If you’re learning Danish, you’ve probably noticed these two things:
- so many Danish words sound the same, but have a different meaning, and
- The number of Danish prepositions seems endless, and it can be a pain to learn when to use which one. The Danish prepositions af and ad are a combination of those two things.
Even Danes get them mixed up sometimes. But don’t worry – we’re here to shed some light on the differences between af and ad, and when you should use which!
When to use ad
Ad usually indicates that something is directed towards, through, up, at, over, or along something.
If you have to decide what preposition to use in this sentence:
Jeg går op (??) bakken. (I’m walking up the hill.)
…you guessed it, ad is the right thing to fill in the blank with.
Here are some more examples:
Lastbilen kører hen ad vejen. (The truck is driving along/up the road.)
Min svigermor kommer ind ad døren. (My mother-in-law comes in through the door).
You can also use these words in some fixed expressions. Ad helvede til (to hell) is one of them. It can either mean that something goes really far or very wrong.
Jeg sparker bolden ad helvede til. (I kick the ball really far away.)
Fodboldkampen gik ad helvede til. (The football match went really wrong.)
When to use af
Af, on the other hand, usually means movement away from something. That’s why it can also be replaced with fra sometimes.
So if you’re stuck with this sentence:
Jeg tager min telefon op (??) tasken. (I’m taking my phone out of the bag.)
…af is the way to go since you’re moving something away from the bag.
Another case where you use af is when something is happening because of a state something is in. You could also say that it states the reason for something happening. This sounds very abstract, so here are some examples:
Jeg hopper op og ned af glæde. (I’m jumping up and down for/out of joy.)
More examples:
Min svigermor kommer ud af døren. (My mother-in-law is coming out of the door).
Hun ryster af kulde. (She is shaking because of the cold.)
When you can use both ad and af
And then, there are some expressions where you can use both af and ad equally. Here is an example for this:
Jeg griner ad/af mine egne jokes. (I’m laughing at/because of my own jokes.)
Always consider the context, though: for example, with the verb at råbe (to yell), you can use ad in some context and af in others. Let me show you what I mean with examples:
Min svigermor råber af vrede. (My mother-in-law is yelling out of anger.)
Min svigermor råber ad mig, fordi jeg har spist hendes pizza. (My mother-in-law is yelling at me, because I ate her pizza.)
In the first example, we use af because we are about to learn more about the state my mother-in-law is in and that is causing her to yell. In the second example, we use ad because we learn about what or who the yelling is directed at.
Good work tackling Danish prepositions!
And there you go, now you know what to remember when deciding which of these two Danish prepositions you should use. Here are the key points:
- Direction: is there movement towards/along something or away from something?
- Consider the context! Are you talking about the where something is directed or the reason why something is happening?
Do you want to get even better at using Danish prepositions? In this lesson over on Swap Language, you can learn more about the use of af, ad, and more in everyday life!
