Danish pronouns: the complete guide
A pronoun is a word you can substitute for other nouns when it is already clear which nouns you’re referring to. In other words, we point back to old information using pronouns (for example he, she, it, they) as reference words.
Danish personal pronouns
In Danish, we use personal pronouns as substitutes when speaking of persons or things. The Danish personal pronouns – the who or what that is being referred to - cannot be inferred from the context of the sentence (as verbs in Danish are not conjugated in the different persons).
Therefore when constructing sentences in Danish, personal pronouns cannot be omitted, the way they are in some other languages like Spanish or Italian. In other words, Danish is not a “pro-drop” language.
| Danish personal pronoun | Translation |
|---|---|
| jeg, mig | I, me |
| du, dig | you |
| han, hun, den, det | he, she, it |
| vi, os | we, us |
| I, jer | you (plural) |
| de, dem | they, them |
Here are some examples of Danish phrases which illustrate the use of personal pronouns:
- «Jeg er på vej.»
(I am on my way) - «De går i skole.»
(They go to school) - «Jeg ringede til dig.»
(I called you)
The Danish personal pronouns “den” and “det” both correspond to the English pronoun “it”. The reason is that each Danish noun has one of two possible grammatical genders (common and neuter).
The Danish pronoun “den” is used when replacing a noun which has the neuter gender (en-noun), whereas the pronoun “det” is used when replacing a noun which has the common gender (et-noun).
- En bil – bilen er grim – den er grim.
(Translation: A car – the car is ugly – it is ugly) - Et billede - billedet er flot – det er flot.
(Translation: A picture – the picture is nice – it is nice)
Danish possessive pronouns
A possessive pronoun gives us information about ownership. It refers to something or someone we already know about. It attributes the noun and tells us of its gender and number.
| Danish possessive pronoun | Translation |
|---|---|
| min, mit, mine | my, mine |
| din, dit, dine | your, yours |
| hans, hendes, dens, dets | his, hers, its |
| vores | our, ours |
| jeres | your, yours |
| deres | their, theirs |
Here are some examples of Danish phrases which illustrate the use of possessive pronouns:
- «Jeg er hendes søster.»
(I am her sister) - «Det er deres hund.»
(It’s their dog) - «Min jakke er gul.»
(My jacket is yellow)
The Danish possessive pronouns which correspond to “My/mine” and “your/yours” have three different forms each. Their usage depends on whether you use the pronoun with an en-noun, an et-noun or a plural noun. This rule also applies when we use “dens/dets.”
- N-nouns: Min or din
- T-nouns: Mit or dit
- Plural nouns: Mine or dine
Here are some examples:
- En tærte - det er min/din tærte. (Translation: A tart – it’s my/your tart)
- Et æble – det er mit/dit æble. (Translation: An apple – it’s my/your apple)
- To tærter - det er mine/dine tærter. (Translation: Two tarts – These tarts are mine/yours)
- To æbler – det er mine/dine æbler. (Translation: Two apples – it’s your apples)
Danish reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns only differ from personal pronouns in third person singular and plural where “sig” replaces “han/hun/den/det” and “de/dem”. “Sig” points back to a noun or pronoun in its own sentence.
| Danish reflexive pronoun | Translation |
|---|---|
| mig | myself |
| dig | yourself |
| sig | herself, himself, itself, oneself |
| os | ourselves |
| jer | yourselves |
| sig | themselves |
Below are some examples of Danish phrases which show the use of reflexive pronouns:
- «Glæder du dig til festen?»
(Are you looking forward to the party?) - «Han klæder sig på.»
(He dresses himself) - «Vi spurgte os selv om det var okay.»
(We asked ourselves if it was okay) - «De klør sig (selv) på maven.»
(They scratch themselves on the stomach)
In some cases, Danes will attach a “selv” to the reflexive pronoun and no rule can tell you when you should. It will not change the meaning of the sentence, but in a few instances, it will sound slightly inexact.
Danish relative pronouns
A relative pronoun in Danish replaces a noun or another pronoun. The two most common relative pronouns are “som” and “der”.
| Danish relative pronoun | Translation |
|---|---|
| som, der | who/whom/which, that |
| hvem | who |
| hvad | what |
| hvis | whose |
| hvilke, hvilken, hvilke | which |
In general, choosing either “som” or “der” in Danish is up to you. There are, however, cases in which “der” is restricted as it can only be used as a subject in the subordinate clause. To avoid mistakes, use “som” in every instance.
- «Jeg læser bogen som jeg købte i går.»
(I am reading the book which I bought yesterday) - «Morten har en søster som er 29 år.»
(Morten has a sister who is 29 years) - «Pengene, der/som er brugt.»
(The money that has been spent)
In Danish, we use “hvem” for people and “hvilke”, “hvilken”, “hvilket” for non-human entities. Again, we must follow the n/t/s-rule. Use ”hvilken” for n-nouns, “hvilket” for t-nouns and “hvilke” for plural nouns.
Danish demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are used to point to specific things, thereby making it clear which noun we are referring to. In Danish, depending on the gender of the word, and whether it is singular or plural, we use “denne”, “dette” or “disse”.
| Danish demonstrative pronoun | Translation |
|---|---|
| denne [singular (m/f)] |
this |
| dette [singular (n)] |
this |
| disse [plural (m/f/n)] |
these |
Although grammatically correct, the use of “denne” and “dette” are considered to be an old-fashioned way of expression.
Danes use a combination of den/det/de/dem and the adverbs her/der as demonstrative pronouns:
- den her
- den der
- det her
- det der
- de her
- de der
- dem her
- dem der
The deciding factor is the proximity to, or distance from, the speaker, which is emphasized by the adverbs “her” and “der”.
| Danish adverb as demonstrative pronouns | Translation |
|---|---|
| her | here (close by) |
| der | there (further away) |
| Danish demonstrative pronoun | Translation |
|---|---|
| den her, det her | this, here |
| den der, det der | this, there |
| de her, dem her | these, here |
| de der, dem der | these, there |
Here are some examples of phrases which contain Danish demonstrative pronouns:
- «Den her stol er i stykker.»
(This chair (here) is broken) - «Det her er min taske, det der er din taske.»
(This bag (here) is mine, that bag (there) is yours)
Danish interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns refer to something someone is asking about. Usually, they appear in the beginning of the sentence followed by the verb.
| Danish interrogative pronoun | Translation |
|---|---|
| hvem? | who? |
| hvor? | where? |
| hvad? | what? |
| hvorfor? | why? |
| hvordan? | how? |
| hvilken? | which? |
| hvornår? | when? |
| hvor meget? | how much? |
| hvor mange? | how many? |
Here are some examples of phrases which contain Danish interrogative pronouns:
- «Hvem betaler regningen?»
(who pays the bill?) - «Hvor er mine sokker? »
(where are my socks?) - «Hvor mange år er du?»
(how many years are you/how old are you?)
Object pronouns in Danish
Object pronouns replace the direct or indirect object in a sentence, thereby avoiding unnecessary repetitions.
| Danish object pronoun | Translation |
|---|---|
| mig | me |
| dig | you |
| ham | him |
| hende | her |
| os | us |
| jer | you (plural) |
| dem | them |
Remark: In English the pronoun “you” has the same form as a subject pronoun and as object pronoun. In contrast, the Danish object pronoun “dig” has a different form than the corresponding subject pronoun “du”.
- «Jeg ringede til dig, men du svarede ikke.»
( I called you, but you did not answer.)
Here are some more examples of phrases which contain Danish object pronouns:
- «Hun hjalp ham med grammatikøvelsen.»
(She helped him with the grammar exercise.) - «Ungerne er hos mormor. Hun giver dem altid slik.»
(The kids are at grandmas. She always gives them candy) - «Professoren underviste hende i lingvistik.»
(The professor taught her linguistics.)
Gender-neutral pronouns in Danish
There is currently no conventionally recognized gender-neutral pronoun in the Danish language.
The four third person singular pronouns that are officially recognized are “han”, “hun”, “den” and “det”. There are, however, some gender-neutral pronouns which can be used as substitutes for the two gender-specific personal pronouns “han” and “hun”.
“Hen” is borrowed from Swedish. It became an officially recognized gender-neutral pronoun in Sweden in 2015 and is a contraction of the Swedish words “han/hon” meaning “he/she”.
“De/dem/deres” are third person plural pronouns in Danish and are the equivalent “they/them/theirs in English.
“Den” is, together with “det”, third person singular pronoun in Danish and is the English “it”. One would always use “den”, not “det” for living entities.
ConclusionWe have reached the end of this grammar guide on Danish pronouns. For more on Danish grammar, see these articles on Danish adverbs and Danish prepositions.
To learn more Danish vocabulary, this list of the 1000 most common Danish words can also be helpful.
