er + Past Participle

Perfect with Er

Level 2

In Danish, most verbs use have (to have) to form the perfect tense. However, a specific group of verbs that describe movement to a destination or a change of state use være (to be) instead.

How It Works

While English uses 'have' for almost all perfect tenses (e.g., 'I have come'), Danish distinguishes between the action and the result.

1. Movement with a Destination:
When an intransitive verb describes moving toward a specific goal, use er. Common verbs include:

  • komme (to come)
  • gå (to walk/go)
  • køre (to drive/leave)
  • ankomme (to arrive)

2. Change of State or Result:
When a verb describes a transition, use er. Common verbs include:

  • blive (to become)
  • ske (to happen)
  • dø (to die)
  • vågne (to wake up)

3. The Transitivity Rule:
The auxiliary er is only for intransitive verbs. If the verb takes a direct object, it must use har.

  • Han er kørt. (He has left/driven away - no object).
  • Han har kørt bilen. (He has driven the car - 'bilen' is the object).

4. Action vs. Result:
Some verbs can use both. Use har for the activity/duration and er for the destination.

  • Jeg har løbet i morges. (I ran this morning - focus on activity).
  • Jeg er løbet ned i byen. (I have run down to the city - focus on destination).

5. Morphology:
In the perfect tense, you use the past participle. Usually, this stays in the neuter singular form (ending in -et or -t). However, if the construction describes a resultant state (acting like an adjective), the participle may inflect to match the subject (e.g., De er forsvundne - They are gone/disappeared).

Examples (5)

  1. Toget er allerede kørt.

    The train has already left.

    Word by Word: The-train is already driven.

    Since 'køre' here implies leaving a station (movement to a destination), we use 'er' instead of 'har'.

  2. Gæsterne er ankommet til festen.

    The guests have arrived at the party.

    Word by Word: The-guests are arrived to the-party.

    Note that 'ankommet' does not change to a plural form even though 'gæsterne' is plural.

  3. Han er blevet meget højere.

    He has become much taller.

    Word by Word: He is become much taller.

    'Blive' (to become) is a classic change-of-state verb and always takes 'er' in the perfect tense.

  4. Jeg er lige vågnet.

    I have just woken up.

    Word by Word: I am just woken.

    Waking up is a change of state (from asleep to awake), so 'er' is used.

  5. Min nøgle er forsvundet.

    My key has disappeared.

    Word by Word: My key is disappeared.

    Disappearing is a change of state, requiring the auxiliary 'er'.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'er' when the verb has a direct object (transitive).

    Han er kørt bilen.
    Han har kørt bilen.

    The auxiliary 'er' is only used with intransitive verbs (verbs without an object). If you add an object like 'bilen', you must use har.

  • Using 'er' for the perfect tense of 'være' (to be).

    Jeg er været i København.
    Jeg har været i København.

    Even though 'være' describes a state, it is a major exception: it always uses har as its auxiliary verb.

  • Using 'er' when focusing on the duration of an activity rather than the result.

    Jeg er løbet i en time.
    Jeg har løbet i en time.

    If you focus on the activity itself or how long it lasted, use har. Use 'er' only when there is a specific destination or result.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

er + Past ParticipleLevel 2Perfect with Er

Learn This First

To understand the 'er + participium' pattern, you first need to know how to conjugate the verb 'være' (to be) and how to form the past participle of verbs. It is also essential to understand the basic perfect tense using 'har', as 'er' is a specific variation used for verbs of movement or change of state.

Words in This Pattern

være