Skål: how to say cheers in Danish

Skål is how you say cheers in Danish: Skål! It sounds like “skawl”, with the vowel from British “saw”. The word also means a bowl, and that is where the toast comes from, not from skulls. Tap any word to hear it.

What does skål mean?

Skål has two meanings in Danish. As an everyday word it is a bowl: en skål, a bowl, en skål med chips, a bowl of crisps. When you raise your glass and say it alone, it means cheers. Swedish and Norwegian use the same word, written the same way.

• Skål!Cheers!
• en skåla bowl
• Kan du sende skålen?Can you pass the bowl?

The old word behind both is the Old Norse skál, a bowl. The usual explanation is that people once filled a shared bowl with beer and passed it round at feasts, so drinking “the bowl” became drinking to each other.

How is skål pronounced?

Say “skawl” in one syllable. Three things make it sound Danish:

1. The å is the round, open vowel in British “saw” or “law”. It does not glide into a “w” like English “oh”. The guide to å has more words with the same sound.
2. The k is soft. After s, a Danish k loses its puff of air, so sk sounds close to “sg”.
3. The l is clear, made with the tip of the tongue, not the dark l at the end of English “ball”.

Danes say it short and warm, often with a smile, and the whole table says it at the same time. Listen, then say it with the audio a few times: skål.

Is it skol or skål?

In Danish it is always skål, with the letter å. “Skol” and “skoal” are English spellings, used for example by the Minnesota Vikings and in some brand names. They come from the same Scandinavian word, but they are not how it is written in Denmark, and if you say “skoll” with a short English o, it will not sound Danish. If your keyboard has no å, you can write skaal, the old spelling; Danes will read it the same way.

Icelandic writes skál, with an accent instead of a ring. That is the “Skál” you see in some English articles, and it is the form closest to the old Norse word.

The eye-contact rule

This is the part dictionaries leave out, and Danes notice it. When you say skål, you look the people around the table in the eyes. Raise your glass, look at the others, say skål, drink, and many people look at each other once more before they put the glass down. Looking at your glass or at the ceiling while you toast feels a little rude.

At a dinner the host often makes the first toast, so wait before you drink. If you are not drinking alcohol, raise your glass of water or juice and say skål anyway. Nobody minds what is in the glass; they mind if you do not join in.

Phrases for a toast

You only really need skål. These are the ones you will hear around it, at a birthday, a wedding or a julefrokost.

The verb is at skåle, to toast: Vi skålede for Anna. We drank a toast to Anna. Do not mix up skål with skal, shall: skal has a short a, skål has the round å.

Did Vikings drink from skulls?

No. The story that skål comes from “skull”, because Vikings drank from the skulls of their enemies, is a popular myth. The word comes from the word for a bowl, and there is no good evidence for the skulls. The myth may come from an old mistranslation of a Norse poem, where the “branches of the skull” meant a drinking horn, but the details are disputed. The Danish word for skull is something else entirely: et kranie.

There is also no evidence that Vikings shouted “Skål!” as a battle cry. That comes from films and football.

Questions people ask

What do Danes say before drinking?

Skål! and they look each other in the eyes. At a dinner, wait for the host’s first toast.

What is the difference between skol and skål?

Skål is the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian spelling. Skol is an English spelling of the same word. In Denmark you write and say skål.

Do you say skål when someone sneezes?

No. When someone sneezes, you say prosit. Skål is only for a raised glass.

Can I say skål with a coffee?

People do it as a joke, and that is fine. The real toast is with a glass, at a meal or a party.

Practise the dinner, not just the word

A toast is one moment in a longer evening. Danes also thank for the meal and for the time together, so learn tak for mad and tak for i dag along with skål. In the free course, the conversation “Svigerforældrene” in the topic about introducing yourself takes you through a whole dinner with your partner’s parents: you say skål, tak for mad and tak for i dag, and you hear what they say back. More everyday phrases are in the Danish phrases guide.