Your find them in abundance in the Danish language: Compound words. The reason is that the Danish language is flexible towards new formations which means that there is a lot more compound words than the dictionary can hold.

If you would like your Danish writing to be clear and concise and also to avoid misunderstandings, you need to know about these compound words.

But it is tricky as they are written in two or more words in English, but in one word in Danish (hence, the very long words you occasionally come across in Danish).

In the following, I will give you some advice on how to spot compound words.

1. Emphasis
Where is the emphasis on the word?
Is the emphasis on the first part it is one word:

“en fuldmåne” = A full moon
“en rødkælk” = A robin

This is different from putting emphasis on both words:

“en fuld måne” = a drunk moon
“en rød kælk” = a red sled

2. The define form
How is the definite form created? Can you make it a definite form ending? Then it is one word:

“Fuldmånen” = The full moon
“Rødkælken” = The robin

However, If the definite article is created in the front of the word, then it is two words:

“Den fulde måne” = The drunken moon
“Den røde kælk” = The red sled