Danish Irregular Verbs

Learn the irregular verbs in Danish

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Danish Irregular Verbs

Several verbs in Danish are considered irregular because they do not follow the rules for the different conjugations. These forms need to be memorized since these verbs are very common.

Infinitive	Imperative	Present	Past	Past Participle	Translation
være	vær	er	var	været	be
have	hav	har	havde	haft	have
komme	kom	kommer	kom	kommet	come
gøre	gør	gør	gjorde	gjort	do, make
tage	tag	tager	tog	taget	take
sige	sig	siger	sagde	sagt	say
vide	vid	ved	vidste	vidst	know
lade	lad	lader	lod	ladet	let
holde	hold	holder	holdt	holdt	hold
hedde	hed	hedder	hed	heddet	be called
gå	gå	går	gik	gået	go
rejse	rejs	rejser	rejste	rejst	travel
bære	bær	bær	bar	båret	carry
trække	træk	trækker	trak	trukket	pull, drag
ligge	lig	ligger	lå	ligget	lie (down)
lægge	læg	lægger	lagde	lagt	put
sidde	sid	sidder	sad	sat	put
slå	slå	slår	slog	slået	hit
falde	fald	falder	faldt	faldet	fall
spise	spis	spiser	spiste	spist	eat
sove	sov	sover	sov	sovet	sleep
stjæle	stjæl	stjæler	stjal	stjålet	steal
græde	græd	græder	græd	grædt	cry
sælge	sælg	sælger	solgte	solgt	sell
vælge	vælg	vælger	valgte	valgt	choose
vænne	væn	vænner	vænnede	vænnet	accustom
sluge	slug	sluger	slugte	slugt	swallow
skille	skil	skiller	skilte	skilt	separate

Some have irregular simple past and/or past participle forms. Sometimes these involve a vowel change and lack of ending.

Infinitive	Past	Past Participle	Translations
binde	bandt	bundet	to bind / bound / bound
bænde	brændte	brændt	to burn / burned / burned
drikke	drak	drukket	to drink / drank / drunk
finde	fandt	fundet	to find / found / found
forsvinde	forsvandt	forsvundet	to disappear / disappeared / disappeared
nå	nåede	nået	to manage / managed / managed
løbe	løb	løbet	to run, flow / ran, flowed / run, flowed
sidde	sad	siddet	to sit / sat / sat
slippe	slap	sluppet	to get out of / got out of / gotten out of
stikke	stak	stukket	to split / split / split
stikke	stak	stukket	to stick / stuck / stuck
vinde	vandt	vundet	to win / won / won
bide	bed	bidt	to bite / bit / bitten
gribe	greb	grebet	to grip / gripped / gripped
lide	led	lidt	to suffer / suffered / suffered
ride	red	redet	to ride / rode / ridden
skinne	skinnede	skinnet	to shine / shone / shone
skrive	skrev	skrevet	to write / wrote / written
slide	sled	slidt	to wear out / wore out / worn out
stige	steg	steget	to rise / rose / risen
tie	teg	tiet	to be silent / was silent / been silent
vride	vred	vredet	to turn / turned / turned
byde	bød	budt	to invite / invited / invited
lyve	løg	løget	to lie / lied / lied (to tell a lie)
synge	sang	sunget	to sing / sang / sung
skyde	skød	skudt	to shoot / shot / shot
bryde	brød	brudt	to break / broke / broken
flyve	fløj	fløjet	to fly / flew / flown
flyde	flød	flydt	to float / floated / floated
fryse	frøs	frosset	to freeze / froze / frozen
binde	bandt	bundet	to tie up / tied up / tied up
krybe	krøb	krøbet	to crawl / crawled / crawled

A few infinitives in Danish do not end in -e. These are short verbs and they end in a long, stressed vowel. The infinitive is the same as the imperative, and the present tense is formed by adding -r. The past tense is formed by adding -ede to the infinitive, and the past participle is formed by adding -et to the infinitive. However, a few of the short verbs have an irregular form in the past.

Infinitive / Imperative	Present Tense	Past Tense	Past Participle	Translation
Short verbs with a regular past:
tro	tror	troede	troet	believe, think
ske	sker	skete	sket	happen
nå	når	nåede	nået	reach
bo	bor	boede	boet	live
dø	dør	døede	døet	die
Short verbs with an irregular past:
få	får	fik	fået	get, receive
gå	går	gik	gået	go, walk
give	giver	gav	givet	give
se	ser	så	set	see
stå	står	stod	stået	stand
be	ber	bad	bedt	ask, pray
le	ler	lo	leet	laugh

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