Spise

Spise is a verb in Danish and Norwegian that means to eat. It is used to describe the act of consuming food and appears in discussions of meals, cooking, and eating habits. In Danish, the infinitive is written as spise (with the particle at, as in at spise). In Norwegian Bokmål, the infinitive is å spise. The Swedish language uses a different verb, äta, and does not use spise in standard form.

In Danish and Norwegian, the verb forms change with person and tense. The present tense is spiser (we/you eat). The past tense is spiste (ate), and the past participle is spist (eaten), used with have/had to form perfect tenses, for example, jeg har spist (I have eaten). The imperative form is spis (eat!), used for giving a direct command. Common derived phrases include spise sammen (eat together), spise ude (eat out), og at spise frokost eller aftensmad (to eat lunch or dinner).

Usage notes and variation: While spises phenomena share close meaning across Danish and Norwegian, there are regional differences in meal terminology. Danish uses frokost for lunch and aftensmad for dinner, whereas Norwegian variants vary by dialect, with middag and lunsj being common in some regions. The verb is often used with meal nouns to specify what is eaten, for example, hvad skal vi spise? (what should we eat?) and jeg har spist aftensmad (I have eaten dinner).

Etymology and relatives: Spise derives from North Germanic roots shared with cognate verbs in Danish and Norwegian. It is related to other words for eating across related languages and has cognates in older Scandinavian and Germanic forms.