Breakdown of Mit kontor er fyldt med bøger.
Questions & Answers about Mit kontor er fyldt med bøger.
Danish has two grammatical genders for nouns: common gender (en‑words) and neuter gender (et‑words).
- Kontor is a neuter noun: et kontor.
- The possessive pronoun must match that gender:
- min = my (for common gender, singular) → min bog (my book)
- mit = my (for neuter, singular) → mit kontor (my office)
So you must say mit kontor, because you would say et kontor in the indefinite form.
Danish usually does not use the definite form (the “the”-form) when the noun already has a possessive pronoun like mit, min, hans, hendes, vores, etc.
- kontoret = the office
- mit kontor = my office
If you said mit kontoret, it would be like saying my the office, which is wrong in both Danish and English. So you use kontor (indefinite) after mit.
Kontor is neuter: et kontor.
Unfortunately, Danish gender is often not predictable from the meaning or spelling. You usually have to learn the gender together with the noun:
- et kontor (an office) → mit kontor (my office)
- en bog (a book) → min bog (my book)
A practical tip: when you learn a new word, always learn it with en/et, for example:
- et kontor
- en stol
In Mit kontor er fyldt med bøger, fyldt is the past participle of the verb at fylde (to fill), but here it functions like an adjective describing the state of the office.
- at fylde = to fill
- fyldt = filled / full
So the structure is:
Mit kontor (subject) + er (copula verb “is”) + fyldt (adjective) + med bøger (prepositional phrase).
It describes a resulting state: the office is in a “filled” condition.
Yes and no:
Predicative position (after er, bliver, ser ud, etc., like in the example):
- The usual, natural form is fyldt for all genders and numbers:
- Mit kontor er fyldt.
- Værelset er fyldt.
- Stuen er fyldt.
- Værelserne er fyldt. (more common in speech)
You might sometimes hear fyldte in plural, but fyldt is very common and fully acceptable.
- The usual, natural form is fyldt for all genders and numbers:
Attributive position (in front of a noun):
- et fyldt glas (a full glass) – neuter singular
- en fyldt kop (a full cup) – common gender singular
- fyldte glas (full glasses) – plural / definite
So in your sentence, fyldt is in predicative position, and the form fyldt is the standard one.
You need the preposition med (or sometimes af) after fyldt when you specify what it is filled with.
- Mit kontor er fyldt med bøger.
= My office is filled with books.
Without med, the sentence is ungrammatical:
- ✗ Mit kontor er fyldt bøger. (wrong)
So the pattern is:
være fyldt med + [something] → be filled with [something].
Both are often translated as “full of”, but there are some tendencies:
fyldt med is very common for literal, physical filling:
- Mit kontor er fyldt med bøger.
- Lokalet er fyldt med mennesker.
fuld af is also common for physical things, but is especially frequent with more abstract contents:
- Han er fuld af energi. (full of energy)
- Hun er fuld af idéer.
In many everyday contexts you could use either, and it would still sound natural, especially with physical objects:
- fyldt med bøger / fuld af bøger – both possible, fyldt med is probably more neutral here.
Yes, but the meaning changes:
er fyldt med bøger → describes a state:
- My office is filled with books (that is the current situation).
bliver fyldt med bøger → describes a process or change:
- My office is getting / is being filled with books (it is in the process of becoming full).
So pick er when you talk about the resulting state, and bliver when you focus on the ongoing change.
The singular form is bog (a book):
- en bog = a book
- bøger = books (indefinite plural)
- bøgerne = the books (definite plural)
The plural is formed with:
- A vowel change (o → ø)
- The plural ending ‑er
So: bog → bøger → bøgerne.
This kind of irregular plural (with a vowel change) is common for some frequent nouns in Danish.
In this sentence, you are talking about books in general as the stuff that fills the office, not about some specific set of books already known in the conversation.
- Mit kontor er fyldt med bøger.
= filled with books (unspecified, general)
If you said:
- Mit kontor er fyldt med bøgerne.
you would refer to some particular books already mentioned or clearly identified in the context, similar to filled with the books in English. That is possible, but it changes the meaning slightly and sounds more specific.
Approximate pronunciation in IPA (standard Danish):
- Mit → /mit/ (short i, clear t)
- kontor → /kɔnˈtoɐ̯/
- stress on ‑tor; final r is weak, like a short uh sound
- er → /ʌ/ or /ɐ/ (often very short, like an unstressed “uh”)
- fyldt → /fylˀd/
- y is like German ü, French u
- d is not fully released; there is a little glottal stop (stød)
- med → /mɛð/ or /með/
- final d is a soft ð (like English th in this)
- bøger → /ˈbøðɐ/
- ø like French eu in deux
- g is very soft, almost like a slight y sound
- er ending often pronounced as /ɐ/
Very rough English-like approximation (not exact):
Mit kontor er fyllt me(th) BØH-uh.
The normal, neutral word order is exactly what you see:
- Subject – Verb – Predicative – Prepositional phrase
- Mit kontor – er – fyldt – med bøger
You could move med bøger to the front for emphasis or special focus:
- Med bøger er mit kontor fyldt.
But that sounds marked and poetic or very emphatic, not like everyday speech.
Something like:
- ✗ Mit kontor er med bøger fyldt.
is technically understandable but sounds very unnatural in modern Danish. Stick to the original order for normal usage.
Kontor can refer to both:
a workplace office:
- Jeg arbejder på et kontor. (I work in an office.)
a home office or study, if that is how you use the room:
- Mit kontor derhjemme er fyldt med bøger. (My home office is filled with books.)
If you specifically mean a study in a house or apartment, many people would still say kontor, although you can also describe it more generally as et arbejdsværelse (a work room).