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En or et? How to know the gender of Danish nouns
Every Danish noun is either an en-word (en bil, a car) or an et-word (et hus, a house). Roughly three in four are en-words. A few endings give the gender away, compound words follow their last part, and for the rest the best habit is to learn each noun together with its article.
Why it matters
Getting en or et wrong rarely stops people understanding you, but the gender travels through the whole phrase. It decides three things:
| en-word | et-word | |
|---|---|---|
| Article | en bil | et hus |
| Definite form | bilen | huset |
| Adjective | en stor bil | et stort hus |
| Pronoun | den er rød | det er rødt |
Endings that give the gender away
These are the most useful patterns. They do not cover every noun, but when a word has one of these endings, you can be fairly confident.
| Ending | Gender | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -hed | en | en mulighed, en sandhed, en frihed |
| -ing / -ning | en | en regning, en parkering, en kylling |
| -tion / -sion | en | en station, en situation, en diskussion |
| -dom | en | en sygdom, en ejendom |
| -um | et | et museum, et centrum, et gymnasium |
| -ment | et | et dokument, et instrument, et parlament |
| -eri | et | et bageri, et bryggeri |
| -skab | mostly et | et venskab, et selskab, et landskab (but en egenskab, en videnskab) |
Quick check
___ mulighed (a possibility)
en mulighed. Words ending in -hed are en-words.
Show answer
en mulighed. -hed words are en-words.
People and animals are usually en
Nouns for people and animals are mostly en-words: en mand, en kvinde, en lærer, en hund, en kat. A handful of very common exceptions are worth learning by heart: et barn (a child), et menneske (a human being), et dyr (an animal).
Compound words follow their last part
Danish builds long words by joining shorter ones. The gender always comes from the last part:
- et hus → et sommerhusa house → a summer house
- en skole → en sprogskolea school → a language school
- et skab → et køleskaba cupboard → a fridge
Quick check
___ sommerhus (a summer house)
et sommerhus. The last part is et hus, so the whole word is an et-word.
Show answer
et sommerhus. The last part, hus, is an et-word.
The short et-words you just have to learn
Many everyday et-words are short and follow no pattern. These come up constantly, so they are worth memorising first: et hus, et bord, et æble, et år, et sted, et land, et ord, et billede, et vindue.
How to learn it for good
- Never learn a bare noun. Learn et æble, not æble.
- Learn it with the definite form: en bil – bilen, et hus – huset. Hearing the ending helps it stick.
- When in doubt, say en. With roughly three in four nouns being en-words, it is the safer guess.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a rule for en and et in Danish?
There is no single rule, but some endings are reliable: -hed, -ing and -tion words are en-words, and -um and -ment words are et-words. For everything else, learn each noun together with its article.
Are most Danish nouns en or et?
Most are en-words: roughly three in four. If you have to guess, guess en.
Why does en or et matter?
The gender changes the ending of the definite form (bilen, huset), the adjective (en stor bil, et stort hus) and the pronoun you use for the noun (den or det).
What about compound words?
A compound word takes the gender of its last part: et hus gives et sommerhus, and en skole gives en sprogskole.
Practise it. The En/Et-træner game drills hundreds of nouns until the right article comes automatically. The game itself is in Danish, which is good practice too.
Play the En/Et-træner →