Jeg er / du er

Use jeg, du, han and hun for I, you, he and she.

The present of være is er for every person.

Danish normally needs an explicit subject.

In ordinary Danish, du is friendly and normal with neighbours and staff; De is a distinctly formal choice, not the default.

Learn jeg hedder (my name is) as a useful introduction.

Er du …? / ikke

Put the finite verb before the subject in a yes/no question: Er du ny? and Har du nøglen? In an ordinary statement, ikke usually follows the finite verb: Han er ikke min kat. Do not add an English-style auxiliary to make a question.

En / et / vil gerne

Danish nouns have common or neuter gender.

Learn the article with the noun: en kop, en kat, et hus.

The choice depends on the noun, not a person’s sex.

Say Jeg vil gerne have … to make a polite request.

After vil, use the infinitive have, without at.

Short orders such as En kop kaffe, tak are natural.

Bor / spiller / sover

Most present-tense verbs add -r to the infinitive: bo → bor, spille → spiller, sove → sover.

The same form is used with every subject.

In statements, the subject normally comes before the finite verb.

The phrases kan ikke sove and vil gerne sove contain an infinitive after the modal verb.

Min / mit / mine

Use min with a singular common-gender noun, mit with a singular neuter noun and mine with plural nouns: min nøgle, mit hus, mine ting.

These agree with the thing owned, not with the owner. Din, dit, dine work the same way.

Place words such as ovenpå, nedenunder, her and der often stand at the end of the sentence.