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Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk.

Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk.
The exam consists of Danish and English.

Breakdown of Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk.

og
and
af
of
dansk
Danish
engelsk
English
eksamenen
the exam
bestå
to pass
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Questions & Answers about Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk.

Why is there no article before eksamen? In English I would say “The exam consists of Danish and English.”

In Danish, bare nouns are often used in headings, descriptions, or when talking about something in a general/descriptive way.

  • Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk.
    = (The) exam consists of Danish and English.
    Here it sounds like a course description or a general statement about how “the exam” is structured.

If you are talking about one specific, clearly identified exam in a normal sentence, you are more likely to see:

  • Eksamenen består af dansk og engelsk.
    = The exam consists of Danish and English.

So:

  • eksamen – “exam” in general, or “the exam” in description/headline style.
  • eksamenen – “the exam” (a particular one).
  • en eksamen – “an exam”.
What is the difference between eksamen, en eksamen, and eksamenen?

They are different forms of the same noun:

  • eksamen – bare form (common gender noun).

    • Can mean exam(s) in general:
      • Jeg hader eksamen. = I hate exams / exam time.
    • Or used in descriptions/headings, like your sentence.

  • en eksamen – an exam (indefinite singular).

    • Jeg har en eksamen i morgen. = I have an exam tomorrow.

  • eksamenen – the exam (definite singular).

    • Eksamenen består af dansk og engelsk. = The exam consists of Danish and English.

So in your original sentence, the bare eksamen is a more “neutral/heading-like” way to talk about the exam structure.

What does består af mean exactly? Is it one verb or two separate words?

Består af is a verb + preposition that work together, like English “consists of”.

  • bestå = the verb to consist (of) / to pass (depending on context).
  • af = the preposition of.

In your sentence:

  • Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk.
    = The exam consists of Danish and English.

Some contrasts:

  • består af = consists of

    • Kurset består af tre dele. = The course consists of three parts.

  • bestå eksamen = to pass the exam

    • Hun bestod eksamen. = She passed the exam.

So, består af is not one single “word”, but a fixed combination: verb består + preposition af, similar to English phrasal-like verbs.

Can I just say består without af here?

No. In the “consist of” meaning, af is required.

  • Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk. ✅
  • Eksamen består dansk og engelsk. ❌ (ungrammatical)

Without af, består would instead be understood in its other sense, usually “lasts” or (in other constructions) related to “passing” an exam, but not “consists of” these subjects.

So for “consists of X”, always use består af X.

Are dansk and engelsk nouns or adjectives here?

Functionally, they are nouns here: they mean “(the subject) Danish” and “(the subject) English” or “the Danish language / the English language”.

In Danish:

  • dansk can be:

    • adjective: en dansk bog = a Danish book
    • noun: Jeg læser dansk. = I study Danish (language).

  • engelsk works the same way:

    • adjective: en engelsk film = an English film
    • noun: Vi taler engelsk. = We speak English.

In your sentence, they are the names of the exam subjects → grammatically, noun use.

Why are dansk and engelsk not capitalized?

In Danish, names of languages and nationalities are not capitalized, unlike in English.

  • dansk = Danish
  • engelsk = English
  • tysk = German
  • fransk = French

You only capitalize them if they start a sentence or are part of a proper name (which is rare).

So:

  • Jeg taler dansk og engelsk. = I speak Danish and English.
  • Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk. = The exam consists of Danish and English.

All lower-case in normal use.

Why is there no article in front of dansk and engelsk?

When you talk about languages or school subjects in general, you normally do not use an article in Danish.

  • Jeg læser dansk og engelsk. = I study Danish and English.
  • Han underviser i matematik. = He teaches mathematics.
  • Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk. = The exam consists of Danish and English.

If you want to talk about the specific subject/course, you can use other forms:

  • danskfaget = the Danish subject (as a school subject)
  • faget dansk = the subject Danish

Example:

  • Eksamen består af danskfaget og engelskfaget.
    = The exam consists of the subject Danish and the subject English.
    (Stylistically heavier; your original version is more natural.)
Can I change the word order to “Dansk og engelsk består af eksamen”?

No, that would be wrong.

Danish main clause word order is Subject – Verb – (Object / other elements), similar to English.

  • Eksamen (subject)
  • består (verb)
  • af dansk og engelsk (prepositional phrase / “object-like”)

So:

  • Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk. ✅
  • Dansk og engelsk består af eksamen. ❌ (This would mean “Danish and English consist of the exam”, which makes no sense.)

You can swap the order of the two languages:

  • Eksamen består af engelsk og dansk. ✅
    Same meaning, just a different order of items in the list.
How do I say “The exam consists only of Danish and English” or “mainly of”?

You add adverbs like kun (only), mest / hovedsageligt (mostly / mainly):

  • Eksamen består kun af dansk og engelsk.
    = The exam consists only of Danish and English.

  • Eksamen består mest af dansk og engelsk.
    = The exam consists mostly of Danish and English.

  • Eksamen består hovedsageligt af dansk og engelsk.
    = The exam consists mainly of Danish and English.
    (A bit more formal.)

The adverb usually comes right after består.

How do I say “to pass the exam” using bestå, and how is that different from består af?

Two different uses of the same verb bestå:

  1. bestå af = to consist of

    • Eksamen består af dansk og engelsk.
      = The exam consists of Danish and English.

  2. bestå (en) eksamen = to pass (an) exam

    • Hun bestod eksamen. = She passed the exam.
    • Jeg håber, jeg består eksamen. = I hope I pass the exam.

So:

  • består af
    • what it consists of
  • består
    • eksamen (no af) when you mean pass.
How do I pronounce eksamen, består, dansk, and engelsk?

Approximate pronunciations for an English speaker:

  • eksamen – roughly: eg-SAA-men

    • IPA (approx.): [ɛgˈsæːmən]

  • består – roughly: be-STOR (with a long “o” like in British door, but further back)

    • IPA (approx.): [beˈsd̥ɒːɐ̯]

  • dansk – roughly: dansk, but the final -sk is a bit “tight” and the a is like in dad

    • IPA (approx.): [danˀsg]

  • engelsk – roughly: ENG-elsg, where the g at the end is very soft

    • IPA (approx.): [ˈeŋəlsg]

Real Danish pronunciation uses reductions and glottal stops that take time to acquire, but these approximations will make you understandable.