Hej, hvordan går det?

A good beginner-friendly pronunciation is:

• Hej ≈ hi
• hvordan ≈ vor-dan or vo-dan
• går ≈ gor with a long vowel, a bit like the vowel in law
• det ≈ deh

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

Hi, vor-dan gor deh?

A few helpful notes:

• Hej is very close to English hi.
• In modern Danish, hv in hvordan is usually pronounced like v.
• Danish pronunciation is often softer and less sharply pronounced than English, especially in small words like det.

Hej is a very common, everyday greeting. It is usually neutral to informal and works in most normal situations.

You can use it:

• with friends
• with classmates or coworkers
• in shops
• with people you do not know well

It is less stiff than more formal greetings such as Goddag, which exists but is much less common in everyday speech.

Hvordan means how.

It is a question word, like:

• how
• what
• where
• when

So in Hvordan går det?, hvordan introduces the question and asks about someone’s general situation or how things are going.

This is about Danish word order.

In a normal statement, you would often get:

• Det går godt. = It’s going well.

But in a question with a question word like hvordan, Danish puts the verb before the subject:

• Hvordan går det?

So:

• hvordan = question word
• går = verb
• det = subject

This kind of inversion is very common in Danish questions.

In this sentence, det does not usually refer to one specific thing. It is more general, like it in English expressions such as:

• How’s it going?
• It’s going well.

Here, det refers broadly to:

• life
• things
• the situation
• how someone is doing

So it is a general, idiomatic it.

It is very close, but the feeling is often a bit more like:

• How’s it going?
• How are things?

English How are you? can sometimes sound slightly more direct or personal than Hvordan går det?, depending on context.

So Hvordan går det? is a very natural everyday way to ask how someone is doing in general.

Some very common answers are:

• Det går godt. = It’s going well.
• Det går fint. = It’s going fine.
• Det går okay. = It’s going okay.
• Ikke så godt. = Not so well.
• Jo tak, godt. = Yes thanks, good.

If you want to ask back, you can add:

• Og dig? = And you?
• Hvad med dig? = What about you?

A very natural full reply is:

• Det går fint, tak. Og dig?

Yes. That is also correct, but it has a slightly different feel.

• Hvordan går det? = How’s it going? / How are things?
• Hvordan har du det? = How are you feeling? / How are you doing?

Hvordan har du det? can sound a little more personal or more focused on someone’s emotional or physical state.

So:

• Hvordan går det? is very common as a general greeting question.
• Hvordan har du det? is also common, but often a bit more direct.

The comma separates the greeting Hej from the question that follows.

So:

• Hej, hvordan går det?

This is normal written Danish.

In very casual texting, people may leave out punctuation, but in standard writing the comma is the natural choice here.

You can use it with both, but it sounds most natural in friendly, everyday interaction.

It works well:

• with friends
• with coworkers
• with classmates
• with neighbors
• sometimes with strangers in a friendly context

With complete strangers, whether you use it depends on the situation. Danish is often a bit more reserved than English in small talk, so asking Hvordan går det? to a stranger may be less automatic than English How are you? in some places.

But the sentence itself is perfectly normal and polite.

Yes, very common.

It is one of the most useful basic conversational phrases in Danish because it combines:

• a greeting: Hej
• a follow-up question: hvordan går det?

It sounds natural, everyday, and friendly, so it is a great phrase to learn early.