Perfect Progressive - Danish Grammar

Perfect Progressive (also known as Perfect Continuous) is a grammatical aspect used in Danish to describe actions or events that started in the past and continued up until a specific point in time or are still in progress. This aspect is formed by combining the auxiliary verb “at være” (to be) in present tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb and the present participle ending “-ende” or “-ende” to indicate ongoing action. For example, “Jeg har været at læse en bog i to timer” (I have been reading a book for two hours) or “Vi har været arbejde på projektet hele ugen” (We have been working on the project all week).

The perfect progressive aspect is commonly used to emphasize the duration or ongoing nature of an action or event. It is often used in combination with time expressions such as “i lang tid” (for a long time), “hele dagen” (all day), or “indtil nu” (until now). It is important to note that the perfect progressive aspect is not used as frequently in Danish as it is in English.