Danish verb conjugation is one of the easiest parts of learning the language.

Unlike Spanish or French, Danish verbs don’t change depending on who is doing the action.

You use the exact same verb form for I, you, he, we, and they.

This saves you hours of memorizing complex grammar charts.

I’ll show you exactly how to conjugate Danish verbs across the most important tenses.

The infinitive form

The infinitive is the base dictionary form of a verb.

In English, this is the verb with the word “to” in front of it.

In Danish, the infinitive is marked by the word at.

Almost all Danish infinitive verbs end in the letter -e.

For example, at spise means “to eat”.

Present tense

The present tense describes actions happening right now.

Forming the present tense in Danish is remarkably easy.

You simply take the infinitive form and add the letter -r to the end.

That’s the only rule you need to remember for regular present tense verbs.

As mentioned earlier, this form stays exactly the same for every single pronoun.

Here’s an example of the present tense using the verb at spise (to eat).

Past tense

The past tense describes actions that have already happened.

Regular Danish verbs generally fall into two groups for the simple past tense.

Group one adds -ede to the stem of the verb.

The stem is just the infinitive form without the final -e.

Group two adds -te to the stem of the verb.

Here’s an example using at vente (to wait), which is a group one verb.

Here’s an example using at læse (to read), which is a group two verb.

Future tense

Danish doesn’t have a unique verb ending for the future tense.

Instead, you use an auxiliary (helper) verb alongside the infinitive verb.

The most common helper verb used to express the future is vil.

You simply place vil before the infinitive form of your main verb.

Notice that you drop the word at from the infinitive here.

The imperative form

The imperative form is used to give commands or instructions.

You form the imperative by simply removing the final -e from the infinitive verb.

If the infinitive doesn’t end in an -e, the imperative is just the same as the infinitive.

Common irregular verbs

Just like in English, Danish has some irregular verbs that don’t follow the normal patterns.

You’ll need to memorize these verbs individually.

Fortunately, they still remain identical for all pronouns regardless of the tense.

Here are four of the most common irregular verbs in Danish.