Noun Gender
Danish has two grammatical genders: common gender (approx. 75% of nouns) and neuter gender (approx. 25%). Gender determines the form of articles, adjectives, and pronouns used with the noun.
How It Works
In Danish, grammatical gender is largely arbitrary and must be learned with the noun itself. It is best to learn en hund (a dog) rather than just hund.
1. The Two Genders
- Common Gender (Fælleskøn): Uses the article en. Most living things and about 75% of all nouns fall here.
- Neuter Gender (Intetkøn): Uses the article et. About 25% of nouns fall here.
2. Grammatical Agreement
The gender of a noun triggers changes in other words:
- Articles: en bil (a car) vs. et hus (a house).
- Definite Suffixes: The article moves to the end of the word: bilen (the car) vs. huset (the house). See definite suffix.
- Adjectives: Neuter nouns usually require a -t ending on the adjective: en stor bil vs. et stort hus. See neuter adjective -t.
- Pronouns: Use den for common gender and det for neuter gender when saying 'it'.
3. Compound Nouns
When two words are joined, the last word determines the gender. For example, et bord (a table) + en lampe (a lamp) = en bordlampe (a table lamp).
Examples (4)
- Jeg har en hund, og den er glad.
I have a dog, and it is happy.
Word by Word: I have a dog, and it is happy.
'Hund' is common gender, so it uses 'en' and the pronoun 'den'.
- Vi bor i et stort hus.
We live in a large house.
Word by Word: We live in a large house.
'Hus' is neuter, so it uses 'et' and the adjective 'stor' gets a -t ending (stort).
- Hvor er barnet? Det sover.
Where is the child? It is sleeping.
Word by Word: Where is child-the? It sleeps.
'Barn' is neuter, so the definite form ends in -et and the pronoun is 'det'.
- En kop kaffe og et glas vand.
A cup of coffee and a glass of water.
Word by Word: A cup coffee and a glass water.
This shows the contrast between a common gender noun (en kop) and a neuter noun (et glas).
Common Mistakes
Using 'det' for all objects regardless of gender.
Jeg har en bil. Det er rød.Jeg har en bil. Den er rød.In English, we use 'it' for all objects. In Danish, you must use 'den' for common gender nouns and 'det' only for neuter nouns.
Forgetting the -t on adjectives for neuter nouns.
Et grøn træ.Et grønt træ.When an adjective describes a neuter (et) noun, you must add a -t to the adjective.
How It Connects
Related Patterns
- enIndefinite Article (Common Gender)
The indefinite article used for common gender nouns.
Level 1 - etIndefinite Article (Neuter)
The indefinite article used for neuter gender nouns.
Level 1 - -en/-etDefinite Suffix (-en/-et)
The definite suffix attached to nouns, which changes based on gender.
Level 2 - den/detIt (Den/det)
Pronouns used to refer back to nouns of different genders.
Level 1 - -t (intetkøn)Neuter Adjective -t
The specific ending added to adjectives when they modify neuter nouns.
Level 2 - Compound Nouns
Explains how the gender of a combined word is determined by its final part.
Level 3
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Patterns that build on this one.
Words in This Pattern
Practice Noun Gender in Bubblegum
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