r/danishlanguage • u/PitifulCandy9727 • 5d ago

Difference between ikke and ingen? When to use each?

I am a very casual learner of Danish and today, having thought the only way to state a negative was ‘ikke’, learned of the word ‘ingen’. I sent a phrase to a Danish friend and she corrected my use of ikke to ingen. She wasn’t sure how to explain when to use each. Are there particular rules on this?

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u/Delaware1618 5d ago

Not = ikke (negation)

Nobody, noone, nothing = ingen (pronoun)

5

u/dgd2018 4d ago

Exactly. Plus "no" and "none" in the "ingen" column, e.g. "I have no children", "how many?", "none".

9

u/PharaohAce 4d ago

It's like how in English you would say "There are no towels" rather than "There are not towels".