A Simplified Grammar of the Danish Language/Part I/Verbs

by E. C. Otté

VERBS. (Udsagnsord.)

Dano-Norwegian Verbs have three forms, the active, the passive, and the deponent.

The principal auxiliaries are at have, 'to have,' and at være, 'to be,' which are conjugated by the help of other auxiliaries, as, at skulle, 'shall;' at ville, 'will;' at måtte, 'may;' at kunne, 'can;'—all of which are more or less defective. At blive, 'to be,' 'to remain,' and at få, 'to get,' (to be under a necessity,) may be used as auxiliaries; the former with the verb at være, 'to be,' in the conjugation of passive verbs, and the latter in the sense of 'may,' 'must,' in the conjugation of active verbs.

Infinitive.

Present,	at have, to have.
	at være, to be.
Past,	at have haft, to have had.
	at have værst, to have been.
Future,	at skulle have, to be obliged to have; (shall have).
	at skulle være, to be obliged to be; (will, or shall be).

Participles.

Present,	havende, having.
	værende, being.
Past,	haft, had.
	været, been.

Indicative.

Present Tense.

jeg,	du,	han,	hun,	har,	I,	thou,	etc.,	have, hast, has.
"	"	"	"	er,	"	"	"	am, art, is.

vi,	I,	de,	have,	we,	etc.,	have.
"	"	"	ere,	"	"	are.

Imperfect Past.

jeg,	du,	han,	hun,	havde, I, etc., had (in all persons).
"	"	"	"	var, I, etc., was.

vi,

I,

de,

vare,

we,

ye,

they,

were

Compound Tenses.

jeg,	du,	han,	hun,	har haft, I, etc., have had.
"	"	"	"	været, I, etc., have been.

vi,	I,	de,	have,	haft, we, etc., have had.
"	"	"	"	været, we, etc., have been.

jeg,	etc.,	skal, or vil have, I, etc., shall, or will, have.
"	"	skal, or vil være, shall, or will be.

vi,	etc.,	skulle, or ville have, we, etc., shall, or will have.
"	"	skulle, or ville være, shall, or will be.

Potential.

have, may have.		være, may be.
(for all persons).

Imperative.

hav du, have thou.		vær du, be thou.
haver I, have ye.		værer I, be ye.

The other auxiliaries—some of which, as at blive, 'to be,' 'to remain;' at få, 'to be constrained,' 'to get,' may be used in an independent form—are conjugated as follows:

Infinitive.		Present Indicative.
		Sing.				Plur.
at få, to get,		jeg,	etc.,	får		vi,	etc.,	få.
at blive, to be,		...	...	bliver		...	...	blive.
at skulle, shall,		...	...	skal		...	...	skulle.
at ville, will,		...	...	vil		...	...	ville.
at måtte, may,		...	...	må		...	...	må.
at kunne, can,		...	...	kan		...	...	kunne.

Imperf. Past Indic.			Past Participle.
Sing. and Plur.
	fik,		fået.
	blev,		bleven, blevet.
	skulde,		skullet.
	vilde,		villet.
	måtte,		måttet.
	kunde,		kunnet.

Regular Verbs (Regelrette Udsagnsord).

Regular Dano-Norwegian Verbs admit of being grouped under two heads, which are classified as weak modes of conjugation. These are: (1) Those which take ede in the imperfect past of the indicative, and et in the participle past; as, at elske, 'to love,' i. p. elskede, p. p. elsket. (2) Those which add te in the imperf. past of the indicative, and t in the p. past, directly to the root of the word; as, at stræbe, 'to strive,' i. p. stræbte, p. p. stræbt.

In both these forms, the three persons of the present tense of the indicative always end in r in the singular; as, jeg, du, han (or hun), and De, tröster, 'I, etc., console,' from at tröste, 'to console;' jeg, etc., spörger, 'I, etc., ask,' from at spörge, 'to ask.'

The following examples show the manner in which verbs belonging to these two forms are declined:—

Infinitive.	Indicative.
		Present.		Imp. Past.
at elske, to love		jeg, etc., elsker, I, etc., love,		elskede.
		vi, etc., elske, we, etc., love,		(for all persons).
at söge, to seek		jeg, etc., söger, I, etc., seek,		sögte.
		vi, etc., söge, we, etc., seek,		(for all persons).

Participles.
Present.			Past.
elskende.			elsket.
sögende.			sögt.

The passive of active verbs is formed by adding s to the infinitive, and to all persons in the simple tenses, or by the use of the auxiliary at være, or at blive, 'to be;' as—

Infinitive.

at elskes, to be loved; and at blive, or at være, elsket, to be loved.

at söges, to be sought; and at blive, or at være, sögt, to be sought.

Indicative.

Present.

jeg, etc., elskes, or bliver elsket.

jeg, etc., söges, or bliver sögt.

Imperfect Past.

jeg, etc., elskedes, or blev elsket.

jeg, etc., sögtes, or blev sögt.

Compound Tenses.

jeg, etc., er, or var, elsket; jeg, etc., er, or var, sögt.

jeg, etc., er, or var, bleven elsket; jeg, etc., er, or var, bleven sögt.

jeg, etc., skal, or vil, elskes; jeg, etc., skal, or vil, söges.

Irregular Verbs (Uregelrette Udsagnsord.)

The different irregularities of the Danish Verbs which belong to the strong or irregular modes of conjugation, admit of being reduced to certain leading forms, and may be comprehended under the following heads:

1. Those in which the sole difference from weak, or so-called regular verbs, is that the imperfect past of the indicative consists of only one syllable, and is not distinguished by the addition of ede, or te, this being in point of fact the one character which all strong verbs have in common; as,

Infinitive.		Indicative.
		Present.	Imp. Past.	Past-Part.
at græde, to weep.		jeg, &c., græder.	græd.	grædt.
	pl.	vi, &c., græde.	(for all persons)

2. Those which change the radical vowel only in the imperfect past of the indicative, and in the past participle; as,

at drive, to drive,		jeg driver,	drev,	drevet.
	pl.	vi drive,	(for all persons)

3. Those which change the radical vowel only in the imperfect past of the indicative; as,

at bide, to bite,		jeg bider,	bed,	bidt.
	pl.	vi bide,	(for all persons).

4. Those which take a different vowel in the imperfect past of the indicative, and in the past participle, both of which differ from the radical vowel; as,

at drikke, to drink,		jeg drikker,	drak,	drukket.
	pl.	vi drikke,	(for all persons.)

It will be observed, (1) that in all verbs, whether belonging to the weak (or regular), or to the strong (or irregular) groups, the present of the indicative is formed directly from the infinitive, to which r is added in the singular; as, at give, 'to give,' jeg, du, han, or hun, De, giver, vi, I, de give. (2) That whatever may be the form of the past imperfect of the indicative, it remains the same for all persons, both in the singular and plural. The strong, or irregular form of conjugation, whose imperfect past of the indicative is always monosyllabic, includes upwards of 100 verbs, and was apparently the more ancient mode of conjugation in the Old Northern. The tendency of modern Danish is to depart from this more characteristic type, and to bring certain verbs, which in older times accorded with the strong form, under the rules of the regular weak forms of conjugation. Thus we now find indifferently vejede and vog for the imperfect past of at veje, 'to weigh;' gravede and grov for at grave, 'to dig,' &c.

Deponent verbs have an active significance, while in most particulars they follow the mode of conjugation required for passive verbs; as,—

Infinitive.	Indicative.
	Present.	Imp. Past.	Participle.
at blues, to blush.	jeg, &c., blues,	bluedes,	bluets.
at lykkes, to succeed.	jeg, &c., lykkes,	lykkedes,	lykkets.

Many deponents can only be used as impersonals; as, det dages, 'the day is breaking,' (day is coming); det mörknes, 'it is growing dark.'

Passives and deponents may be used in an impersonal sense with der, 'there;' as, der slås, 'there is fighting going on;' der kappes om Prisen, 'the prize is being contended for.'

Some verbs must always be used in a reflective sense; as,

at betakke sig, 'to beg to be excused.'

at beflitte sig, 'to apply oneself.'

Some verbs admit of being used either reflectively, or transitively; as, jeg bader mig, 'I bathe myself;' jeg bader Barnet, 'I bathe the child.'

Some verbs compounded of words of different parts of speech admit of the separation of these components, as, at ihjelslå, or at slå ihjel; as, soldaten ihjelslå sin Ven, or soldaten slå sin Ven ihjel, 'the soldier killed (struck dead) his friend.'

Some verbs acquire a different meaning when the component parts are separated; as, at overdrive, 'to exaggerate;' at drive over, 'to drive over (across).'