Progressive Aspect
The progressive aspect describes something that is happening over an extended period of time, e.g.: I’m sleeping. or I was reading a book. The progressive aspect is also often used when another action interrupts an on-going event, e.g.: I was eating when a ninja appeared in the window.

In Danish we do not have a specific conjugation of the verb to express this, as some other languages do. Instead we have a number of different constructs used in expressing on-going events.

Står/Sidder/Ligger/Går og …

Danes often use either one of the verbs står, sidder, ligger and går together with the verb that describes the thing we are also doing to express that we do it right now. For example:

Jeg sidder og læser. = literally I’m sitting and reading

Han står og snakker. = literally He’s standing and talking.

De ligger og sover. = literally They’re lying and sleeping.

You will often see that the word lige is added after the first verb:

Jeg sidder lige og læser.

Han står lige og snakker.

De ligger lige og sover.

The adding of lige is sometimes unimportant, but it can also change the meaning from something being done in the present to that someone is busy doing something and must not be interrupted. You will have to judge this by the situation. For example:

Må jeg spørge om noget? = May ask (about) something?
Nej, jeg sidder lige og læser. = No, I'm busy reading.

Hvad laver du? = What are you doing?
Jeg sidder lige og læser. = I'm reading.

I gang med, i færd med and at være ved noget

The best translation for these three phrases would be either in the midst of or to add -ing to the verb stem. They all mean the same, but i gang med and at være ved noget is used more often both in written and spoken language whereas i færd med occurs less often – you are most likely to find this phrase in Danish literature.

Here are a few examples to help you understand the phrases better:

Jeg er i gang med at lave mad means either I’m cooking food or I’m in the midst of cooking food.

Han var i færd med at undervise børnene means either he was teaching the children or he was in the midst of teaching the children.

Jeg er ved at tænde lysene means either I’m lighting the candles. or I’m in the midst of lighting the candles.

Please note that at være ved at is a little different from i gang med and i færd med -- it can also mean to be about to something as seen in these examples below:

Jeg er lige ved at forstå. = I’m just about to understand.

Jeg er ved at være færdig. = I’m about to be done.

Være ved at blive

Means is about to become, becoming or in the midst of becoming – sometimes it can mean all three things at once!

Det er ved at blive mørkt. = It’s getting dark.

Det er lige ved at blive mørkt. = It’s just about to become dark.

Han er ved at blive en mand. = He is becoming a man or he is in the midst of becoming a man.

Vi er ved at blive gamle. = We are getting old.

Don’t worry too much about that weird little word lige. There is no accurate translation and the meaning will change according to the sentence’s structure and the situation. This is one of the queer things of the Danish language, that you can only come to understand with time.

This was just about everything you had to know about the Danish progressive actions. We hope it wasn’t too confusing. Good luck with it!