Definite nouns and the copula (-en, -et, er)

Welcome to Danish!

Let's start speaking by pointing out where people and things are.

In Danish, verbs are incredibly friendly: they do not change form based on who is doing the action. The verb være (to be) becomes er in the present tense. Whether you want to say "am," "are," or "is," you will always just use er.

Here are the basic singular pronouns:

• jeg (I)
• du (you)
• han (he)
• hun (she)

Let's use er to locate people with the words her (here) and der (there):

The Definite Suffix: Saying "The"

Danish nouns belong to one of two categories, called genders: common and neuter. There is no logical rule for which is which, so you will learn a noun's gender as you meet it.

In English, you put the word "the" in front of a noun. In Danish, "the" is a suffix attached to the end of the word:

• For common nouns, add -en. (For example, mand becomes manden, meaning "the man").
• For neuter nouns, add -et. (For example, hus becomes huset, meaning "the house").

Saying "It" (den vs. det)

Because nouns have two genders, there are two ways to say "it". You choose the pronoun that matches the noun you are replacing:

• Use den to refer to common nouns (words that take -en).
• Use det to refer to neuter nouns (words that take -et).

If you are talking about bilen (the car, common), you use den:

If you are talking about huset (the house, neuter), you use det:

Putting It Together

You can connect subjects or full sentences using og (and).

Remember our golden rule: Danish verbs never change form for the subject. Even if the subject is plural (like "the man and the woman"), the verb is still simply er!