Breakdown of Jeg vil gerne have en kvindelig læge.
jeg
I
en
a / an (common)
have
to have
lægen
the doctor
ville
want to / will
gerne
gladly / would like to
kvindelig
female (adjective)
Questions & Answers about Jeg vil gerne have en kvindelig læge.
Why do we need have here when the English translation just says "would like"?
In Danish, vil gerne means "would like to" and needs a verb to follow it. Because you are asking for a noun (en kvindelig læge), you must use have (to have). Literally, you are saying "I would like to have a female doctor."
How does the word kvindelig relate to kvinde?
Kvinde is the noun for "woman". Adding the suffix -lig turns it into the adjective kvindelig, meaning "female" or "feminine". This is a very common way to form adjectives in Danish, similar to adding "-ly" or "-ish" in English.
Does the adjective kvindelig change depending on the noun?
Yes. Because læge is a common-gender (en) word, kvindelig stays in its base form. If it described a neuter (et) word, you would add a -t to make it kvindeligt. If it were plural or definite, you would add an -e to make it kvindelige.
Are professions like læge always gender-neutral in Danish?
Yes, almost all job titles in modern Danish are gender-neutral. Læge means "doctor" regardless of gender. When you specifically need to state the doctor's gender, you simply add kvindelig (female) or mandlig (male) in front of the noun.
Learn Jeg vil gerne have en kvindelig læge and more in Danish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free