Jeg vil leve længe.

In this sentence, vil most naturally means want to or intend to.

So Jeg vil leve længe usually means something like I want to live a long time or I intend to live long.

Danish vil can also be used for the future, but it is not a simple one-to-one match with English will. Danish often uses the present tense for future meaning instead. So learners should not assume that vil always just marks the future.

For example:

• Jeg vil rejse i morgen = I want to / intend to travel tomorrow
• Jeg rejser i morgen = I’m travelling tomorrow

So in your sentence, vil adds a sense of desire or intention.

Because vil is a modal verb, and after modal verbs in Danish, the next verb usually appears in the bare infinitive, without at.

So:

• Jeg vil leve
• Du kan komme
• Han skal arbejde

Not:

• Jeg vil at leve ❌

This is similar to English, where we say I can swim, not I can to swim.

Common Danish modal verbs include:

• vil = want to / will
• kan = can
• skal = must / shall / am going to
• må = may / must
• bør = ought to

Leve is the infinitive form of the verb, meaning to live.

Some useful forms are:

• infinitive: leve
• present tense: lever
• past tense: levede
• past participle: levet

So:

• Jeg vil leve = infinitive after a modal
• Jeg lever = present tense, I live / I am living

This is an important difference:

• Jeg vil leve længe = uses leve
• Jeg lever længe = uses lever

Because længe is the adverb, and here it describes how long the living lasts.

You use:

• lang as an adjective with a noun: en lang dag = a long day
• langt as an adverb in some other meanings, often far or sometimes a long way
• længe for for a long time / long

So:

• leve længe = live long / live for a long time
• en lang tid = a long time

You would not normally say:

• Jeg vil leve lang ❌

And langt would sound wrong here too.

The sentence follows normal Danish main-clause word order:

• Jeg = subject
• vil = finite verb
• leve = infinitive verb
• længe = adverb

So the pattern is:

subject + finite verb + infinitive + adverb

This is very common in Danish.

Examples:

• Jeg kan svømme godt
• Hun vil rejse snart
• Vi skal arbejde i morgen

In a normal main clause, the finite verb usually comes in second position. Here that finite verb is vil.

In a yes/no question, the finite verb moves before the subject:

• Vil jeg leve længe?

That is the direct question form.

More naturally, you might hear:

• Vil du leve længe? = Do you want to live a long time?
• Tror du, jeg vil leve længe? = Do you think I will live long?

So the key point is that vil, the finite verb, comes before the subject in a yes/no question.

Jeg is one of the trickiest common Danish words for English speakers.

In careful standard Danish, it is often pronounced roughly like yai or yigh, but in everyday speech it is very often reduced.

Very common real-life pronunciations include something close to:

• yai
• ya
• sometimes an even weaker reduced form

The written g is not pronounced like English g in go.

A useful learner tip: listen to many recordings instead of trusting the spelling. Jeg is a word where spoken Danish differs a lot from what English speakers expect from the written form.

Længe contains the Danish vowel æ, which is similar to the vowel in English cat for many learners, though not exactly the same.

A rough guide is something like:

• LEN-uh or LANG-uh, depending on the accent and how detailed you want to be

But that is only approximate.

Important points:

• æ is a front vowel
• the ng sound is like the sound in English sing
• the final e is usually a weak schwa-like sound

So it is not pronounced like the English word lange or with a hard g.

Yes. Jeg ønsker at leve længe is grammatically correct and means I wish to live a long time or I desire to live long.

But it sounds more formal or literary than Jeg vil leve længe.

Compare:

• Jeg vil leve længe = more everyday, natural
• Jeg ønsker at leve længe = more formal, deliberate, or elevated

Notice also that with ønsker, you do need at:

• Jeg ønsker at leve
• not Jeg ønsker leve in standard Danish

So this is a good contrast with modal vil.

They are not interchangeable.

• vil expresses desire, willingness, or intention
• skal expresses obligation, necessity, or sometimes a planned future

So:

• Jeg vil leve længe = I want/intend to live a long time
• Jeg skal leve længe = could sound like I am supposed to live a long time or I have to live a long time, which is much less natural in this context

If you are talking about your wish or hope, vil is the right choice.

Not exactly.

• leve længe = live a long time
• blive gammel = become old / grow old

They are related ideas, but they are not identical.

For example:

• Someone can leve længe if they live many years.
• Someone can blive gammel if they reach old age.

In many situations they overlap, but the focus is different:

• leve længe focuses on duration of life
• blive gammel focuses on reaching old age

So Jeg vil leve længe is specifically about living for a long time.

Usually Jeg vil leve længe is the most natural order.

But adverbs can sometimes move depending on style, emphasis, or sentence structure. Still, in this simple sentence, putting længe at the end is the standard and easiest choice.

For learners, the safest pattern is:

subject + modal + infinitive + adverb

So:

• Jeg vil leve længe ✅

That is the form you should learn first and use confidently.