How To Talk About Animals In Danish

Give your pets some credit next time you mention ‘hygge.’
napping fox illustrates animals in danish

At some point, all Danish learners will need to get some basic animal vocabulary under their belts. It’s not just that talking about animals in Danish is a fundamental skill that counts toward your overall fluency — it’s also that animals bring up cozy feelings, and Danes are kind of the experts on cozy feelings.

Hygge generally refers to the feeling you get when you’re surrounded by basic creature comforts and the people (or, well, living beings) you love. How can you properly discuss this important Danish cultural concept without mentioning your dog, or your cat or your beloved starfish?

That’s what we thought. Here are some words to help you talk about animals in Danish. Just click on the gray play button to hear how they’re pronounced by a native speaker.

General Animal Vocab

a bird of prey — en rovfugl

a farm animal — et nyttedyr

a fur — en pels

a pet — et husdyr

a sea creature — et havdyr

a wild animal — et vilddyr

Naming Animals In Danish

a bear — en bjørn

a bird — en fugl

a blue whale — en blåhval

a cat — en kat

a crocodile — en krokodille

a cow — en ko

a deer — et rådyr

a dog — en hund

a dolphin — en delfin

a duck — en and

an elephant — en elefant

a fish — en fisk

a frog — en frø

a giraffe — en giraf

a goat — en ged

a hamster — en hamster

a hippopotamus — en flodhest

a horse — en hest

a jellyfish — en vandmand

a kangaroo — en kænguru

a mouse — en mus

an octopus — en blæksprutte

an owl — en ugle

a parrot — en papegøje

a penguin — en pingvin

a pig — en gris

a rabbit — en kanin

a rat — en rotte

a sea turtle — en havskildpadde

a shark — en haj

a sheep — et får

a sloth — et dovendyr

a snake — en slange

a squirrel — et egern

a starfish — en søstjerne

a swan — en svane

a wolf — en ulv

Now, learn to talk about everything else in Danish.
Steph Koyfman

Steph is a senior content producer who has spent over five years writing about language and culture for Babbel. She grew up bilingually and had an early love affair with books, and, later, studied English literature and journalism in college. She also speaks Russian and Spanish, but she’s a little rusty on those fronts.

Steph is a senior content producer who has spent over five years writing about language and culture for Babbel. She grew up bilingually and had an early love affair with books, and, later, studied English literature and journalism in college. She also speaks Russian and Spanish, but she’s a little rusty on those fronts.

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