Trives is the Danish verb for flourishing — feeling good, doing well, being in your element. It covers a person who's content, a plant that's growing strongly, a business that's prospering. Its defining feature is the final -s that never goes away: trives is a deponent verb, ending in -s in every form, yet active in meaning, not passive. Reading that -s as a passive is the single biggest trap, and one English speakers fall into constantly.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Past | Past participle | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (at) trives | trives | trivedes | trivedes | — (none) |
Trives is a deponent -s verb (see verbs/deponent-s-verbs). The infinitive and present are identical (trives); the past and past participle are identical (trivedes). The perfect uses have: har trivedes. There is no imperative — you cannot command someone to flourish.
The modern standard past and participle are both trivedes (this is the form Retskrivningsordbogen, the official Danish dictionary, lists). You may meet an older participle trivet in literary or dated texts, but it is archaic — write trivedes and you are safe in any contemporary context.
The -s is not a passive
A passive -s turns "X does Y" into "Y is done": bygge ("build") → bygges ("is built"). But a deponent verb has no active counterpart without the -s — there is no verb *trive. So jeg trives is plain active "I'm thriving", not "I am thrived". The -s is simply part of the word's shape.
Jeg trives rigtig godt i min nye lejlighed.
I'm really happy / doing well in my new flat. (active meaning)
Planten trives ikke i skygge.
The plant doesn't thrive in shade.
Børnene trivedes i den lille skole.
The children flourished at the little school.
What trives is about: wellbeing
Trives describes a state of flourishing — physical, emotional, or developmental. It applies to people, animals, plants, and by extension teams, schools, and companies. It is warm and positive; you don't trives at something you hate.
Hun trives bedst, når hun har travlt.
She thrives best when she's busy.
Virksomheden trives på trods af krisen.
The company is thriving despite the crisis.
trives med — be happy with
To name what makes you flourish, the commonest pairing is trives med ("be happy with / get on well with"). The preposition is fixed (see prepositions/verbs-prepositions-reference).
Trives du med dine nye kolleger?
Are you happy with your new colleagues?
Jeg trives ikke med at arbejde hjemmefra.
I don't do well working from home.
trives i / på — flourish at a place
To say where you thrive, use trives i or trives på with a location.
Mine børn trives i den nye børnehave.
My kids are happy at the new kindergarten.
Han har aldrig rigtig trivedes på kontoret.
He's never really thrived at the office.
The perfect: har trivedes
The perfect takes have and the participle trivedes — so it looks just like the simple past. It describes flourishing over a stretch of time.
De har trivedes godt sammen i mange år.
They've gotten on well together for many years.
The word family
| Word | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| at trives | verb | to thrive, be happy, do well |
| trivsel | noun | wellbeing, thriving (a key word in Danish schools/workplaces) |
| mistrivsel | noun | lack of wellbeing, languishing |
| at mistrives | verb | to languish, be unhappy, fail to thrive |
Skolen arbejder meget med elevernes trivsel.
The school works a lot on the pupils' wellbeing. (noun trivsel)
How trives patterns: synes, lykkes, mislykkes
Trives belongs to a small family of deponent -s verbs that all behave the same way — -s in every form, active meaning, no plain stem:
- synes — "think / find / seem" (opinion). (See verb-reference/synes.)
- lykkes — "succeed" (det lykkedes mig = "I managed to").
- mislykkes — "fail".
- trives — "thrive".
Det lykkedes os endelig at få ham til at trives på arbejdet.
We finally managed to get him to thrive at work. (lykkes + trives together)
Common Mistakes
1. Reading the -s as a passive. Jeg trives is "I'm doing well", not "I am thrived".
❌ 'Jeg trives' = 'I am thrived / made to flourish'.
Mis-parse — trives is deponent and active; it means 'I'm thriving'.
✅ Jeg trives godt her.
I'm doing well / I'm happy here.
2. Stripping the -s to make a 'normal' verb. There is no *trive; the -s is permanent.
❌ Børnene trivede i skolen.
Wrong — there's no form *trivede; the past is trivedes.
✅ Børnene trivedes i skolen.
The children flourished at school.
3. Inventing a passive 'be made to thrive' with a person as agent. Trives has no agent slot; you can't say someone trives somebody else.
❌ Læreren triver eleverne.
Impossible — trives can't take an object; for 'support wellbeing' use e.g. 'sikre elevernes trivsel'.
✅ Læreren sikrer elevernes trivsel.
The teacher ensures the pupils' wellbeing.
4. Wrong preposition. "Happy with" is trives med, not trives for or trives om.
❌ Trives du for dit nye job?
Wrong preposition — use trives med.
✅ Trives du med dit nye job?
Are you happy with your new job?
5. Trying to give an imperative. You can't command flourishing.
❌ Triv godt!
Not Danish — trives has no imperative; say 'Pas godt på dig selv!' or 'Hyg dig!'.
✅ Jeg håber, du trives. / Pas godt på dig selv!
I hope you're doing well. / Take good care of yourself!
Key Takeaways
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Lexical -s Verbs: Synes, Mødes, FindesB2 — Danish verbs that carry a fixed -s with non-passive meaning — reciprocals like mødes and ses, and deponent/middle verbs like synes, findes, and lykkes — plus how to conjugate them and why they are not passives.
- SynesB2 — Full reference for the deponent -s verb synes ('to think / find / seem'), the synes/syntes spelling trap, and how it differs from tro, mene and tænke.
- LeveB2 — Full reference for the weak verb leve ('to live / be alive'), its core expressions, and the crucial split from bo ('to live / reside somewhere').
- Verb + Preposition ReferenceB2 — An alphabetical reference of the high-frequency Danish verb + preposition pairs where the Danish preposition differs from the one English would use — bede om, vente på, tænke på, glæde sig til, and more.