Vente is the everyday verb for waiting — standing at the bus stop, holding on the phone, sitting in a queue — and, in a second sense English keeps separate, for expecting something that is on its way. It is a fully regular weak verb, so once you have the four principal parts you can build every tense without surprises. The two things worth your attention are the preposition (vente på something, never vente for) and the fact that one Danish verb covers both "wait" and "expect."
Principal parts
| Form | Danish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | (at) vente | to wait / to expect |
| Present | venter | wait(s) / expect(s) |
| Past | ventede | waited / expected |
| Past participle | ventet | waited / expected |
| Imperative | vent! | wait! |
Vente is a textbook weak verb of the -ede / -et class: add -ede for the past and -et for the participle. The imperative is the bare stem vent! — you will hear it constantly ("Vent lige!" = "Hold on a sec!").
Present: venter
The present venter covers both English "wait" and English "am waiting" — Danish has no separate progressive, so context does the work.
| Subject | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| jeg | venter | jeg venter på bussen |
| du | venter | du venter udenfor |
| han / hun | venter | hun venter et svar |
| vi | venter | vi venter på dig |
| de | venter | de venter besøg |
Jeg venter på bussen — den er ti minutter forsinket.
I'm waiting for the bus — it's ten minutes late.
Skynd dig, vi venter alle sammen på dig!
Hurry up, we're all waiting for you!
Past: ventede
Vi ventede en hel time, men hun kom aldrig.
We waited a whole hour, but she never came.
Jeg ventede ikke et så hurtigt svar.
I didn't expect such a quick reply.
Present perfect: har ventet
The perfect uses the default auxiliary har plus the participle ventet. Waiting is something you do, not a change of your own location, so it always takes har, never er.
Jeg har ventet på det her opkald hele dagen.
I've been waiting for this call all day.
Vi har ventet længe nok — lad os gå.
We've waited long enough — let's go.
The two meanings: 'wait' and 'expect'
This is where Danish folds together two ideas English keeps in separate words. Vente is "wait" when you are passing time until something happens, and "expect" when you are anticipating that something will arrive.
Waiting: vente på
To wait for someone or something, use vente på — not vente for. This is the single most common slip English speakers make, because English "for" pulls them toward the wrong preposition.
Hvor længe har du ventet på mig?
How long have you been waiting for me?
Vi venter på, at det holder op med at regne.
We're waiting for it to stop raining.
Notice the second example: when what you are waiting for is a whole clause, Danish uses vente på, at … ("wait for that …"). The på stays.
Expecting: vente (often without på)
When vente means "expect / anticipate," it usually takes a direct object with no preposition — you expect a thing, you do not wait for it grammatically.
Vi venter besøg i weekenden, så jeg har gjort rent.
We're expecting visitors this weekend, so I've cleaned up.
Hun venter barn til foråret.
She's expecting a baby in the spring.
The fixed phrase vente barn ("be expecting / be pregnant") is the gentle, everyday way to announce a pregnancy — literally "wait a child." You will also hear vente sig ("be expecting") in the same sense.
Vente på vs forvente — the insight
English "expect" splits into two Danish verbs, and choosing wrongly sounds slightly off:
- vente (på) — to wait, or to expect something concrete that is coming your way (a guest, a parcel, a baby, a reply). Everyday, neutral.
- forvente — to expect in the sense of anticipate / demand / count on, often a prediction or a standard you hold someone to. More formal and more abstract. (formal / neutral)
Jeg venter på pakken — den skulle komme i dag.
I'm waiting for the parcel — it's supposed to arrive today.
Vi forventer, at alle medarbejdere møder til tiden.
We expect all employees to arrive on time.
Common collocations
- vente på (nogen / noget) — to wait for (someone / something)
- vente på, at … — to wait for (a clause) to happen
- vente besøg — to be expecting visitors
- vente barn / vente sig — to be expecting (a baby)
- vente med (at gøre noget) — to put off, to hold off on doing something
- kan ikke vente — can't wait (with eagerness)
Lad os vente med at male stuen, til vejret bliver bedre.
Let's hold off on painting the living room until the weather gets better.
A natural exchange
— Venter du stadig på toget? — Ja, det er aflyst, så nu venter jeg på det næste. — Åh nej. Og I venter jo også besøg i aften! — Ja, men gæsterne kan bare vente lidt.
— Are you still waiting for the train? — Yes, it's cancelled, so now I'm waiting for the next one. — Oh no. And you're expecting visitors tonight too! — Yes, but the guests can just wait a bit.
Look at how vente shifts meaning across that exchange: venter på toget (wait for the train), venter besøg (expecting visitors), and vente lidt (wait a moment) — all the same verb, with the preposition doing the steering. For the full system of which preposition goes where, see Prepositions overview.
Common mistakes
❌ Jeg venter for bussen.
Incorrect — 'wait for' is vente på, never vente for. The English 'for' leads you astray.
✅ Jeg venter på bussen.
I'm waiting for the bus.
❌ Jeg forventer på pakken.
Incorrect — forvente takes no på and means 'anticipate/demand,' not 'wait for' a parcel.
✅ Jeg venter på pakken.
I'm waiting for the parcel.
❌ Vi ventede for dig i en time.
Wrong preposition again — waiting for a person is vente på.
✅ Vi ventede på dig i en time.
We waited for you for an hour.
❌ Hun har vente på svar i flere dage.
Wrong form — the perfect needs the participle ventet, not the bare stem.
✅ Hun har ventet på svar i flere dage.
She's been waiting for an answer for several days.
❌ Vi venter på besøg i weekenden.
In the 'expecting visitors' sense, vente takes a direct object — drop the på.
✅ Vi venter besøg i weekenden.
We're expecting visitors this weekend.
Now practice Danish
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Start learning Danish→Related Topics
- Danish Prepositions: An OverviewA1 — Why Danish prepositions are easy grammatically but hard to choose — and how to learn them by Danish logic instead of English glosses.
- BesøgeA2 — Full reference for besøge ('to visit') — principal parts, all core tenses in natural sentences, the transitive besøge nogen, the everyday alternative komme på besøg, the noun et besøg, and how besøge differs from the formal gæste.
- KøbeA1 — Full reference for købe ('to buy') — principal parts, all core tenses in natural sentences, the regular -te weak pattern, shopping collocations, and the contrast with its irregular antonym sælge ('to sell').
- 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.