Verb „at have“ (haben)

At have means "to have", and like every Danish verb it has one form per tense for all persons: har in the present, havde in the past, har haft in the perfect. In everyday speech the v in have and havde is usually not heard, so have often sounds like "ha".

The forms

Have as a helper: the perfect

As in English, har + past participle makes the perfect: Jeg har spist. (I have eaten.) De har boet i Odense i fem år. (They have lived in Odense for five years.)

Many verbs of movement and change take er instead: Toget er kørt. (The train has left.) Hun er rejst til Skagen. (She has gone to Skagen.) Han er blevet far. (He has become a dad.) Learn these as you meet them; the common ones are gå, komme, rejse, køre, blive.

Phrases with have

Danish uses have in many places where English uses "be" or another verb:

Questions and negation

• Har I glutenfrit brød? - Do you have gluten-free bread? (to the staff of a bakery)
• Nej, vi har ikke nogen bil. or Vi har ingen bil. - No, we don't have a car.

There is no "do" in Danish questions or negatives: the verb har moves to the front or takes ikke straight after it.

In shops and cafés har is the everyday verb for asking what is on offer: Har I også havremælk? (Do you have oat milk as well?) And the answer to Hvordan har du det? uses it again: Jeg har det fint, tak. Hvad med dig?

For English speakers

The grammar of possession and of the perfect is close to English, so most mistakes come from the phrases above and from the do-support habit. Typical mistakes:

• *Gør du have en cykel? → Har du en cykel?
• *Jeg er travl. → Jeg har travlt.
• *Jeg er ret. → Jeg har ret.
• *Toget har kørt. (for "the train has left") → Toget er kørt.