Vide | Danish Grammar

Vide ("to know") is the verb you use for knowing facts and information — knowing that something is the case, knowing where, when, why, or how. It is irregular and high-frequency, so it pays to learn it early. The single most important thing for an English speaker is that Danish does not use vide for knowing people or places — that is a different verb, kende. English has only one word, "know," for both jobs; Danish splits them.

Principal parts

Form	Danish	English
Infinitive	(at) vide	to know
Present	ved	know / knows
Past	vidste	knew
Past participle	vidst	known
Imperative	vid! (rare, literary)	know!

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The present is the irregular ved, not *vider. This catches almost every beginner, because nearly all other Danish verbs add -r in the present (spiser, køber, arbejder). Vide is one of a small club — alongside ved, kan, vil, skal, må, bør — whose present looks nothing like the infinitive.

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No agreement, as always: ved is the whole present — jeg ved, du ved, han ved, vi ved, de ved — and vidste is the whole past. English still splits know/knows; Danish never does. One present form, one past form, for every subject.

Present: ved

The present ved is identical for every subject. Watch the spelling: it ends in -d, even though it sounds like "veth."

Subject	Form	Example
jeg	ved	jeg ved det ikke
du	ved	du ved alt
han / hun	ved	hun ved hvorfor
vi	ved	vi ved det godt
de	ved	de ved ingenting

Jeg ved ikke, hvad klokken er.

I don't know what time it is.

Ved du, hvor stationen ligger?

Do you know where the station is?

Hun ved alt om gamle film.

She knows everything about old films.

Notice that vide very often introduces a clause: ved du *hvor..., jeg ved **at..., vi ved ikke **hvornår...*. That is the natural home of this verb — knowing a piece of information expressed as a whole statement.

Past: vidste

The past is vidste. The d is silent in pronunciation but always written — roughly "viss-de." Compare the participle vidst, where the -st is pronounced.

Jeg vidste ikke, at du var her.

I didn't know you were here.

Vi vidste godt, at det ville regne, så vi tog paraplyen med.

We knew it would rain, so we brought the umbrella.

Present perfect: har vidst

The perfect of vide takes the default auxiliary har plus the participle vidst: har vidst ("have known"). It is less common than the simple past — you usually just say vidste — but you will meet it.

Det har jeg altid vidst.

I've always known that.

Hvis bare jeg havde vidst det noget før!

If only I had known that a bit sooner!

That last sentence shows the past perfect, havde vidst ("had known"), used here in a regret.

The big one: vide vs kende

This is the distinction that defines the verb for an English speaker. English "know" does two jobs that Danish keeps strictly apart:

vide = know a fact, know that / where / why / how — information you could state.
kende = be acquainted with a person, place, or thing — recognise it, have met it.

So you ved a fact, but you kender a person. You cannot say *jeg ved ham for "I know him"; it has to be jeg kender ham.

Jeg kender ham, men jeg ved ikke, hvor han bor.

I know him, but I don't know where he lives.

Kender du den nye kollega? — Ja, men jeg ved ikke hendes navn.

Do you know the new colleague? — Yes, but I don't know her name.

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If you speak any French, the split is exactly savoir (vide, know a fact) vs connaître (kende, be acquainted with). German has the same pair: wissen vs kennen. English is the odd one out for flattening both into "know." The full decision guide lives at Vide or Kende.

A quick test: if you could rephrase the English with "know that" or "know where/why/how," use vide. If you could rephrase it with "be familiar with" or "have met," use kende.

Imperative: vid! (rare)

Unlike most verbs, vide almost never appears as a command in everyday speech. The imperative vid survives mainly in literary or solemn phrasing.

Vid, at jeg altid vil støtte dig.

Know that I will always support you. (literary)

In ordinary conversation you would just say du skal vide, at... ("you should know that...") instead.

Common collocations and fixed expressions

ved du hvad / ved du hvad, … — you know what, … (conversational opener)
så vidt jeg ved — as far as I know
det ved jeg ikke (often shortened to det' jeg ikke in speech) — I don't know
vide besked (om) — to be informed / in the know (about)
man kan aldrig vide — you never know

Så vidt jeg ved, har butikken åbent til klokken otte.

As far as I know, the shop is open until eight o'clock.

Tag en jakke med — man kan aldrig vide med vejret her.

Bring a jacket — you never know with the weather here.

A natural exchange

— Ved du, hvornår toget kører? — Nej, det ved jeg faktisk ikke. Men jeg kender en, der arbejder på stationen — jeg spørger hende.

— Do you know when the train leaves? — No, I actually don't know. But I know someone who works at the station — I'll ask her.

Notice how naturally both verbs appear together: ved for the unknown fact (the departure time), kender for the acquaintance (the person at the station).

Common mistakes

❌ Jeg ved ham fra arbejdet.

Incorrect — vide is never used for knowing a person; that requires kende.

✅ Jeg kender ham fra arbejdet.

I know him from work.

❌ Hun vider ikke svaret.

Incorrect — the present is the irregular ved, not the regular *vider.

✅ Hun ved ikke svaret.

She doesn't know the answer.

❌ Jeg viste det ikke før i går.

Incorrect spelling for 'knew' — viste means 'showed'; the past of vide is vidste (with the silent d).

✅ Jeg vidste det ikke før i går.

I didn't know it until yesterday.

❌ Gør du vide, hvad klokken er?

Incorrect — Danish has no 'do'-support; just invert the verb.

✅ Ved du, hvad klokken er?

Do you know what time it is?

The pair viste (showed, from vise) versus vidste (knew, from vide) is one of the most common spelling slips even for natives — keep the d in vidste.

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