Danish Present Tense

Good news: Danish present tense is the same for all subjects. There's no difference between “I eat” and “she eats” — it's always spiser.

The rule

Most Danish verbs form the present tense by adding -r or -er to the infinitive stem. Irregular verbs like være (to be) and have (to have) have their own forms.

Common verbs

Infinitive
Present
English
spise
spiser
eat / eats
drikke
drikker
drink / drinks
læse
læser
read / reads
går
go / goes
have
har
have / has
være
er
am / is / are
lightbulb

No person conjugation

Unlike English, the verb stays the same regardless of subject: jeg spiser, du spiser, hun spiser, vi spiser. One form fits all.

Try it yourself

Pick the correct verb form for each sentence.

Exercises for this topic are coming soon.