Danish Past Tense
Danish has two regular past tense patterns (-ede and -te) plus irregular verbs that change their vowel, much like English “sing → sang”.
As in the present tense, the form is the same for every person: jeg, du, hun and vi all spiste.
The two patterns
- -ede verbsThe larger group: arbejde → arbejdede, leve → levede
- -te verbsMany common everyday verbs: spise → spiste, købe → købte
Short verbs that end in a stressed vowel, like bo → boede and tro → troede, usually take -ede too, but several very common ones are irregular (gå, se, få, stå). No rule covers every verb, so learn the past form together with each new verb.
| Infinitive | Past | English | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| arbejde | arbejdede | worked | -ede |
| leve | levede | lived | -ede |
| lave | lavede | made, did | -ede |
| bo | boede | lived (in a place) | -ede |
| danse | dansede | danced | -ede |
| snakke | snakkede | talked | -ede |
| spise | spiste | ate | -te |
| købe | købte | bought | -te |
| læse | læste | read | -te |
| høre | hørte | heard | -te |
| tænke | tænkte | thought | -te |
Irregular verbs
These change their vowel or take a new form, just like English go → went. Many of the most common Danish verbs are irregular, so learn these ten first.
| Infinitive | Past | English |
|---|---|---|
| være | var | was / were |
| have | havde | had |
| gå | gik | went, walked |
| se | så | saw |
| få | fik | got |
| tage | tog | took |
| komme | kom | came |
| give | gav | gave |
| sige | sagde | said |
| drikke | drak | drank |
When to use the past tense
Use it for something that is finished, especially when you say or imply when it happened, and for telling what happened in a story.
| Danish | English | Use |
|---|---|---|
| I går spiste jeg pizza. | Yesterday I ate pizza. | finished, at a stated time |
| Vi boede i Aarhus i fem år. | We lived in Aarhus for five years. | a finished period |
| Vi kom hjem, og så lavede vi mad. | We came home, and then we cooked. | telling a story |
Word order after a time word
Past tense sentences often start with a time word, and then the verb comes second, before the subject: I går spiste jeg pizza, not I går jeg spiste pizza. The V2 rule
Common mistakes
Wrong:
Jeg spisede morgenmad.Right:Jeg spiste morgenmad.
Spise is a -te verb, not an -ede verb.
Wrong:
Han arbejdte hele dagen.Right:Han arbejdede hele dagen.
Arbejde is an -ede verb: arbejdede.
Wrong:
Mette givede mig en bog.Right:Mette gav mig en bog.
Give is irregular: the past tense is gav.
Wrong:
Vi er i Tivoli i går.Right:Vi var i Tivoli i går.
I går marks the past, so the verb must be past tense: er → var.
Check yourself
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