Abbreviations and Acronyms | Danish Grammar

Danish written prose is dense with abbreviations, and using the wrong ones is an instant tell that a writer is thinking in English. Danish has its own abbreviation for "e.g." (it is fx, not e.g.) and for "i.e." (it is dvs., not i.e.). On top of the vocabulary, abbreviations and acronyms have a small but real grammar: they take gender and the definite article, and the definite suffix attaches with an apostrophe when the abbreviation ends in a letter rather than a full word. This page covers the high-frequency abbreviations every educated reader knows and the rules for inflecting acronyms.

Common abbreviations

These are the abbreviations you will meet constantly in Danish text. Note that several end in a period and several do not, and the choice is conventional — fx has no period, dvs. does.

Abbreviation	Full form	Meaning (English)
fx (older: f.eks.)	for eksempel	e.g., for example
dvs.	det vil sige	i.e., that is
bl.a.	blandt andet	among other things
osv.	og så videre	etc., and so on
m.m.	med mere	and more
ca.	cirka	approx., about
mvh / m.v.h.	med venlig hilsen	kind regards (sign-off)
t.h. / t.v.	til højre / til venstre	on the right / on the left
mht.	med hensyn til	regarding, with respect to
jf.	jævnfør	cf., compare

Vi sælger frugt, grønt, brød osv. i butikken.

We sell fruit, vegetables, bread, etc. in the shop.

Mødet handler bl.a. om budgettet for næste år.

The meeting is about, among other things, next year's budget.

Toilettet er for enden af gangen, t.h.

The toilet is at the end of the corridor, on the right.

Tak for hjælpen. Mvh Anne

Thanks for the help. Kind regards, Anne

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Keep fx and dvs. apart exactly as English keeps e.g. and i.e. apart: fx opens a non-exhaustive example, dvs. restates the whole thing precisely. And never write e.g. or i.e. in Danish — they are simply not Danish abbreviations.

Acronyms: gender and definiteness

Initialisms and acronyms (words formed from initial letters) behave like nouns: they take a gender and can be made definite. Their gender is usually inherited from the head noun of the full phrase.

en pc — because the implied word is en personlig computer (common gender)
et tv — because the implied word is et fjernsyn / television (neuter)
et cpr-nummer, shortened et cpr — neuter, from nummer

Jeg har en gammel pc, som stadig kører fint.

I have an old PC that still runs fine.

Der står et tv i hvert af hotellets værelser.

There's a TV in each of the hotel's rooms.

The definite suffix and the apostrophe

This is the rule English speakers most often miss. Danish marks the definite ("the") with a suffix (-en / -et). When you add this suffix to an acronym that ends in a letter (pronounced as a letter name), you insert an apostrophe before the suffix, so the reader can see where the base ends and the ending begins.

Indefinite	Definite	Plural definite
en pc	pc'en	pc'erne
et tv	tv'et	tv'erne
en sms	sms'en	sms'erne
en cd	cd'en	cd'erne

Pc'en er gået i stå igen — den skal nok udskiftes.

The PC has frozen again — it probably needs replacing.

Jeg har slettet alle de gamle sms'er fra telefonen.

I've deleted all the old text messages from the phone.

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The apostrophe rule is specifically for letter-final abbreviations. A proper-name acronym pronounced as a word — like NATO or Nato — inflects without the apostrophe: Nato's generals, i Natos regi. The apostrophe earns its place only when the base ends in a stand-alone letter.

Reading abbreviations aloud

A frequent question at C1: do you read the letters or expand the phrase? The convention varies by item.

Spell the letters: DSB (de-es-be), pc (pe-ce), tv (te-ve), sms (es-em-es). These are read as letter names.
Expand to the full phrase: fx is read aloud as for eksempel, dvs. as det vil sige, osv. as og så videre, bl.a. as blandt andet. You do not say "ef-ix" — you say the whole phrase.
Read as a word (acronym proper): Nato, aids, radar are pronounced as ordinary words.

DSB har indsat ekstra tog i myldretiden.

DSB (the Danish state railways) has put on extra trains during rush hour.

Common Mistakes

❌ Vi sælger frugt, grønt, brød etc.

Incorrect — Danish uses 'osv.', not the Latin 'etc.'

✅ Vi sælger frugt, grønt, brød osv.

We sell fruit, vegetables, bread, etc.

❌ Mødet handler i.e. om budgettet.

Incorrect — Danish writes 'dvs.', and here you actually want 'bl.a.' (among other things) anyway.

✅ Mødet handler bl.a. om budgettet.

The meeting is about, among other things, the budget.

❌ Pcen er gået i stå igen.

Incorrect — a letter-final abbreviation needs an apostrophe before the definite suffix: 'pc'en'.

✅ Pc'en er gået i stå igen.

The PC has frozen again.

❌ Der står en tv i hvert værelse.

Incorrect gender — 'tv' is neuter (from 'et fjernsyn'): 'et tv'.

✅ Der står et tv i hvert værelse.

There's a TV in each room.

❌ Jeg har slettet alle de gamle sms's.

Incorrect — the Danish plural definite is 'sms'erne', not an English '-s' plural.

✅ Jeg har slettet alle de gamle sms'er.

I've deleted all the old text messages.

Key Takeaways

Danish uses fx for e.g. and dvs. for i.e. — never the Latin forms.
Expand-when-read abbreviations (fx, dvs., osv., bl.a.) are spoken as their full phrase, not as letters.
Acronyms take gender from their head noun: en pc, et tv.
The definite suffix attaches with an apostrophe on letter-final abbreviations: pc'en, tv'et, sms'erne — but not on word-like acronyms (Natos).

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