Basic place and time questions | Learn Danish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Hvor er det?

   Where is it?

   Hvor

   where

   er

   is

   det

   it

   More detail

   Hvor is the Danish question word “where.” It asks about a place or position. In the supplied sentence it comes first and applies to the location being asked about. er is the present-tense form of være, “to be.” Danish uses this same form with different subjects, so er can mean “am,” “are,” or “is” depending on the subject. Example: Hvor er du? means “Where are you?” det is a Danish third-person singular pronoun meaning “it” here. Its specific referent is not identified by the fixed sentence. du in the contextual example means “you,” which shows the contrast between asking where something is and asking where a person is. Together, Hvor er det? follows the reusable pattern Hvor + er + subject?: “Where is it?” The question asks for the location of the thing referred to by det.

2. Hvor er du?

   Where are you?

   Hvor

   where

   er

   are

   du

   you

   More detail

   Hvor means “where” and asks about a location. It is a question word, not a form that changes for the person being addressed. Compare hvad, “what,” in the supplied next sentence: Hvad skete der her? asks about an event rather than a location. er is the present-tense form of være, “to be.” With du, it means “are.” The same form also occurs with det in the previous sentence, Hvor er det? (“Where is it?”); the surrounding subject shows who or what is being located. In this question, Danish places Hvor before the verb and the subject: Hvor er ...? du is the second-person singular pronoun, “you,” referring to the person addressed. It is the subject of er here. The form does not identify the addressee by name or specify any additional participants. Together, Hvor + er + du forms the reusable question pattern Hvor er [person or thing]?, meaning “Where is/are [person or thing]?” In this utterance, du is the person whose location is being asked about, so the complete meaning is “Where are you?”

3. Hvad skete der her?

   What happened here?

   Hvad

   what

   skete

   happened

   der

   expletive element in this question

   her

   here

   More detail

   Hvad means “what” here and asks for the event or thing that occurred. It is the Danish question word used when the unknown information is not a person. For comparison, Hvor means “where,” as in the supplied Hvor er du? (“Where are you?”). skete is the past-tense form of ske, “to happen.” Thus ske → skete expresses an event that already happened. In the reusable question pattern, it occurs with der: Hvad skete der? means “What happened?” der is an expletive element in this event question. It does not refer to a specific person or thing and is not the location word “there” in this sentence. The reusable pattern is Hvad skete der? = “What happened?” her is the adverb “here,” identifying the relevant place or situation. It is distinct from der in this sentence: der supports the question pattern, while her supplies the meaning “here.” Together, Hvad skete der? asks what event occurred, and adding her makes it “What happened here?” The question is in the past because of skete; it does not by itself specify who caused the event or what the outcome was.

4. Hvad er klokken?

   What time is it?

   Hvad

   what

   er

   is

   klokken

   the time

   More detail

   Hvad means “what” and is the question word asking for an unknown piece of information. It also appears in Hvad skete der her? (“What happened here?”). In contrast, Hvornår asks specifically about time: Hvornår kommer du? means “When will you come?” er is the present-tense form of være, “to be.” Danish present er does not change for person or number: jeg er (“I am”), du er (“you are”), and de er (“they are”). klokken is the definite form of klokke, literally “the clock,” but in this fixed expression it refers to the current time. The form is built from klokke plus the definite ending -en; it is not simply an indefinite article expressing a number. A related time expression is Klokken tre (“three o’clock”), where klokken introduces the stated hour. Together, Hvad + er + klokken forms the standard Danish question Hvad er klokken?, literally asking what the current clock time is. Its natural meaning is “What time is it?”

5. Hvornår kommer du?

   When will you come?

   Hvornår

   when

   kommer

   come

   du

   you

   More detail

   Hvornår means “when” and asks about the time of an event. It is a question word, comparable in function to hvad (“what”) and hvorfor (“why”), but it asks for a time rather than a thing or a reason. kommer is the present-tense form of komme, “to come.” In Danish, the present tense can refer to a future event when the time is clear from the context, so kommer can mean “will come” here. A more explicit future meaning can also be expressed with vil plus the infinitive, but that is not the form used in this sentence. du means “you” for one person. It is the subject of kommer; Danish uses du as the subject form, while dig is used in object positions. Together, Hvornår + kommer + du forms a question asking at what time you will come: “When will you come?” The question word comes first, followed by the verb and then the subject.

6. Hvorfor er du forsinket?

   Why are you late?

   Hvorfor

   why

   er du

   are you

   forsinket

   late

   More detail

   Hvorfor means “why” and asks for a reason. It is a question word used to ask why something happens or why someone is in a particular state. Example: Hvorfor kommer du? — “Why are you coming?” er is the present-tense form of være, “to be.” In this question, du means “you” and is the subject. Danish main questions commonly place the finite verb before the subject after a question word: Hvorfor er du ...? Compare the statement Du er forsinket. — “You are late.” forsinket means “late” here, more literally “delayed.” It is an adjective describing du after er. The form is singular; the plural or definite form is commonly forsinkede, as in De er forsinkede — “They are late.” Together, Hvorfor + er du + forsinket asks for the reason for the listener’s being late: “Why are you late?”