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The list

The 100 most common Danish nouns

The first 100 nouns in a list of 2,000 entries built from 7 cross-checked frequency sources — each one with its gender, its definite form, its plural, and how it is pronounced.

Before the table

Learn the noun and its gender in one go

Every Danish noun is an en-word or an et-word, and almost nothing about the word itself tells you which: en dag but et år. It has to be learned with the word, which is why it has a column here rather than a footnote — get it wrong and the definite form and every adjective agreeing with it go wrong too.

64 of the 100 nouns below are en-words and 36 are et-words, so en is the better guess — but only just often enough to be dangerous.

"The" is a suffix, not a separate word. Danish sticks it on the end: dag → dagen ("the day"), år → året ("the year"). That is the third column, and it follows from the gender: -en for en-words, -et for et-words.

The plural is the part that does not follow from anything — -er, -e, or no ending at all (et år, to år) — so it gets a column of its own.

Ranked by frequency, not by theme

The 100 nouns

In frequency order — number 1 is the noun Danish uses most. The hundredth still sits at rank 389 of the full list, so this is the top of a list of 689 nouns, not a hundred picked out of it. Pronunciations are IPA; here is how to read them, with the sounds playable.

#NounSounds likeEnglishen / etDefinitePlural
1 år [ɔːˀr] year et året år
2 dag [daːˀɣ] day en dagen dage
3 tid [ˈtˢiˀð] time en tiden tider
4 gang [ɡ̊anɡ̊] time; occasion en gangen gange
5 mand [manˀ] man; husband en manden mænd
6 del [ˈd̥eˀl] part; portion en delen dele
7 barn [barn] child et barnet børn
8 sted [ˈsd̥ɛð] place et stedet steder
9 liv [liːv] life et livet liv
10 menneske [mɛnəskə] human being; person et mennesket mennesker
11 vej [ˈʋɑjˀ] road; way en vejen veje
12 penge [pɛŋə] money en — penge
13 verden [ˈʋaɐ̯d̥n̩] world en verdenen verdener
14 mor [moːɐ̯] mother; mum en moren mødre
15 land [lanˀ] country; land et landet lande
16 kvinde [ˈkvenə] woman en kvinden kvinder
17 måde [ˈmɔːðə] way; manner en måden måder
18 ord [oːˀr] word et ordet ord
19 far [fɑː] father; dad en faren fødre
20 by [ˈb̥yˀ] town; city en byen byer
21 grund [ɡ̊ʁɔnˀ] reason; ground en grunden grunde
22 hus [ˈhuˀs] house et huset huse
23 folk [fɔlk] people et folket folk
24 krone [ˈkʰʁ̞oːnə] crown en kronen kroner
25 vand [ˈvanˀ] water et vandet —
26 time [ˈtiːmə] hour; lesson en timen timer
27 ting [tenˀɡ] thing en tingen ting
28 side [ˈsiːdə] page en siden sider
29 uge [ˈuːə] week en ugen uger
30 aft — evening en aftenen aftener
31 hånd [hɔnˀ] hand en hånden hænder
32 stykke [ˈsd̥øɡ̊ə] piece; bit et stykket stykker
33 øje [ɔjə] eye et øjet øjne
34 problem — problem et problemet problemer
35 navn [ˈnɑwˀn] name et navnet navne
36 ven [vɛn] friend en vennen venner
37 familie [faˈmilˀjə] family en familien familier
38 måned [ˈmɔːnəð] month en måneden måneder
39 sag [saːɡ] matter; case; thing en sagen sager
40 ret [rɛt] right; quite; dish en retten retter
41 nummer [ˈnɔmˀɐ] number et nummeret numre
42 holde [ˈhʌlə] team et holdet hold
43 par [ˈpʰɑ] couple et paret par
44 hoved [ˈhoːəð] head et hovedet hoveder
45 hjælp [ˈjɛlˀb̥] help en hjælpen hjælper
46 bog [bɔːˀɣ] book en bogen bøger
47 forhold — relationship; circumstance et forholdet forhold
48 brug [ˈb̥ʁuˀ] use en brugen —
49 morgen [ˈmɔr.ən] morning en morgenen morgener
50 spørgsmål [ˈspœɐ̯sˌmɔˀl] question et spørgsmålet spørgsmål
51 pige [ˈpiːə] girl en pigen piger
52 bil [biːl] car en bilen biler
53 billede [ˈbeləðə] picture; image et billedet billeder
54 form [fɔrm] form; shape en formen former
55 mulighed [muːliheːd] possibility en muligheden muligheder
56 pris [priːs] price; prize en prisen priser
57 kamp — fight; battle en kampen kampe
58 skole [skoːlə] school en skolen skoler
59 nej [nɛj] no en — —
60 dør [dœːr] door en døren døre
61 plads [plas] place en pladsen pladser
62 nat [nad̥] night en natten nætter
63 øjeblik [øjəblek] moment et øjeblikket øjeblikke
64 film [film] film; movie en filmen film
65 lov [ˈlɔv] law; permission en loven love
66 hjem [ˈjɛmˀ] home et hjemmet hjem
67 mad [mað] food en maden —
68 slags [slaːˀɣs] kind; sort en slags slags
69 spil — game; play et spillet spil
70 dyr [dyːˀɐ̯] animal et dyret dyr
71 historie [histoːˀriɘ] story; history en historien historier
72 tak [tak] thanks en — —
73 medlem [mɛðlɛmˀ] member et medlemmet medlemmer
74 svar [svɑːˀ] answer et svaret svar
75 natur [natuːr] nature en naturen —
76 mål [mɔːl] goal; aim et målet mål
77 område — area; region et området områder
78 død [ˈd̥øˀð] death; dead en døden —
79 musik [musik] music en musikken —
80 række [ˈʁaɡ̊ə] row en rækken rækker
81 ben [beːˀn] leg; bone et benet ben
82 regering [ræɡerinɡ] government en regeringen regeringer
83 tur [tuːr] trip; turn en turen ture
84 løb [ˈløˀb̥] run; race et løbet løb
85 opgave — task; assignment en opgaven opgaver
86 gruppe [ˈɡ̊ʁub̥ə] group en gruppen grupper
87 dreng [ˈdrɛŋˀ] boy en drengen drenge
88 udvikling [uðveɡleŋ] development en udviklingen udviklinger
89 lys [ˈlyˀs] light et lyset lys
90 politi [poliˈtiː] police et politiet —
91 aftale [avtalə] agreement; appointment en aftalen aftaler
92 arbejde [ˈarˌbajdə] work et arbejdet —
93 krop [krɔp] body en kroppen kroppe
94 kommune — municipality en kommunen kommuner
95 hund [hunˀ] dog en hunden hunde
96 job [ˈd̥jʌb̥] job et jobbet job
97 forbindelse — connection en forbindelsen forbindelser
98 fejl — mistake; error en fejlen fejl
99 hjerte [jɛrtə] heart et hjertet hjerter
100 farve [ˈfɑːvə] colour en farven farver

A dash means the lexicon has no documented form there, not that the form does not exist — several of these nouns genuinely have no plural in ordinary use. Nothing on this page is generated by rule — where the data comes from.

The other lists

Verbs and adjectives, the same way

Same list, same order, cut by part of speech: the verbs come with their present, past and perfect, and the adjectives with the endings they take when they agree with a noun like the ones above.

The 100 most common verbs The 100 most common adjectives

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