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Danish

### His and Her

In the previous lesson, you learned that words like "my" and "your" change to match the gender and number of the noun they describe. However, when talking about a third person—like "his" or "her"—the Danish possessive words are fixed.

Use **hans** for "his" and **hendes** for "her". These words never change, regardless of whether the noun they own is an **en**-word, an **et**-word, or plural.

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### Its (dens, dets)

When saying "its" to talk about a non-human owner, you have two options in Danish: **dens** and **dets**.

Here is the trick: the choice depends on the gender of the noun you are referring *back* to (the owner), not the noun being owned.

If the owner is an **en**-word (like *en bold*), use **dens**.

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If the owner is an **et**-word (like *et hus* or *et barn*), use **dets**.

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### Summary

Here is a quick overview of the third-person possessives:

| English | Danish | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| His | hans | Fixed form |
| Her | hendes | Fixed form |
| Its | dens | Refers back to an en-word owner |
| Its | dets | Refers back to an et-word owner |

Let's see a few more examples in action:

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Third-person possessives (hans, hendes)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

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

Indefinite articles (en, et)

Present tense verbs and word order (-r)

Plural subject pronouns (vi, I, de)

The verb to have (har)

Yes/No questions

Wh-questions (hvad, hvem, hvor)

Main clause negation (ikke)

Regular noun plurals (-er, -r)

Short noun plurals (-e)

Definite plurals (-ne)

Neuter adjective agreement (-t)

Plural adjective agreement (-e)

Adjectives with indefinite nouns

Adjectives with definite nouns (den / det / de ... -e)

Numbers 1 to 10

Numbers 11 to 20

Counting by tens to 100

Expressing age (er ... år)

Genitive possession (-s)

Singular possessives (min, din)

Plural possessives (vores, jeres, deres)

Reflexive possessives (sin, sit, sine)

Singular object pronouns (mig, dig)

Plural object pronouns (os, jer, dem)

The infinitive marker (at)

The modal verb can (kan)

The modal verb want to (vil)

The modal verb must (skal)

Negating modal verbs

Inversion after adverbs

Prepositions of position (i, på)

Prepositions of direction (til, fra)

Days of the week (mandag, tirsdag...)

Months of the year (januar, februar...)

Telling time (hel, halv, kvart)

Coordinating conjunctions (og, men, eller)

Subordinating conjunctions (at, fordi)

Subordinate clause negation

Commands (køb, vent, spis)

Zero-ending neuter plurals

The Human Body: Head and Face

The Human Body: Limbs and Torso

Personal Hygiene

Digital Life

Tools and Hardware

Emergency and Safety

Common Materials

Money and Payments

Short answers (Ja, det gør jeg)

Greetings (hej, godmorgen, farvel)

Thanks and apologies (tak, undskyld)

Jobs and nationalities (Hun er lærer)

Likes and dislikes (kan godt lide)

Somebody and something (nogen, noget, ingen)

How much? (meget, lidt, mere, nok)

With, by, over and under (med, ved, over, under)

Ordinals and dates (den første april)

Wishes for every occasion (tillykke, god bedring)

Times of day (om morgenen, om aftenen)

My day (stå op, gå i seng)

Past tense I: -ede and -te (i går)

My new hat (min nye hat, små, gamle)

Past tense II: irregular verbs (var, havde, gik)

Reacting in a conversation (nå, det lyder godt)

The family and irregular plurals (mænd, børn, fødder)

In the shop (Hvad koster det?)

Demonstratives: that and those (den, det, de)

Demonstratives: this and these (denne, dette, disse)

Adverbs of manner (-t)

Comparing things (-ere, end)

Superlative adjectives (-est)

Definite superlative adjectives (-este)

Irregular adjective comparison

Comparing long adjectives (mere, mest)

The reflexive pronoun (sig)

Reflexive verbs

Reciprocal verbs (-s)

Deponent verbs (-s)

Past opinions (syntes)

Present perfect tense with regular verbs (har... -et/-t)

Present perfect tense with irregular verbs (har...)

Present perfect tense with movement (er...)

Past perfect tense (havde / var...)

Future with present tense

Question	Answer
his	hans
the daughter	datteren
the son	sønnen
His daughter and his son are here.	Hans datter og hans søn er her.
her	hendes
We help her son and her daughter.	Vi hjælper hendes søn og hendes datter.
the hair	håret
its (neuter)	dets
the color	farven
Her hair is long. Its color is red.	Hendes hår er langt. Dets farve er rød.
His hair is short.	Hans hår er kort.
the ball	bolden
its (common)	dens
I see the ball. Its color is blue.	Jeg ser bolden. Dens farve er blå.
The dog is running. Its ball is new.	Hunden løber. Dens bold er ny.
the toy	legetøjet
The child is happy. Its toy is red.	Barnet er glad. Dets legetøj er rødt.
Her daughter has the toy.	Hendes datter har legetøjet.
His son has a bird. I do not remember its name.	Hans søn har en fugl. Jeg husker ikke dens navn.
The house is old. Its door is green.	Huset er gammelt. Dets dør er grøn.