Adjectives and adverbs

Adjektiver og adverbier

Forms of adjectives

There are three forms of adjectives in Danish:

basic form, eg. en stor dreng, en billig bog. This form is used with singular n-words.

t-form, eg. et stort hus, et billigt tæppe. Used with singular t-words.

e-form, eg. store huse, den billige bog. Used in plural and with a definite article.

Comparison (gradbøjning)

	1: -ere, -est	2: mere, mest	3: irregular
positive	høj high	populær popular	god, dårlig, lille, gammel good, bad, little, old
comparative	højere higher	mere populær more popular	bedre, værre, mindre, ældre better, worse, less, older
superlative	højest highest	mest populær most popular	bedst, værst, mindst, ældst best, worst, least, oldest

Forming adverbs

Adverbs are formed by adding -t to the basic form of an adjective, eg. smuk (beautiful) - smukt (beautifully). Do not add -t to the adjectives already ending in -t stolt (proud) - stolt (proudly).

Two form adverbs

Some adverbs have two forms: a short and a long one.
The short form is used when the action we talk about involves changing place:

hjem - Jeg skal hjem.

ud - Gå ud!

op - En edderkop kravler op ad muren.

The long form is used when an action taking place in one place is described:

hjemme - Jeg er hjemme.

ude - Børnene leger ude.

oppe - Højttaleren står oppe på skabet.