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LEARNING DANISH

How to think in Danish: tænke, tro or synes?

Danish has at least three different ways of expressing the English word "think": tænke, tro and synes. Learning when to use each of these words correctly is a good way to sound like a true Dane and to make sure your point gets across.

Published: 18 August 2022 17:24 CEST
Updated: 1 March 2024 11:46 CET

How to think in Danish: tænke, tro or synes?

You think it's a nice restaurant, but is this your opinion or your belief? File photo: Thomas Lekfeldt/Ritzau Scanpix

Despite the fact that tænke, tro and synes words can all be translated to “think” in English, choosing the wrong verb in Danish can change the meaning of what you’re trying to say.

As a general rule, you should use tænke when talking about the act of thinking, tro when talking about a belief you hold, and synes when you’re talking about a personal opinion. That might seem confusing, so let’s go into a bit more detail below.

Tænke

The act of thinking

Tænke is the most literal of these three verbs. It describes the act of thinking, such as in sentences like jeg tænker på dig (“I’m thinking of you”) or kan du være stile, jeg prøver at tænke! (“Can you be quiet, I’m trying to think!”).

If someone seems lost in thought, you can ask hvad tænker du på? (“what are you thinking of?). In a different context, the same sentence can be reproachful: Du glemte at sætte mælken i køleskabet og nu er den blevet dårlig. Hvad tænker du på! (“You forgot to put the milk back in the fridge and now it’s gone off. What were you thinking!”)

I’d quite like…

Another way of using the word tænke is to say that an idea appeals to you or that you’d quite like to do something – like in the phrase jeg kunne godt tænke mig et stykke kage (literally “I could think me a piece of cake”, actually “I would like a piece of cake”).

If, for example, you were discussing with your partner what you should order for dinner on a Friday night, you might say jeg kunne godt tænke mig sushi, which is more like a suggestion compared to jeg skal have sushi (“I want sushi”).

I was wondering

Tænke can also be used to make a tentative or polite suggestion if you use the past tense: Jeg tænkte på, om du havde lyst til at ses til et glas vin på fredag? (“I was wondering if you might like to meet for a glass of wine on Friday?).

Synes and tro

These two verbs are closer in meaning and slightly harder to explain than with the word tænke. The best way to distinguish synes and tro is to be more specific when translating them in to English. Although “think” can be used as an umbrella term for both of these concepts, the differences start to become clearer if you use more specialised verbs when translating them instead.

An opinion, usually based on experience

Synes has the same meaning as the English words “deem”, “regard” and “consider”, which are all used when expressing an opinion about something.

To use synes, you would say jeg synes, at (“I think that”) followed by your opinion. In spoken Danish, the at is often left out. Jeg synes, (at) du er sød (“I think you’re nice”) and jeg synes, (at) her er koldt (I think it’s cold here) are two examples.

A belief or speculation

Tro, on the other hand, can be translated as “believe”, which can be used when speculating about something or expressing a belief, such as jeg tror på Gud (“I believe in God”) or jeg tror, det bliver regnvejr I morgen (“I think it will rain tomorrow”).

Here’s an example to illustrate the difference between saying synes or tro:

Jeg synes, det er en god restaurant would mean “I think it’s a good restaurant”, in the sense of “I consider that to be a good restaurant”. You may have eaten at the restaurant before and you can recommend it based on the food that you ate.

Jeg tror, det er en god restaurant would also mean “I think it’s a good restaurant”, but in the sense of “I believe that’s a good restaurant”. Maybe a friend has told you that they had a nice meal there, but you’ve not been there yourself so you can’t say for certain.

Synes om

You may also have come across the phrase synes om, which has a slightly different meaning than synes. Synes always requires some sort of elaboration – it should be followed by a statement about what your opinion is – whereas synes om simply means that you like something.

Jeg synes, (at) han er sød, jeg synes, (at) chokolade smager godt

(“I think (that) he is nice”, “I think (that) chocolate tastes good”)

Jeg synes om ham, jeg synes om chokolade

(“I like him”, “I like chocolate”)

So, how do I think in Danish?

Essentially, you should use tænke when describing actual thoughts in your head, synes when expressing an opinion or a recommendation based on something you’ve experienced, and tro when expressing a belief, or a recommendation based on something you’ve heard or read from another source.

If you’re not sure whether to use synes or tro in a specific situation, try swapping out the word “think” with “consider” or “believe”, and see if that helps.

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'Make it fun': How foreigners in Denmark help their kids become bilingual

For foreign residents in Denmark with children, the matter of bilingualism can be one that requires a lot of thought.

Questions can include which languages to speak at home, how important is it to you that your children speak your mother tongue, and how to ensure they are strong at speaking the local language – in this case, Danish.

We previously spoke to an expert about the topic, whose advice included the recommendation that “parent(s) should speak in their mother tongue and stay authentic”, and also touched on school options and technical aspects of language acquisition in kids.

Below is a selection of the overwhelming number of survey responses we received from our readers. Thank you to all those who took time to get in touch.

“My only tip is to speak your own language with your children confidently and consistently whatever people around think or say,” said Radu, a Romanian who lives in Copenhagen.

Radu said he has two children, a 5-year-old who goes to an English-speaking preschool, and a 7-year-old who also went to the preschool and now attends Danish state school. The children speak Danish with their mother and Romanian with their father.

“The Danish system and society are very focused on making foreigners speak Danish, but don’t let them assimilate your children while you are trying to integrate,” Radu said.

“We want them to be multilingual,” he said of his children.

“We think that’s the most beneficial for their development and understanding of the world. We also want them to communicate naturally with both sides of their family and not end up speaking English with relatives,” he said.

Born in Denmark

Silvia, who is Italian and lives in Copenhagen, said that Italian is the only language spoken at home between her, her two children (3 and 6 years) and their father, who is also Italian. The children were born in Denmark.

The children “go to a public Danish school and there they only speak Danish”, she said.

“We want them to be fluent in both Italian and Danish, and we know that they will pick up English very easily in school. Having three languages in the pocket will already be amazing, when it comes to languages, the more the better!,” Silvia wrote.

“The only tip is keep it clear, set a language for a specific context (home/school/family etc…) and keep it, it’s easier for the brain when you can contextualise your learning experience,” she said.

Alison, a reader in Aarhus, said she speaks “90 percent” French to her little boy who was born in Denmark in 2022. His dad is Danish and he attends a local Danish daycare, she explained. The parents speak English to each other.

“We want him to be bilingual, we see it as a plus and he needs French to communicate with French family members,” she said.

“For now we just speak each our language. We make sure to have books in French, listen to songs and watch cartoons in French to make it fun,” she said.

One reader who responded to our survey described the reverse situation – speaking Danish in a home in another country.

“My partner is Danish and she moved to the UK many years ago to live with me. We have two children. We didn’t marry and my partner and two daughters are Danish nationals with Danish passports and citizenship,” said the reader, Dominic.

The family plans to move to Denmark next year and Dominic, as the only non-Danish speaker, has now begun learning Danish. Both languages are spoken at home, he said.

“Mother speaks to daughters in Danish – I speak to them in English. When we all speak it’s in English. I am learning Danish,” he said.

“We have always used two languages. It was natural to raise our daughters with two concurrent cultures because that’s what they are – a mix of both,” he said.

Kelly in Aarhus has two children born in Denmark with one British and one Danish parent.

“We run one parent, one language [also known as the OPOL method, ed.] at home. We might have liked to have sent our kids to a bilingual school but the only one (in Aarhus) just closed so our only real option is to send them to a local folkeskole [state school, ed.],” she said.

“Have two language profiles on your streaming services so they can watch cartoons in both languages,” she tipped.

“Me and my wife came from Nepal to Denmark in 2017,” began Sapan, who lives in Copenhagen’s Vestegn.

“We had our first kid in 2019 and the second one in 2022 (in Denmark),” he said.

“Me and my wife communicate most of the time at our home in our native tongue which is Nepalese. This is to ensure that the kids can understand Nepalese language as well,” he said, adding that the children now attend Danish preschool.

“We are really careful and don’t want them to struggle with their Danish language so we help them with the Danish at home as well. Both of us have been to Danish language school. We allow only books, TV programmes, etc in Danish at home. We also help them to translate both languages,” he said.

“We want them to be multilingual so that they have multiple choices for their future”, Sapan said.

Moved to Denmark

Other readers, who moved to Denmark after their children were born, described the experience of older children learning Danish.

“I have two kids (9 and 13, today). We were all born and raised in Brazil. When we moved to Denmark, two years ago, they were 7 and 11 and were fluent in Portuguese and speak a little English,” wrote Luiz, who lives in Aalborg.

The children now go to a Danish state school where they mainly speak Danish, he said.

“It is great to see how they developed both Danish and English in the last two years,” he said.

“I had an amazing experience with the folkeskole. There, both my kids had Danish classes full time during the first six months, together with other internationals. Teachers were great and, today, both of them are attending the regular classes on the second and seventh grade,” he explained.

“It helped us a lot to watch cartoons in Danish (thanks, Ramasjang!) and often visit the library and borrow some books for them to read,” Luiz said.

Another reader said that she sometimes found it difficult to always use her mother tongue in her family setting in Denmark.

More than two languages

“We are German and American and moved with our children (son, now eight and daughter, five) to Denmark two years ago. Everyone understands both languages but when we are all together we speak mostly English,” wrote Cornelia from Copenhagen.

“Mum and Dad speak English together, but when the kids are there I try to speak German. Kids might answer in all three languages but Danish is their strongest now,” she said.

“Both kids are in a Danish environment. Son has some English-speaking friends, which is so important! I am having problems to maintain the German because I am now the only one here who speaks it to the kids, outside family and friends abroad,” she explained.

“We are trying to maintain trilingualism. Every language is an enrichment and will open future possibilities. We read books and watch TV in all three languages,” she added.

The highest number of languages spoken by children among our survey responses was four: Turkish, Italian, Danish and English.

Deniz in Copenhagen said his children, age 3 and 7, were born in Denmark to Turkish and Italian parents.

“Mom speaks Turkish with the kids. Dad speaks Italian with the kids. Mom and Dad speak English and Italian to each other,” he explained.

The children attend Danish daycare and school and “speak Turkish with each other when they play together. They speak Danish, Italian, Turkish or English when other family members or friends are around them,” he said.

Deniz explained that he preferred to bring up the children in a multilingual environment “so that they feel they are rooted in Denmark but they also feel connected to Turkey and Italy and communicate with family.”

“English is also important to communicate with everyone,” he said.

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