Danish B1 level means you can get through daily life in Danish on your own: you follow clear speech about work, school and free time, deal with most situations in shops and offices, and explain your opinions in simple connected sentences. The exam that proves it is Prøve i Dansk 2, which the Danish rules link to B1, and it is the language test Denmark asks for when you apply for permanent residence. From a solid A2, expect roughly 150 to 220 hours of study.
What can you do at Danish B1 level?
At B1 you are what the CEFR calls an independent user. In Danish that means you can call the doctor's office, follow a team meeting if people speak clearly, write to your landlord and tell a colleague about your weekend in some detail. You will still miss things in fast speech: written Danish looks close to Norwegian, but spoken Danish swallows consonants and runs words together, so listening lags behind.
What a B1 learner of Danish usually controls:
- Word order. The verb comes second in a main clause, so after a time word the subject moves: I morgen skal jeg arbejde (tomorrow I have to work). In a subordinate clause, ikke moves in front of the verb: fordi jeg ikke har tid (because I don't have time).
- The past tenses, including irregular verbs such as gå, gik, gået, and the perfect with er for movement: Hun er rejst hjem (she has gone home).
- The passive on signs and in the news: Billetter kan købes i automaten (tickets can be bought from the machine), Vejen blev lukket (the road was closed).
- Danish numbers. Halvtreds (50), tres (60), halvfjerds (70) and halvfems (90) come out without stopping to calculate.
Typical sentences at this level:
| Danish | English |
|---|---|
| Jeg har boet i Aarhus i to år, og jeg er ved at vænne mig til vejret. | I've lived in Aarhus for two years, and I'm getting used to the weather. |
| Kan du forklare, hvorfor toget er forsinket? | Can you explain why the train is late? |
| Hvis jeg havde mere tid, ville jeg tage på højskole. | If I had more time, I would go to a folk high school. |
| Jeg synes, at vi skulle mødes efter arbejde i stedet. | I think we should meet after work instead. |
Which exam proves Danish B1?
Prøve i Dansk 2 is the B1 exam. Under the Danish executive order on these tests, its written part relates to B1 and its oral part to B1+ (BEK nr. 1687 of 16 December 2025, in force as of October 2026).
| Exam | Who runs it | Level | CEFR link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prøve i Dansk 1 | Danish education for adult foreigners, rules set by the Ministry of Immigration and Integration | Written A1, oral A2+ | Official |
| Prøve i Dansk 2 | Same system | Written B1, oral B1+ | Official |
| Prøve i Dansk 3 | Same system | B2, written and oral | Official |
| Studieprøven | Same system | C1, written and oral | Official |
All four cover reading, writing and spoken communication, with listening inside the oral part, and you can sign up as a course participant or as a self-study candidate. Residence needs Prøve i Dansk 2; citizenship and study point higher.
Danish A2 vs B1: what changes?
A2 gets you through routine exchanges. B1 keeps a conversation going when it leaves the script. The milestones:
- From present to past. At A2 you mostly say what you do. At B1 you tell what happened, you pick between gik and har gået without hesitating, and irregular forms such as var and havde come out on their own.
- From short sentences to linked ones. You add fordi, selvom, når, hvis and mens, and you get the ikke placement right inside those clauses.
- Adjectives with the definite form. It is huset (the house) but det store hus (the big house): as soon as an adjective appears, the article moves to the front. B1 learners make that switch automatically.
- Sin or hans. Han kører i sin bil means he drives his own car; Han kører i hans bil means he drives another man's car. A small word with a big difference.
- New areas of vocabulary. You move from personal life to society: housing, health, jobs, the municipality (kommunen) and the tax card (skattekort).
