Noun Gender: en or et?

Every Danish noun belongs to one of two genders: common (en-words) or neuter (et-words). The gender affects articles, adjectives, and pronouns.

Learn each noun with its article and the rest follows from it: the ending for “the”, the form of an adjective, and whether you call the thing den or det.

An en-word: a car → the car
a / anenNounbilbecomesNounbilthe-en
An et-word: a house → the house
a / anetNounhusbecomesNounhusthe-et

Learn the noun with en or et, and you also know its ending for “the”.

At a glance

en-words
Common gender
- en bog
- en bil
- en stol
- en kat
- en cykel
- en ven
- en skole
- en restaurant
et-words
Neuter gender
- et hus
- et barn
- et bord
- et æble
- et museum
- et køkken
- et bibliotek
- et hospital

What gender changes

Gender reaches beyond the article. In the singular, the ending for “the”, an adjective, a possessive like min, and the pronoun for “it” all follow the noun.

English	en-word	et-word
a / an	en stol	et bord
the	stolen	bordet
a cheap …	en billig stol	et billigt bord
the cheap …	den billige stol	det billige bord
my …	min stol	mit bord
it	den	det

Jeg har en ny cykel. Den er rød.I have a new bike. It’s red.
Vi har et nyt køkken. Det er stort.We have a new kitchen. It’s big.

Hints that help

Most nouns give no clue, but a few endings nearly always mean the same gender. These are worth knowing because many longer words end this way.

-hed, -tion, -ing → en
- en muligheda possibility
- en stationa station
- en regninga bill
-um, -ment, -eri → et
- et museuma museum
- et dokumenta document
- et bageria bakery

en bil or bilen?

The article and the definite ending use the same letters, so they are easy to mix up. en and et mean “a” and go in front of the noun. “The” goes on the end instead: -en for en-words, -et for et-words. You use one or the other, never both.

a / an	the	Not	English
en bil	bilen	en bilen	a car · the car
et vindue	vinduet	et vinduet	a window · the window
en nøgle	nøglen	en nøglen	a key · the key

The ending sometimes changes the spelling (katten, cyklen), and it disappears when den or det + an adjective, or min, comes in front: den røde bil, min bil. Definite forms

Common mistakes

Wrong:~~en hus~~
Right:et hus
Hus is an et-word. Learn every noun with its article.
Wrong:~~en barn~~
Right:et barn
Barn is an et-word, even though it’s a person.
Wrong:~~et bog~~
Right:en bog
Bog is an en-word. When you have to guess, en is the safer bet.
Wrong:~~en bilen~~
Right:bilen
en means “a”. For “the”, use only the ending.

Try it

Try itTest yourself on noun gender

Check yourself

6 questions

1. “a house”

2. “a possibility”

3. “a long letter”

4. “I have a new bike. It’s red.”

5. “a museum”

6. “a train station”