Object Pronouns in Danish

In Brief

Danish object pronouns are mig (me), dig (you), ham (him), hende (her), den/det (it), os (us), jer (you all), and dem (them). Use them for the person or thing affected by an action, as in Hun ser mig (“She sees me”), and after prepositions, as in med ham (“with him”). The same forms serve as both direct and indirect objects.

Overview

An object pronoun replaces a person or thing that is not the subject of the sentence. The subject is the person or thing doing the action; an object is affected by the action or has some other relationship to it. In Hun hjælper mig (“She helps me”), hun is the subject and mig is the object. Using mig avoids repeating a name or noun such as Anna or eleven (“the student”).

Danish introduces this system around A2, after the basic subject pronouns. It is essential in ordinary exchanges: asking someone to call you, saying whom you met, offering somebody something, and talking about people or things already mentioned. The forms themselves are a short set, but choosing between subject and object forms — especially de/dem and I/jer — takes practice.

English-speaking learners will recognize much of the pattern because English also contrasts “I/me,” “he/him,” “she/her,” “we/us,” and “they/them.” However, Danish makes a distinction that English “you” hides: du → dig for one person and I → jer for several people. Danish also uses den or det for “it” according to the noun or meaning, and unstressed object pronouns have a special relationship with words such as ikke (“not”).

How It Works

The complete set

A pronoun is a short word that stands in for a noun or noun phrase — for example, “her” instead of “Sofie.” The table pairs each Danish subject form with its corresponding object form.

Person	Subject form	Object form	English object meaning
1st person singular	jeg	mig	me
2nd person singular	du	dig	you (one person)
3rd person singular, masculine	han	ham	him
3rd person singular, feminine	hun	hende	her
3rd person singular, common gender	den	den	it
3rd person singular, neuter	det	det	it; that
1st person plural	vi	os	us
2nd person plural	I	jer	you (several people)
3rd person plural	de	dem	them

First person means the speaker (jeg/mig, vi/os), second person means the listener (du/dig, I/jer), and third person means somebody or something else.

Notice that den and det look the same in subject and object use. Their role comes from the sentence:

• Den står på bordet. — “It is on the table.” Here den is the subject.
• Jeg tager den. — “I’ll take it.” Here den is the object.

Direct objects: who or what is affected?

A direct object is the person or thing directly affected by the verb — in plain terms, who or what someone sees, knows, invites, buys, or takes. In a neutral statement, the basic pattern is:

subject + verb + object

• Hun ser mig. — “She sees me.”
• Jeg hjælper dig. — “I help you.”
• Vi møder dem. — “We meet them.”
• Kender du hende? — “Do you know her?”

English sometimes needs “do” to make a question, but Danish does not. The verb simply comes before the subject: Kender du ham? (“Do you know him?”).

Indirect objects: who receives or benefits?

An indirect object is the recipient — the person who receives something or benefits from the action. Danish uses the same pronoun forms for direct and indirect objects; there is no second set to learn.

When a verb has both a recipient and a thing, the common order is:

subject + verb + recipient + thing

• Giv mig bogen! — “Give me the book!”
• Hun sendte ham en besked. — “She sent him a message.”
• Kan du vise os vejen? — “Can you show us the way?”
• Jeg fortalte dem historien. — “I told them the story.”

The recipient normally comes before the thing in this pattern. Another option uses a preposition, often when the thing is already a pronoun:

• Hun gav mig bogen. — “She gave me the book.”
• Hun gav den til mig. — “She gave it to me.”

Do not automatically insert til just because English can say “to me.” Learn the construction used by each verb. With give (“give”), vise (“show”), and fortælle (“tell”), the recipient can occur directly before the thing.

After prepositions

Use the object form after a preposition (a small relationship word such as “with,” “for,” “to,” or “without”). This rule is reliable and is one of the best ways to choose the right form.

Danish phrase	English
med mig	with me
til dig	to you
for hende	for her
uden ham	without him
hos os	at our place; with us
fra jer	from you all
om dem	about them
mellem dig og mig	between you and me

Some Danish verbs select a preposition where the English equivalent may use a direct object or a different structure. For example, lytte til hende means “listen to her,” while vente på ham means “wait for him.” The pronoun still takes its object form because it follows til or på.

Den, det, and dem for things

When a singular pronoun refers back to a specific thing, den normally matches a common-gender en noun and det matches a neuter et noun:

• Hvor er bogen? Jeg kan ikke finde den. — “Where is the book? I can’t find it.” (en bog)
• Hvor er kortet? Jeg kan ikke finde det. — “Where is the map? I can’t find it.” (et kort)

For several people or things, use dem as the object:

• Hvor er nøglerne? Jeg havde dem lige før. — “Where are the keys? I had them a moment ago.”
• Børnene venter. Jeg henter dem nu. — “The children are waiting. I’ll get them now.”

Danish det can also refer to an idea, fact, or whole situation rather than a particular et noun:

• Jeg forstår det ikke. — “I don’t understand it/that.”
• Det ved jeg godt. — “I know that.”

This broader use of det is extremely common. If you are pointing back to an entire statement rather than one named object, det is usually the natural choice.

Position with ikke and other short adverbs

The beginner rule is simple: put the object after the verb. In a short main clause, however, an unstressed object pronoun normally comes before ikke and similar short sentence adverbs:

• Jeg kender ham ikke. — “I don’t know him.”
• Hun ser os aldrig. — “She never sees us.”
• De hjælper mig altid. — “They always help me.”

A full noun phrase commonly remains after the adverb:

• Jeg kender ikke den nye lærer. — “I don’t know the new teacher.”
• Hun ser aldrig sine naboer. — “She never sees her neighbors.”

This movement of a light pronoun is often called object shift. You do not need that label to speak at A2; remember the useful contrast Jeg kender ham ikke but Jeg kender ikke Peter.

If the sentence contains an infinitive or a past participle — a non-finite verb form such as se (“see”) or set (“seen”) — the object stays with that verb and does not move in front of ikke:

• Jeg kan ikke se ham. — “I can’t see him.”
• Jeg har ikke mødt hende. — “I haven’t met her.”

In a subordinate clause, ikke normally comes before the verb, and the object remains later:

• …fordi jeg ikke kender ham. — “…because I don’t know him.”

Commands and infinitives

In a command, place the object after the command form:

• Hjælp mig! — “Help me!”
• Ring til hende! — “Call her!”
• Vent på os! — “Wait for us!”
• Giv dem tid! — “Give them time!”

The same principle applies in an infinitive phrase:

• Det er rart at se dig. — “It is nice to see you.”
• Hun prøver at hjælpe os. — “She is trying to help us.”

Examples in Context

Danish	English	Note
Hun ser mig hver morgen.	She sees me every morning.	Direct object
Jeg hjælper dig med lektierne.	I help you with the homework.	Singular “you”
Kender du ham?	Do you know him?	Object in a question
Vi besøger hende på søndag.	We are visiting her on Sunday.	Person as direct object
Jeg kan godt lide filmen. Jeg vil se den igen.	I like the movie. I want to watch it again.	en film → den
Har du mit pas? Jeg skal bruge det.	Do you have my passport? I need it.	et pas → det
Læreren viste os et billede.	The teacher showed us a picture.	Recipient before the thing
Jeg sender jer adressen senere.	I’ll send you all the address later.	Plural “you”
Vi møder dem foran stationen.	We are meeting them in front of the station.	Plural direct object
Giv mig bogen!	Give me the book!	Object after a command
Hun købte den til ham.	She bought it for him.	Pronoun after a preposition
Kan du komme med os?	Can you come with us?	After med
Jeg forstår det ikke.	I don’t understand it.	Pronoun before ikke
Jeg har ikke set hende i dag.	I haven’t seen her today.	Object stays after the participle set
Det er mig, der har nøglen.	I’m the one who has the key.	Object form after Det er

Common Mistakes

Using a subject form as the object

• Wrong: Hun hjælper jeg.
• Right: Hun hjælper mig.
• Why: Jeg is the subject form (“I”); mig is the object form (“me”). Ask who is doing the helping: hun. The other person is therefore the object.

Confusing de and dem

• Wrong: Jeg møder de i morgen.
• Right: Jeg møder dem i morgen.
• Why: De means “they” when it is the subject. Dem means “them” when it is the object. Compare De møder os (“They meet us”) with Vi møder dem (“We meet them”).

Forgetting that jer is plural

• Wrong: Jeg ringer til dig senere when speaking to a whole group.
• Right: Jeg ringer til jer senere.
• Why: Dig refers to one person; jer refers to more than one. English uses “you” for both, so always check how many listeners you mean.

Using den for every thing

• Wrong: Jeg kan godt lide huset. Jeg vil købe den.
• Right: Jeg kan godt lide huset. Jeg vil købe det.
• Why: Hus is a neuter noun: et hus. A pronoun referring back to it is det. Use den for a common-gender noun such as en lejlighed.

Putting an unstressed pronoun after ikke in a simple main clause

• Awkward as a neutral sentence: Jeg kender ikke ham.
• Neutral: Jeg kender ham ikke.
• Why: With a simple finite verb in a main clause, an unstressed object pronoun normally moves before ikke. The first version can be used with strong contrast — “I don’t know him (but perhaps I know someone else)” — so it is not impossible, but it is not the neutral pattern.

Using ham or hende reflexively

• Wrong: Han vasker ham if the man washes himself.
• Right: Han vasker sig.
• Why: When a third-person subject acts on itself within the same clause, Danish normally uses the reflexive pronoun sig. Han vasker ham means that one male person washes another male person.

Usage Notes

Object forms after comparisons

In everyday standard Danish, the object form is normal after end (“than”) when the comparison ends with a pronoun:

• Hun er ældre end mig. — “She is older than me.”
• De arbejder mere end os. — “They work more than us.”

A full clause is also possible and can make the meaning more explicit: Hun er ældre, end jeg er (“She is older than I am”). This resembles the English choice between “than me” and “than I am,” though Danish object forms in the short version are completely ordinary.

Object forms after Det er

Danish normally uses object forms in identifying expressions with det er:

• Det er mig. — “It’s me.”
• Er det hende? — “Is that her?”
• Det var dem, vi talte med. — “They were the ones we spoke with.”

This is natural Danish, just as “It’s me” is natural English. Do not replace mig with jeg merely because the person being identified is logically the same person as the subject of a following clause.

Names joined with pronouns

The role of the whole coordinated phrase determines the pronoun form:

• Sofie og jeg kommer senere. — “Sofie and I are coming later.” The phrase is the subject.
• De inviterede Sofie og mig. — “They invited Sofie and me.” The phrase is the object.
• Det er en gave fra Mads og os. — “It is a gift from Mads and us.” The phrase follows a preposition.

A useful test is to remove the name. You would say jeg kommer, but de inviterede mig and fra os.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master every detail in this section at A2, but these patterns explain forms you will hear and read later.

Stress can block the neutral pronoun pattern

Object shift applies most clearly to short, unstressed pronouns. If the speaker strongly contrasts the pronoun, it can remain after ikke or another adverb:

• Jeg så ikke ham, men hende. — “I didn’t see him, but her.”
• Vi inviterede kun dem. — “We invited only them.”

Word order and spoken stress work together. This is why Jeg kender ikke ham can be appropriate when ham is contrasted, even though Jeg kender ham ikke is the ordinary neutral sentence.

Reflexive and reciprocal meanings use other pronouns

The ordinary object forms do not cover every relationship between participants. Third-person reflexive sig points back to the subject:

• Hun så hende i spejlet. — “She saw her [another woman] in the mirror.”
• Hun så sig i spejlet. — “She saw herself in the mirror.”

For actions people do to one another, Danish often uses hinanden (“each other”):

• De hjælper dem. — “They help them [other people].”
• De hjælper hinanden. — “They help each other.”

These contrasts become important when you study Danish reflexive verbs.

Formal De has the object form Dem

Modern Danish normally uses du/dig and I/jer, even with strangers and in many professional situations. The capitalized formal singular or plural De survives in limited very formal, traditional, historical, or deliberately courteous contexts. Its object form is Dem:

• Kan jeg hjælpe Dem? — “May I help you?”

Do not confuse formal capitalized Dem with ordinary lowercase dem (“them”). Most learners should recognize formal De/Dem but use du/dig unless a particular setting clearly calls for the traditional form.

Left-dislocation in conversation

Spoken Danish sometimes names a topic and then repeats it with a pronoun:

• Den nye film, har du set den? — “The new movie — have you seen it?”
• Maja, hende kender jeg godt. — “Maja — I know her well.”

The repeated pronoun helps organize the sentence around a topic. This is common conversational structure, but beginners can communicate perfectly well with the neutral forms Har du set den nye film? and Jeg kender Maja godt.

Practice Tips

1. Learn subject and object forms as pairs. Say jeg–mig, du–dig, han–ham, hun–hende, vi–os, I–jer, de–dem. Then make two sentences for each pair: De ser os. Vi ser dem.
2. Practice with real nouns before replacing them. Write Jeg læser bogen and then Jeg læser den; write Jeg finder kortet and then Jeg finder det. This ties den/det to noun gender instead of to the single English word “it.”
3. Build short word-order contrasts aloud. Repeat pairs such as Jeg kender ham ikke / Jeg har ikke mødt ham and Jeg ser hende aldrig / Jeg kan aldrig se hende. Listening for the position of the pronoun will make the pattern more automatic than memorizing the term “object shift.”

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Personal Pronouns — learn the subject forms and the basic distinctions between singular, plural, den, and det before choosing object forms.