Questions & Answers about Klokken er otte om aftenen.
Klokken is the definite form of klokke (clock). Literally, klokken means “the clock” or “the time (on the clock)”.
In Danish, when telling the time, you almost always use the definite form:
- Klokken er otte. – It is eight o’clock. (literally: The clock is eight.)
So even though English just says “It’s eight”, Danish says “The clock is eight” with the definite article built into the word: klokk + -en → klokken.
You can say Det er otte in some contexts, but when you’re specifically telling the time, Klokken er otte (or Den er otte) is the normal, idiomatic way.
Think of Klokken er otte as the literal equivalent of “The time is eight o’clock”, while English has just shortened this to “It’s eight”. Danish keeps the “clock/time” word.
Common ways to say the time:
- Klokken er otte. – Standard and clear.
- Den er otte. – Very common in speech (“It’s eight”).
- Det er otte. – Possible but less typical as a neutral way of telling the time.
In om aftenen, the preposition om means roughly “in” or “at” when talking about parts of the day.
- om aftenen – in the evening / at night (in the evenings)
You cannot leave it out in this expression.
- ✅ Klokken er otte om aftenen. – It is eight in the evening.
- ❌ Klokken er otte aftenen. – Wrong.
With times of day, om + [definite form of the time-of-day word] is the regular pattern:
- om morgenen – in the morning
- om formiddagen – in the late morning
- om eftermiddagen – in the afternoon
- om aftenen – in the evening
- om natten – at night
aften = evening (indefinite form)
aftenen = the evening (definite form)
After om, when you’re talking about a regular time of day, Danish uses the definite form:
- om aftenen – in the evening (generally, or specifying evening as a part of the day)
So:
- ✅ om aftenen (correct, idiomatic)
- ❌ om aften (ungrammatical here)
The same pattern appears with other times of day:
- om aftenen, om morgenen, om natten – all use the definite form.
om aftenen on its own is usually general or habitual:
- Jeg arbejder ofte klokken otte om aftenen.
I often work at eight in the evening. (in general)
In Klokken er otte om aftenen, it normally just locates the current time as 8 p.m., i.e. eight in the (current) evening. It doesn’t itself point to “tonight” in a planning/future sense; it’s more like saying:
- The time is 8:00 p.m.
If you wanted to talk about a future/particular evening (“at eight tonight”), you would instead say something like:
- Klokken otte i aften. – At eight tonight.
These three are easy to mix up:
om aftenen
- Literally: in the evening
- Use: Parts of the day / general time-of-day
- Example: Jeg læser altid om aftenen. – I always read in the evening.
i aften
- Means: this evening / tonight (future or near-future)
- Example: Vi ses i aften. – See you tonight.
i aftes
- Means: last night / yesterday evening
- Example: Jeg så filmen i aftes. – I watched the film last night.
So your sentence Klokken er otte om aftenen is about the time of day (8 p.m.), not the special meanings “tonight” or “last night”.
Yes.
- Klokken er otte. – It’s eight o’clock.
Adding om aftenen simply clarifies that it’s 8 p.m. rather than 8 a.m., or emphasizes the time-of-day context. Often, context is enough, so people just say:
- Den er otte.
- Klokken er otte.
You use om aftenen if the distinction between morning and evening matters or if you want to be explicit.
Because of om aftenen, this sentence clearly means 8 p.m. (20:00).
In spoken Danish, people often still use 1–12 and mark morning/evening with context or phrases like om aftenen:
- Klokken er otte (om aftenen). – It’s eight (in the evening) = 20:00.
You can say Klokken er tyve (The time is twenty), but in everyday conversation that sounds quite formal or “timetable-style.” It’s more typical in announcements, schedules, or very formal speech.
Approximate pronunciation (standard Danish):
- Klokken – [KLOK‑ən], with a short “o” like in British “clock”, and the final -en is weak, like “ən”.
- er – [ə] or very light [air] in slow speech; often reduced.
- otte – [OT‑ə], with o like in British “off”.
- om – [omm], short “o” as in “off”.
- aftenen – [AF‑tən‑ən], with a clear af and weak final syllables. In casual speech, consonants may soften or drop, for example sounding closer to “AFT-nn”.
So slowly:
- [KLOK‑ən ə OT‑ə om AF‑tən‑ən]
Spoken quickly, many sounds get reduced and “blurred,” which is typical of Danish.
Unlike German, Danish does not capitalize all nouns. It uses capitalization rules similar to English:
- Capitalize the first word of a sentence: Klokken
- Capitalize proper nouns: Danmark, København, Peter
- Do not capitalize ordinary nouns in the middle of a sentence: aftenen, klokken, hunden
So aftenen is lowercase simply because it’s a regular noun in the middle of the sentence.
Breaking it down:
- Klokken – noun, definite singular (“the clock/the time”); subject of the sentence.
- er – verb, present tense of at være (“to be”); the main verb.
- otte – numeral (“eight”); predicative complement (what the subject is).
- om – preposition (“in/at” with parts of the day).
- aftenen – noun, definite singular (“the evening”); object of the preposition om.
So the structure is:
- [Subject] Klokken – the time
- [Verb] er – is
- [Complement] otte – eight
- [Prepositional phrase] om aftenen – in the evening
= The time is eight in the evening.