Breakdown of Der ligger ingen billet i min lomme.
Questions & Answers about Der ligger ingen billet i min lomme.
Here der is an existential/dummy subject (like English there in There is/are...). It doesn’t mean there (over there) in a literal location sense; it’s used to introduce that something exists (or, here, does not exist) in a place.
So Der ligger ingen billet i min lomme functions like There is no ticket in my pocket, but with a verb that describes the item’s position (ligger = is lying).
Both can be possible, but they emphasize different things:
- Der er ingen billet i min lomme = neutral existence: There isn’t any ticket in my pocket.
- Der ligger ingen billet i min lomme = existence + position: There is no ticket lying in my pocket (implying the ticket would be lying there if it were present).
Danish often uses “position verbs” (ligge, stå, sidde) where English would just use be.
ligger (present tense of at ligge) literally means lies / is lying. It’s commonly used for things that are:
- flat or spread out (a paper, a book on a table),
- located somewhere in a general sense (a town “lies” in a region),
- inside something and not upright/standing.
With a billet (ticket) in a pocket, ligger is natural because the ticket would typically be lying flat.
Danish is a V2 language in main clauses: the finite verb (here ligger) must be in the second position.
In this sentence:
1) Der (position 1)
2) ligger (position 2)
Then the rest follows.
ingen means no / none and is used to negate a noun phrase directly:
- ingen billet = no ticket
ikke is a general sentence negator (roughly not), typically used with verbs/adjectives or when you’re not directly negating the noun:
- Der ligger ikke en billet i min lomme can work, but it often sounds like There isn’t a ticket lying in my pocket (more like denying one specific ticket), whereas ingen billet is more straightforward: no ticket at all.
ingen changes form:
- Common gender (en-words): ingen → ingen billet
- Neuter (et-words): intet / sometimes ingen in some styles, but standard is intet
Example: intet problem - Plural: ingen
Example: ingen billetter
So billet is an en-word, which matches ingen.
After ingen, Danish typically uses the bare noun (no indefinite article):
- ingen billet (not ingen en billet)
This is similar to English: you say no ticket, not no a ticket.
Because lomme is a common gender noun (an en-word): en lomme.
Possessives agree with the noun’s gender/number:
- Common gender: min
- Neuter: mit
- Plural: mine
So: min lomme = my pocket.
It’s the standard phrasing: i min lomme.
Depending on context you might also hear:
- i lommen = in the pocket (implied/known pocket, often your own)
- i min jakke-/bukselomme = in my jacket/trouser pocket (more specific)
But i min lomme is perfectly normal.
Yes, it would still mean There is no ticket in my pocket. The difference is nuance:
- Der er ... = neutral existence
- Der ligger ... = highlights the expected physical placement (lying in the pocket)
Both are grammatically correct; ligger can sound slightly more vivid/physical.
A rough learner-friendly guide:
- Der often sounds like dæ (the r is usually not strongly pronounced)
- ligger: the gg is soft; often like li-uh with a “soft” consonant feel
- ingen: often EN-en (with stress on the first syllable)
- billet: final -t is often very light or not strongly released
- lomme: like LOM-uh
Exact pronunciation varies by region, but don’t expect clear, hard final consonants the way English often has them.
You’d make billet plural and keep ingen:
- Der ligger ingen billetter i min lomme.
(There are no tickets in my pocket.)
The verb ligger stays the same because Danish doesn’t change verb forms for plural subjects in the present tense.