Learn Hardcore Danish: Jeg er meget træt i aften.

I aften is a fixed time expression that means this evening / tonight (the coming or current evening). Danish treats it as an adverbial phrase, almost like a single word, similar to English tonight.

You can say denne aften, but that sounds more formal or literary and usually refers to a particular evening in a story or description, not simply tonight in everyday conversation.

So for something like I’m very tired tonight, the natural choice is Jeg er meget træt i aften, not … denne aften.

What is the difference between i aften, i nat, and om aftenen?

i aften = this evening / tonight, roughly from late afternoon/early evening until bedtime.
- Jeg kommer i aften. = I’m coming this evening.
i nat = tonight / during the coming night, after you’ve gone to bed, the night hours.
- Jeg sov dårligt i nat. = I slept badly last night.
om aftenen = in the evening / in the evenings (generally, habitually).
- Jeg er ofte træt om aftenen. = I’m often tired in the evenings.

So Jeg er meget træt i aften is about this particular evening, not about evenings in general.

Why is the preposition i used here? Could I say på aften or om aften instead?

With specific times of day like morgen, formiddag, eftermiddag, aften, nat, Danish often uses fixed expressions with i:

i morges – this morning (earlier today)
i formiddag – this forenoon / late morning
i eftermiddag – this afternoon
i aften – this evening
i nat – tonight (during the night)

These are idiomatic; you don’t normally replace i with på or om.

på is more common with days: på fredag (on Friday).
om aftenen is used for general time: in the evening / in the evenings.

Forms like på aften or om aften (without the -en) are ungrammatical in standard Danish.

Is Jeg er meget træt i aften the only natural word order? Can I move i aften earlier?

The neutral, most common order is:

Jeg er meget træt i aften.
Subject – Verb – Degree adverb – Adjective – Time adverbial.

You can also say:

I aften er jeg meget træt.
This puts special emphasis on i aften (contrastive: as for tonight, I’m very tired).

Jeg er i aften meget træt is grammatically correct but sounds more formal or stylistic, and is not typical in casual speech.

One thing you cannot do is move meget away from træt:

✗ Jeg er træt meget i aften. (wrong)
✓ Jeg er meget træt i aften. (correct)

What kind of word is træt, and does it change form depending on the subject?

Træt is an adjective meaning tired.

As a predicative adjective (after er):

Jeg er træt. = I am tired.
Vi er trætte. = We are tired.

So it changes for number (singular træt, plural trætte) but not for grammatical person.

Before a noun (attributive use) it also inflects:

en træt mand – a tired man
et træt barn – a tired child
trætte børn – tired children

In Jeg er meget træt i aften, træt is singular to match jeg (I).

What exactly does meget mean here? Is it the same as very, and are there alternatives?

In front of an adjective, meget usually means very:

meget træt = very tired

It’s the most neutral, general intensifier. Some common alternatives (all a bit different in tone) are:

virkelig træt – really tired (emphasises reality/genuineness)
rigtig træt – really/very tired (colloquial, friendly tone)
så træt – so tired (often emotional, can imply a consequence)

Elsewhere, meget can mean much / a lot:

Jeg arbejder meget. – I work a lot.

But in Jeg er meget træt i aften, it simply means very.

Can I just say Jeg er træt i aften without meget? How does that change the meaning?

Yes, Jeg er træt i aften is perfectly correct.

Jeg er træt i aften. – I’m tired this evening. (plain statement)
Jeg er meget træt i aften. – I’m very tired this evening. (stronger than usual)

So removing meget only reduces the intensity. The basic message (that you’re tired tonight) stays the same.

Why do we just use er (simple present) here? Could Danish use something like I’m getting very tired tonight?

Danish generally uses the simple present where English might use either simple or progressive:

Jeg er meget træt i aften.
= I am very tired tonight / I’m getting very tired tonight (depending on context).

There is a way to express an ongoing change:

Jeg er ved at blive meget træt. – I’m in the process of becoming very tired.

But in everyday speech you usually don’t need that extra structure. Jeg er meget træt i aften is the natural choice and can cover both English nuances.

How do you pronounce Jeg er meget træt i aften? The spelling looks quite different from English.

A rough standard pronunciation (Copenhagen-style) is:

Jeg er meget træt i aften ≈ [jɑj ɐ ˈmɑːð̩ tsʁɛˀd i ˈɑfdn̩]

Very approximate English-style guidance:

Jeg – roughly yai (short, not like English yeah)
er – a very short, weak vowel, a bit like the a in about
meget – roughly MY-ull, with a soft, voiced d at the end
træt – something like traet, with a little glottal catch in the vowel and a very weak t
i – like English ee in see
aften – about AF-dn, where the second syllable is very reduced

The main surprises for English speakers are:

Many letters (especially final t, internal e) are weakened or not clearly pronounced.
The d in meget and aften’s final syllable are soft and not like an English clear d.

Can I drop the subject jeg and just say Er meget træt i aften?

In standard Danish you normally must include the subject pronoun:

Jeg er meget træt i aften. (correct)
✗ Er meget træt i aften. (grammatically incomplete)

Danish verbs don’t change form for person (er is the same for I, you, he, we etc.), so the language relies on the explicit subject pronoun (jeg, du, han, vi, etc.).

In very informal writing (like texting), you might occasionally see the pronoun left out, but in normal speech and standard writing it should be Jeg er meget træt i aften.