Jeg forstår ikke alt.

I do not understand everything.

Breakdown of Jeg forstår ikke alt.

• jeg: I
• forstå: to understand
• ikke: not
• alt: everything

Questions & Answers about Jeg forstår ikke alt.

What does each word in Jeg forstår ikke alt literally mean?

Word by word:

• Jeg = I (1st person singular subject pronoun)
• forstår = understand / understands (present tense of at forstå = to understand)
• ikke = not
• alt = everything / all (of it)

So a literal rendering is I understand not everything, which in natural English becomes I don’t understand everything.

Why does ikke (not) come after forstår instead of before, like in English?

In standard main‑clause word order, Danish puts the negation ikke after the finite verb:

• Jeg forstår ikke alt. = I do not understand everything.

English uses the auxiliary do and then not before the main verb (do not understand), but Danish doesn’t use do in this way. Instead, the main verb itself is finite (forstår), and the negation ikke follows it.

Basic pattern in a neutral statement:

Subject – finite verb – ikke – (rest of the sentence)
Jeg – forstår – ikke – alt.

Could I say Jeg ikke forstår alt?

No, not in a normal statement.

Danish main clauses generally require the V2 rule: the finite verb must be in second position in the sentence. In Jeg forstår ikke alt, the verb forstår is in second position: Jeg (1) forstår (2) ….

If you say Jeg ikke forstår alt, then ikke becomes the second element and pushes the verb to third position, which breaks the V2 rule, so it sounds wrong in standard Danish.

Why can’t I say Jeg forstår alt ikke?

Jeg forstår alt ikke is not idiomatic Danish; the normal position of ikke in a neutral sentence is right after the finite verb and before the object or the rest of the clause.

So:

• Correct: Jeg forstår ikke alt.
• Incorrect / non‑standard as a neutral statement: Jeg forstår alt ikke.

You can move alt for emphasis, like:

• Alt forstår jeg ikke. = I don’t understand everything (with emphasis on everything)

But the simple pattern with subject first is Subject – Verb – ikke – Object.

What’s the difference between alt, alle, and alting?

They’re related but not the same:

• alt

  • Means everything / all (of it).
  • Used for things in general, uncountable as a whole.
  • Example: Jeg forstår ikke alt. = I don’t understand everything.

• alle

  • Means everyone / all (of them).
  • Used with plural countable nouns or people.
  • Example: Jeg forstår ikke alle = I don’t understand everyone (e.g. I don’t understand all the people).

• alting

  • Also everything, often a bit more colloquial or emphatic.
  • Example: Jeg forstår ikke alting. ≈ I don’t understand everything.

In this sentence, alt is best because we are talking about everything in general, not about people.

Is there any difference between alt and alting here?

In this context, Jeg forstår ikke alt and Jeg forstår ikke alting are very close in meaning; both can be translated as I don’t understand everything.

Subtle tendencies:

• alt can feel a bit more neutral or general.
• alting can feel slightly more colloquial or “all sorts of things”, but the difference is small and very context‑dependent.

As a learner, you can treat them as near‑synonyms in this kind of sentence.

Could this sentence also mean I don’t understand at all?

No, not really. Jeg forstår ikke alt means I don’t understand everything — it implies I do understand something, but not all of it.

To say I don’t understand at all, you’d use something like:

• Jeg forstår det slet ikke. = I don’t understand it at all.
• Jeg forstår det overhovedet ikke. = I absolutely don’t understand it / not at all.

So alt = everything, not at all.

What’s the difference between Jeg forstår ikke alt and Jeg forstår det ikke?

They’re both correct but say different things:

• Jeg forstår ikke alt.

  • I don’t understand everything.
  • General statement: some things I get, some things I don’t.

• Jeg forstår det ikke.

  • I don’t understand it.
  • Refers to a specific thing just mentioned (an explanation, a sentence, a situation).

So ikke alt limits how much you understand in general; det ikke denies understanding of one specific thing.

How do you pronounce Jeg forstår ikke alt?

Approximate pronunciation (in a standard Copenhagen‑style accent):

• Jeg ≈ yai (like English “y”
  • “eye”). The g is silent.
• forstår ≈ foh-STOR (second syllable stressed; with Danish stød on står).
• ikke ≈ IK-ke or more like IK-eh (often reduced in casual speech).
• alt ≈ alt, but the t may be weak or almost unreleased at the end.

Said smoothly together, something like:

Yai foh‑STOR ik‑eh alt (with main stress on står and some stress on alt).

Do Danes shorten ikke in speech, like dropping the final e?

Yes. In everyday spoken Danish, ikke is often reduced to something like ik’ (with a glottal stop or just a short k sound at the end).

So you might hear:

• Jeg forstår ikke alt. (careful / neutral speech)
• Jeg forstår ik’ alt. (very common in casual speech)

Both are the same sentence; the shorter form is just a spoken reduction, not a different word.

Why is the verb forstår and not forstår jeg after ikke?

Word order again: in a normal statement, the subject comes first, the finite verb second, then ikke:

Jeg – forstår – ikke – alt.

If you put forstår jeg after ikke, you’re changing the structure:

• Alt forstår jeg ikke. (fronting alt for emphasis; verb is still in 2nd position)
• Forstår jeg ikke alt? (question: Don’t I understand everything?)

So forstår jeg after ikke would normally appear in questions or special emphasis patterns, not in a simple neutral statement like Jeg forstår ikke alt.

Why is the verb just forstår for both I understand and he understands?

Danish verbs don’t change form according to the subject like English verbs do.

The present tense of at forstå is forstår for all persons:

• jeg forstår = I understand
• du forstår = you understand
• han/hun forstår = he/she understands
• vi forstår = we understand
• I forstår = you (plural) understand
• de forstår = they understand

There is no -s ending like English he understand/he understands; it’s always forstår.

How would I say I am not understanding everything (right now)? Do I still use forstår?

Yes, you still use the simple present forstår. Danish usually uses the simple present where English might use the present progressive:

• Jeg forstår ikke alt (lige nu).
  = I’m not understanding everything (right now).

Danish does have a construction er ved at + infinitive for ongoing processes, but with forstå it’s less common in this meaning, and Jeg forstår ikke alt is perfectly natural for both general and “right now” contexts, depending on the situation and any time expressions you add.

Could I say Jeg forstår ikke noget instead of Jeg forstår ikke alt?

You can, but the meaning changes:

• Jeg forstår ikke alt. = I don’t understand everything.

  • Implies you do understand something, just not all of it.

• Jeg forstår ikke noget. = I don’t understand anything.

  • Much stronger: you don’t understand anything at all.

So choose ikke alt if you want to say your understanding is partial, and ikke noget if you want to say your understanding is basically zero.