Past participles as nouns

Participles as nouns

In English, we can use past participles to describe groups of people, like "the injured" or "the employed". Danish does this too, but takes it a step further: you can use these words as regular nouns to refer to individuals as well, such as "an injured person" or "an employee".

To use a participle as a noun representing a person:

  • Indefinite singular ("a/an"): Use the base form of the participle (e.g., en ansat).
  • Definite singular and Plurals: Add -e to the participle. Because it acts like an adjective, use the standalone definite articles den (singular) or de (plural) to say "the".

Spelling patterns for adding -e:

  • Standard: Add -e (e.g., indlagt -> indlagte, ansat -> ansatte).
  • Words ending in -et: Change -t to -de (e.g., såret -> sårede).
  • Strong verbs ending in -et: Change -et to -ne (e.g., udskrevet -> udskrevne).
On the ward, there are many admitted patients.
På afdelingen er der mange indlagte.
The admitted patient is sitting in the wheelchair, right?
Den indlagte sidder i kørestolen, ikke også?
The surgeon is helping the injured now.
Kirurgen hjælper de sårede nu.
The injured person spoke with an employee at the hospital.
Den sårede talte med en ansat på hospitalet.

People on the ward

This grammar pattern is heavily used in medical, legal, and professional contexts to categorize specific groups of people.

Notice how the articles den and de immediately signal whether we are talking about one specific person or an entire group sharing that state.

The employees work here, while the infected lie in bed.
De ansatte arbejder her mens de smittede ligger i sengen.
The discharged patients go home together with the newborn.
De udskrevne tager hjem sammen med den nyfødte.
The surgeon smiles because the cured go home.
Kirurgen smiler fordi de helbredte går hjem.
Both the cured and the discharged feel happy.
Både de helbredte og de udskrevne føler sig glade.
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