |
Min læge tillader mig at træne igen om to uger.
My doctor is allowing me to train again in two weeks.
Politiet tillod kun fodgængere på broen den dag.
The police only permitted pedestrians on the bridge that day.
Tillade nogen at + infinitive
The core frame is tillade nogen at + infinitive — "allow someone to do something." Unlike plain lade, tillade keeps the at before the second verb, because it patterns like a normal control verb (bede nogen om at, tvinge nogen til at), not like the bare-infinitive lade.
Skolen tillader ikke eleverne at bruge mobiltelefon i timerne.
The school doesn't allow students to use a mobile phone during lessons.
Hvem har tilladt dig at parkere her?
Who allowed you to park here?
Tillade sig (at) — the polite frame
Reflexively, tillade sig (at) means "to take the liberty of / allow oneself to / dare." In the first person it is a stock phrase of formal letters and emails — Jeg tillader mig at … — roughly "I take the liberty of …" (formal).
Jeg tillader mig at minde om, at fristen er på fredag.
I take the liberty of reminding you that the deadline is on Friday.
Det kan vi ikke tillade os — det er alt for dyrt.
We can't afford that — it's far too expensive.
Det er (ikke) tilladt — the passive of signs and rules
The participle tilladt appears constantly as a predicate: det er tilladt ("it is allowed") and its negative det er ikke tilladt ("it is not allowed"). This is the register of signs, notices and house rules. The related noun is en tilladelse ("a permit, permission").
Det er ikke tilladt at fotografere inde i museet.
It is not allowed to take photographs inside the museum.
Du skal have en tilladelse for at sælge mad på gaden.
You need a permit to sell food on the street.
Tillade vs lade vs forbyde vs må
These four overlap in English's "let / allow / may," but Danish keeps them apart:
| Word | Sense | Register / frame |
|---|---|---|
| lade | let (somebody do) | everyday; bare infinitive (lad mig se) |
| tillade | allow, permit | formal/rule-bound; at + infinitive |
| give lov (til) | give permission | everyday spoken "allow" |
| forbyde | forbid, ban | the direct opposite of tillade |
| må | may, be allowed to | modal; the learner's everyday "be allowed" |
In conversation, Danes far more often say Må jeg …? ("May I …?") or give lov than tillade. Reserve tillade for rules, institutions and the written register. Compare:
Mor, må jeg få en is? — Ja, det må du godt.
Mum, may I have an ice cream? — Yes, you may.
Loven tillader salg af fyrværkeri i december.
The law permits the sale of fireworks in December.
Common mistakes
❌ Skolen tilladede ikke mobiltelefoner.
Wrong — tillade is strong; the weak past tilladede does not exist.
✅ Skolen tillod ikke mobiltelefoner.
Correct: the strong past is tillod.
❌ Han har tillod os at gå.
Wrong — that's the past tense used as a participle. The participle is tilladt.
✅ Han har tilladt os at gå.
Correct: har tilladt = 'has allowed.'
❌ Reglerne tillader ikke bruge mobil i timerne.
Wrong — tillade keeps at before the infinitive, unlike lade.
✅ Reglerne tillader ikke at bruge mobil i timerne.
Correct: tillade ... at + infinitive.
❌ Tillad mig hjælpe dig.
Stiff and wrong here — for an everyday 'let me' use lade with a bare infinitive.
✅ Lad mig hjælpe dig.
Let me help you. (everyday lade, no at)
❌ Det er ikke tillad at ryge her.
Wrong form — the predicate uses the participle tilladt, not the imperative tillad.
✅ Det er ikke tilladt at ryge her.
It is not allowed to smoke here.
Key takeaways
- Tillade is strong, like its base lade: tillader – tillod – tilladt, one form per tense, every subject.
- The perfect takes har: har tilladt.
- Frame: tillade nogen at
- infinitive (keeps at, unlike bare-infinitive lade).
- Tillade sig at = "take the liberty" (formal letter formula) or "afford."
- For everyday "let / be allowed," reach for lade, give lov or the modal må; save tillade for rules and the written register. Its opposite is forbyde.
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- LadeA2 — Full reference for the strong verb 'lade' (to let / allow), plus the everyday frames 'lad os' (let's) and 'lade være med' (don't).
- ForbydeB2 — Full reference for the strong verb forbyde ('to forbid / prohibit / ban') — principal parts (forbyder / forbød / forbudt) with the y–ø–u ablaut, all core tenses with the auxiliary har, the frame forbyde nogen at, the sign-language det er forbudt, and the noun forbud.
- 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.