How many words do you need to speak Danish?

Around 900, if they are the right ones. A frequency-selected 900-word research inventory can cover about 87% of the words in three Danish conversation samples (measured range 85.7–89.0%, taught inflections counted). Those samples hold more than 900,000 recorded words of real conversation.

How many words do you need to be fluent?

Fluency is more than a word count. Covering 87% of the words in a conversation is not the same as understanding 87% of it: coverage is the honest ceiling for what a vocabulary can touch, and listening and speaking still take practice.

What are the most common Danish words?

Det (it), jeg (I), ja (yes), så (so) and er (is). The most common word, det, is about 6% of everything said; the top five together are nearly one word in five.

What is the fastest way to learn them?

We think it is connection puzzles: retrieving words by meaning instead of flipping flashcards. Try one round and judge for yourself.

words

900words · the Danish answer

How many words do you need to get by in Danish?

Fewer than the dictionary suggests. Around 900, if they are the right ones. Explore the most common words and a great way to learn Danish vocabulary.

The most common Danish word is det. One little word, 6% of everything said!

≈ 87%

Around 87%. A frequency-selected 900-word research inventory can cover around 87% of the words in three Danish conversation samples.

range 85.7 – 89.0% · equal-corpus mean 87.2% taught inflections counted research report · 2026-08

det ≈ 6%

One little word, det (it / that), is about 6% of everything said in the samples. Small words do enormous work.

1 in 5

The five most common words, det, jeg, ja, så, er, add up to nearly one word in five. You could learn them before lunch.

top words

detit / that
jegI
jayes
såthen / so
eram / is / are

top nouns

gangtime / occasion
tingthing
tidtime
faldfall / case
åryear

top verbs

værebe
havehave
sesee / look
trobelieve / think
sigesay / tell

describing words

sådansuch / like that
okayokay
godgood
mangemany
alall / every

How do you learn them fast?

Not flashcards. Connection puzzles.

Learn words one at a time and your brain has to hold every single one of them alone. Learn them connected and they hold each other up: the way your memory actually works. Try it out right here:

the methodology

Where these numbers come from

Counted, not estimated. A word either appears in the recorded conversations or it doesn't, and coverage is not comprehension. Read the full research report: the three corpora, the exact matching rules, the word lists behind these cards, and all the data as downloads.

The learning research: the claims in the game section rest on Craik & Lockhart (1972) on meaning-based processing, Roediger & Karpicke (2006) on retrieval practice, and Slamecka & Graf (1978) on self-generated connections.

German, French and Spanish are being measured next. Each language gets its own study on real conversation data, never an estimate from another language.

Q&A

How many words do you need to speak Danish?: Around 900, if they are the right ones. A frequency-selected 900-word research inventory can cover about 87% of the words in three Danish conversation samples. Those samples hold more than 900,000 recorded words of real conversation. See the numbers above.
How many words do you need to be fluent?: Fluency is more than a word count. Covering 87% of the words in a conversation is not the same as understanding 87% of it: coverage is the honest ceiling for what a vocabulary can touch, and listening and speaking still take practice. That is why we publish coverage and never promise fluency.
What are the most common Danish words?: Det (it), jeg (I), ja (yes), så (so) and er (is). The most common word alone is about 6% of everything said. The full lists live on the Danish card above.
What is the fastest way to learn them?: We think it is connection puzzles: retrieving words by meaning instead of flipping flashcards. Try one round and judge for yourself.