Danish words 1–300: the “First words” band
The 300 most frequent Danish words are the skeleton of the language. This "First words" band includes the everyday verbs, pronouns, prepositions, and short connectors — words like er, ikke, jeg, det, and med — that show up constantly in spoken conversation, news articles, and children's books alike. Their ranks come from the wordfreq corpus, which reflects real-world Danish as it is actually written and read.
Knowing these 300 words gives you a foothold in almost every sentence you encounter. While they won't let you understand everything on their own, they mean you're rarely completely lost: function words and core verbs at this level act as anchors that help you guess the meaning of unfamiliar content words around them.
On Beeblio, texts pinned to the First words band are colour-coded so that only vocabulary within rank 1–300 appears unshaded. Everything beyond that band is highlighted, showing you precisely where your knowledge ends and where the next challenge begins.
300 Danish words ranked 1–300 by frequency — the “First words” band. A learner who knows them can read texts pinned to this band with about 95% of the words already familiar.
- i
- og
- er
- af
- det
- at
- en
- til
- på
- jeg
- har
- for
- ikke
- med
- den
- der
- de
- du
- kan
- som
- så
- et
- var
- vi
- om
- han
- fra
- men
- skal
- ved
- vil
- også
- være
- hvor
- nu
- man
- hvis
- sig
- efter
- mig
- eller
- her
- hvad
- ud
- alle
- godt
- meget
- noget
- da
- dig
- kunne
- lige
- min
- når
- op
- 2
- blev
- bliver
- havde
- mere
- over
- hun
- se
- år
- 1
- bare
- få
- have
- dem
- to
- lidt
- selv
- 3
- din
- mange
- vores
- får
- kun
- deres
- helt
- end
- jo
- kommer
- må
- dag
- denne
- dette
- hans
- ind
- flere
- gør
- ja
- nok
- andre
- mod
- alt
- været
- blive
- god
- går
- igen
- os
- fik
- hele
- sammen
- gang
- ville
- hvordan
- nye
- nogle
- skulle
- tid
- danmark
- dansk
- siden
- ham
- under
- første
- sin
- 4
- gøre
- måske
- danske
- ingen
- siger
- sådan
- altid
- anden
- kom
- a
- del
- uden
- ser
- andet
- fordi
- gerne
- nogen
- samme
- store
- tak
- blevet
- før
- mellem
- tilbage
- tror
- 5
- dog
- sidste
- arbejde
- brug
- dit
- finde
- tage
- gå
- hvorfor
- mit
- s
- bedre
- hos
- lille
- ret
- stor
- bedste
- komme
- tre
- giver
- københavn
- mest
- stadig
- 6
- folk
- ny
- aldrig
- ned
- både
- børn
- dine
- disse
- tager
- endnu
- set
- bruge
- gik
- hold
- mand
- nej
- samt
- ting
- 7
- fået
- gode
- hendes
- inden
- mine
- står
- give
- hvem
- omkring
- synes
- derfor
- først
- forskellige
- vej
- virkelig
- 8
- frem
- klar
- mennesker
- rigtig
- sige
- gange
- gennem
- hjem
- hver
- lide
- blandt
- d
- faktisk
- par
- penge
- sted
- mens
- næste
- mindre
- måde
- tog
- død
- gamle
- hvilket
- verden
- altså
- ligger
- m
- mener
- navn
- the
- vel
- allerede
- dage
- liv
- aften
- findes
- grund
- hende
- sit
- tidligere
- 9
- elsker
- hjælp
- langt
- mænd
- plads
- side
- tv
- ellers
- finder
- kender
- lave
- holde
- kr
- morgen
- større
- ude
- stort
- vist
- haft
- kort
- længere
- tiden
- unge
- én
- begge
- hjælpe
- jer
- nyt
- næsten
- væk
- ofte
- senere
- sine
- stedet
- ønsker
- betyder
- holder
- længe
- sagde
- sker
- ca
- gjorde
- jeres
- kvinder
- lang
- snart
- tale
- videre
- 0
- indtil
- lad
- spiller
- taget
Other bands
Getting by (800) · Everyday (1,500) · Confident (3,000) · Fluent reader (5,000) · Advanced (8,000) · Near-native (12,000)
Read at this level
Graded Danish readings for the First words band — every text stays inside these words plus a few new ones.
Questions
How much Danish text can I understand if I only know these 300 words?
The 300 most frequent words won't cover 80% of everyday text on their own — you'll need to reach around the 1,500-word level for that — but they do appear so often that you'll recognise familiar anchors in nearly every sentence. Think of this band as a solid launchpad, not a finish line.
What kinds of words are in the 1–300 band?
Mostly grammar glue: pronouns (<em>jeg</em>, <em>du</em>, <em>vi</em>), auxiliary verbs (<em>er</em>, <em>har</em>, <em>vil</em>), prepositions (<em>i</em>, <em>på</em>, <em>med</em>), conjunctions, and a handful of the most common content words. These are the pieces that hold sentences together rather than carry specific meaning on their own.
What texts should I read if I'm working on the First words band?
Short, repetitive texts work best at this stage — simple children's stories, graded readers, or slow-news summaries written for learners. On Beeblio, you can filter texts by band so that highlighting shows you how much vocabulary falls within rank 1–300 before you start reading.