Jeg kom for sent til mødet.

I arrived too late to the meeting.

Breakdown of Jeg kom for sent til mødet.

• jeg: I
• til: to
• mødet: the meeting
• komme: to come
• for sent: late

Questions & Answers about Jeg kom for sent til mødet.

Why is it kom and not komme or kommer in this sentence?

Danish, like English, changes the verb form to mark past tense.

For the verb at komme (to come), the main forms are:

• infinitive: at komme
• present: kommer – Jeg kommer = I come / I am coming
• past (preterite): kom – Jeg kom = I came
• past participle: kommet – Jeg er kommet = I have come

In Jeg kom for sent til mødet, we are talking about a completed event in the past, so Danish uses the preterite form kom.

You would not use:

• komme (infinitive) here, because infinitives don’t show tense.
• kommer (present) here, because the event is not happening now; it happened earlier.

So Jeg kom … = I came … / I was … (late).

What exactly does for sent mean, and is for here the same as English “for”?

In for sent, for does not mean English “for”. It is an adverb of degree meaning “too”.

• sen = late (adjective)
• sent = late (adverb / neuter form)
• for sent = too late

So Jeg kom for sent til mødet literally has the idea “I came too late to the meeting.”

Danish for can function in different ways:

1. As a degree word (like here):

   • for stor = too big
   • for dyrt = too expensive
   • for sent = too late

2. As a preposition (closer to English “for”):

   • en gave for dig = a present for you
   • tak for hjælpen = thank you for the help

In this sentence, for is the degree adverb meaning too, not the preposition.

What part of speech is sent, and why is it spelled with a t?

Sent is the adverb form of sen (late).

Danish often forms adverbs (and neuter adjectives) by adding -t:

• langsom (slow) → langsomt (slowly)
• hurtig (fast) → hurtigt (quickly)
• sen (late) → sent (late, as an adverb)

So:

• et sent møde = a late meeting (here sent agrees with neuter noun møde)
• Jeg kom sent = I came late (here sent is adverbial)

In for sent, sent is an adverb describing how you came (too late).

Can I say Jeg kom til mødet for sent instead? Is the word order different in meaning?

Yes, Jeg kom til mødet for sent is also grammatically correct and means essentially the same thing.

The difference is very small:

1. Jeg kom for sent til mødet

   • Focuses slightly more on the lateness first, then specifies what you were late for.
   • Very natural and common.

2. Jeg kom til mødet for sent

   • Mentally, you may first place yourself arriving at the meeting, then realize you were too late.
   • Also natural in spoken Danish.

Both respect normal Danish main-clause word order:

• Subject: Jeg
• Verb (finite, in second position): kom
• Then adverbials and other information: for sent til mødet / til mødet for sent

So you can use either, with almost no difference in everyday use.

Why is it til mødet and not something like i mødet or på mødet?

The choice of preposition depends on the idea you want to express:

• til mødet = to the meeting (arrival / destination)

  • Used with verbs of movement or attendance:
    • komme til mødet – come to the meeting
    • gå til mødet – go to the meeting
    • møde op til mødet – show up for the meeting

• i mødet = in the meeting (inside the activity)

  • Often about participating in the ongoing meeting:
    • Jeg sagde ikke så meget i mødet. – I didn’t say much in the meeting.

• på mødet = at the meeting (location / setting)

  • Common for “at” as a place or event:
    • Vi besluttede det på mødet. – We decided that at the meeting.

In Jeg kom for sent til mødet, the focus is on arriving at the meeting, so til (to) is the natural preposition.

Why is it mødet and not just møde?

Danish usually marks definiteness with an ending on the noun instead of a separate word like “the”.

• et møde = a meeting (indefinite, neuter)
• mødet = the meeting (definite)

The pattern is:

• Common gender: en bil / bilen (a car / the car)
• Neuter: et møde / mødet (a meeting / the meeting)

In this sentence, you’re talking about a specific meeting that both speaker and listener know about (e.g., today’s staff meeting), so Danish uses the definite form mødet = the meeting.

Can I leave out til mødet and just say Jeg kom for sent?

Yes, you can. Jeg kom for sent is a complete and natural sentence.

• Jeg kom for sent. = I was too late / I came too late.
  (Context normally makes it clear: for school, for work, for a meeting, etc.)

Adding til mødet simply specifies what you were late for:

• Jeg kom for sent til mødet. = I was late for the meeting.

So both are correct; the full version is just more specific.

What is the difference between Jeg kom for sent til mødet and Jeg er kommet for sent til mødet?

Both are grammatically correct but differ in tense and typical use.

1. Jeg kom for sent til mødet.

   • Uses the preterite (simple past) kom.
   • Describes a completed event in the past, often with the situation seen as “over”.
   • Comparable to English “I was late for the meeting” / “I came late to the meeting.”

2. Jeg er kommet for sent til mødet.

   • Uses the present perfect: er kommet (have come).
   • Highlights the result / relevance now.
   • Closer to “I have come too late to the meeting.”

In everyday Danish, Jeg kom for sent til mødet is very common when you’re just reporting what happened.
Jeg er kommet for sent … might be used more when you are focusing on the current consequence (“so now I missed the beginning”).

Is the word order in Jeg kom for sent til mødet following a general rule in Danish?

Yes. The sentence follows the typical main clause word order with the finite verb in second position (the V2 rule).

The structure is:

1. First element: usually the subject here

   • Jeg

2. Finite verb (in 2nd position):

   • kom

3. Other elements (adverbs, objects, prepositional phrases, etc.):

   • for sent til mødet

So:

• Jeg (1st element)
• kom (finite verb, 2nd position)
• for sent til mødet (rest)

You cannot move for sent in front without moving the verb back to second place:

• For sent kom jeg til mødet. (more marked, with emphasis on “too late”)

But Jeg kom for sent til mødet is the neutral, everyday order.

Are there other common ways to say “I was late for the meeting” in Danish?

Yes, several alternatives are possible, with slightly different nuances:

• Jeg var forsinket til mødet.
  – I was delayed for the meeting / I was late to the meeting.
  (forsinket focuses on being delayed.)

• Jeg dukkede for sent op til mødet.
  – I showed up too late for the meeting.
  (dukke op = show up / turn up.)

• Jeg nåede ikke mødet til tiden.
  – I didn’t make it to the meeting on time.

• Jeg kom lidt sent til mødet.
  – I arrived a bit late to the meeting.
  (lidt sent is softer, sounds less serious.)

Jeg kom for sent til mødet is the most straightforward and very commonly used.

How do you pronounce mødet, especially the ø and the d?

Approximate pronunciation (standard Danish):

• mødet ≈ [MØ-ðet] / [MØ-ðə]
  
  • mø-:
    
    • ø is a front rounded vowel, something between English “e” in “get” and French eu in bleu.
    • You can approximate it by saying English “eh” while rounding your lips.
  • -d-:
    • Between vowels, d is often a soft, voiced sound [ð], similar to th in English “this”.
  • -et:
    • Often reduced, sounding like a weak “uh” or almost disappearing in casual speech.

So to approximate:

• Think “MEU-thuh”, with lips rounded on the vowel and a soft th sound in the middle.