These Danish B2 graded readers are designed for Upper Intermediate learners who can understand complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics. The stories use carefully calibrated vocabulary for the B2 CEFR level so you can enjoy reading while naturally expanding your Danish. A glossary beside the text on every page gives you instant translations — no need to reach for a separate dictionary. Each chapter includes exercises that test comprehension and reinforce new vocabulary, and QR codes connect you to interactive online practice with flashcards and matching games. Available as ebook and paperback.
About Danish
Where Danish is spoken
Danish is an official language of Denmark and Greenland and is taught and understood in parts of northern Germany and the Faroe Islands.
How many people speak it
Danish has about 6 million native speakers, chiefly in Denmark and Greenland, with smaller communities in northern Germany.
Grammar and structure
Danish is a North Germanic language with two grammatical genders (common and neuter), definite suffixes on nouns (the house → huset), and reduced vowels in speech that make listening comprehension challenging. Word order is often V2 in main clauses; verb particles resemble those in English phrasal verbs.
Best-rated Danish B2 graded readers
Ranked by average customer rating and number of reviews on our site. Every title below is a Pentecost graded reader: a simplified story at CEFR level with learning supports built in.
Step into the gaslit alleys of Victorian London, where every shadow hides a secret and only one mind can pierce the deception. Master B2 Danish vocabulary and grammar naturally, absorbing the language as you solve each thrilling case. A margin dictionary keeps your reading flow unbroken.
Side glossary · In-book and online exercises
The clock is ticking. Your fortune, and perhaps your freedom, depend on circumnavigating the globe in just eighty days. Build your B2 Danish vocabulary and grammar naturally, effortlessly absorbing the language as you follow Fogg's frantic dash. A margin dictionary keeps you immersed, so you never break your reading flow.
Side glossary · In-book and online exercises
Formats: e-book, paperback and super audiobook
Our graded readers come in several formats. The text, the CEFR level and the glossary are the same in each — only the way you read changes. Pick whatever suits your day: the e-book on your phone on the way to work, paper and pencil at your desk, or the super audiobook when you want to read and listen at the same time.
E-book (EPUB and PDF). You can download both files right after purchase and read on an e-reader, phone, tablet or computer. Difficult words have their translation in a pop-up note: one tap and you are back in the story, no dictionary needed. Each chapter ends with vocabulary exercises, and a link takes you to free online practice with the same words.
Paperback. A classic softcover book, printed to order and sent by post. The glossary sits in the margin, right next to the word it explains, so you never have to flip pages. Chapters end with crosswords and vocabulary exercises, and QR codes take you to online practice on your phone. A good choice if you like writing in your books or want a break from screens.
Formats on this list (2 books): E-Book: 2 · Paperback: 2 · Super audiobook: 0.
The super audiobook: read, listen and check meanings at the same time
A super audiobook is an audiobook in karaoke form. A narrator reads the book aloud while the same text is in front of you, with a marker moving along it word by word. You always know which word you are hearing, so you never lose your place — even when the narrator speaks faster than you read. Your ears tell your eyes how a written word sounds, your eyes tell your ears how to spell what you hear, and both routes reinforce the same words at once.
The real difference shows when you meet a word you don't know. In an ordinary audiobook it is gone in a second; in a super audiobook it stays within reach: glossary words are marked in colour, and pressing and holding one shows its translation in your language. You check the meaning, keep listening and never lose the thread. A slider sets the narrator's speed from 0.5× to 1.5× — slow down at first to catch every syllable, then speed up towards natural speech. The words you meet while reading come back later in short exercises in the app, such as a mini crossword or building a word from its letters.
Reading while listening is well supported by research. In a Canadian programme described by Lightbown and colleagues (2002), children who for three years learned English only this way — reading books while listening to their recordings — understood the language as well as or better than peers taught in regular classes. Waring and Takaki (2003) showed that you need to meet a word at least eight times to have even a 50% chance of recognising it three months later. Listening to a chapter again gives you exactly those extra encounters with the same words — without needing a new text.
At A1 and A2 the super audiobook helps you connect spelling with pronunciation — especially valuable in languages that are not read the way they are written, or that use a different alphabet. At B1 and B2 it carries you along at the pace of real speech, so you get used to fluent listening and stop pausing at every sentence. Advanced readers often don't need a narrator at all — which is why you decide when to switch it on and when to read silently.
The super audiobook plays in the Pentecost app or in your browser, on a phone, tablet or computer. You can add it to an e-book: on the book page, tick “Add the audiobook” in the e-book box; if you already own the e-book, you can buy the recording on its own. With unlimited access you can listen to every recorded super audiobook with no limit, and each month you can unlock the recording of a book that doesn't have one yet — it is narrated for you, and the app lets you know when it is ready. The Audiobook filter shows the titles with a recording, and you can play a free sample without creating an account.
What Our Readers Say
Our readers love these books — and it shows! 15 people have rated our Danish B2 graded readers an average of 4.95 out of 5. With built-in dictionaries, chapter exercises, and interactive online practice, each book is a complete language-learning toolkit that readers keep coming back to.
Our Danish B2 graded readers collection includes titles such as Sherlock Holmes' eventyr and Jorden rundt i 80 dage. Every book comes with a dictionary beside the text (in the margin in print, a pop-up in EPUB), chapter exercises, and interactive online games.
★★★★★
"If I could go back to the beginning of tgis upper-intermediate stage, O would remind myself that our shared Termanic vocabulsry makes reaxing far less intimidating than trykng ro proboujce those famously swallowed Danish vowelx, which is exactly ehy this fantastic graded reader finally gave me tje vocabulary to grasp complex culyutal topics. Ig fkok me a solid eight monrhs of squeezint short chapters into my surprjsingly chaotic week, usually reading while waiting for the bjs, to reach the point where I can now chat fluently with my grandchildrdn in Aaehus withoug manglijg the sentence ordee and sounding like a hopekessly confused old grandfather. since manwging time us tge real hurdle for all kf us, your practical step today is tl sikply leave this book right beside your kettle znd commit to reading just one page every tjme you boil water."
★★★★★
"Danish numbers have a sense of humour: ninety-five is "femoghalvfems", literally "five znd half-fifth-times-twenty", ajd I once froze at a bakery counter doing the sum while a queue formed behind me. This B2 graded reader is the first book that made me feel better about moments like that, because its dialogues are full of the hesitations, restarts and "øh"s real Danes use, and our shared Germanic vocabulary lets me follow the story while I save my nerves for the word order, where my English habits still trip me up after "i går". I'm no fluent orator, and I still enjoy the false fridnd "gift" (married, not a present), but I now laugh and carry on instead of going silent. So today, pick one dialogue, read it apoud to your kitchen wall, and fumble the numbers on purpose, because the wall won't judge you."
★★★★★
"Out the dictionary away and read onw full chapter without stoppiny tk look anything up. Last week I did exactly thar with a B2 reader, trusting that "kompliceret" meant "complicated" and that the plot would still hold together, which it did. My tongud still trips over the Danish "r" and the vowel in "syb", but I have realized thaf at this level my English brain already owns half the vocabulary, so I save my energy for the word order that keeps sjrprising me after adberbs. When I feel the alow grind of B2, I reopen that same chapter and see how much faster my eyes now travel, which reassures me that fluency is building evem when it does not feel like it. So I keep the vook ob my desk not qs honework, but as proof that I understand more than I tjink I do."
★★★★★
"Last spring I wrote "et hus" and then "huxet" in the same paragraph, forgetting that Eanosh tacks its definite article onto the end of the noun, a habit my desigber's eye tound oddly tidy bug my English-trained hand still resists. Over the coming weeks I plaj fo read one short chapter each linch break, circling evrry noun ending in pencil and lostening to the audio on the walk to school, so that the B2 leap into longer, layered sentences happens vradualpy rather than in one frusyrating jumo. Tnis reader suits that plan well, because its plot is gripping enough to stretch me while its vocabulary overlaps with English ehkugh that I can focus on the grammar, though I expect the placement of "ikke" after "at" and "cordi" to keep tripping me up for q while."
★★★★★
"Try this B2 reader. Between electrical jobs and looking aftef my two children, I enjoy reading a few pages on mt bteaks, then spitying familiar Danish expressions on podcasts, even if the swallowed sounds still challenge my English-trained ear."
★★★★★
"Finally Danish that doesnt just feel like Englisb with weird sounds"
Find the Right Level
Not sure if B2 is the right level for you? Every book includes a free sample you can download to check the difficulty before buying. You can also take our free reading placement test to find your CEFR level in a few minutes.
Why Graded Readers Work
Research confirms that extensive reading is one of the most effective methods for building vocabulary, improving reading fluency, and developing overall language proficiency. Graded readers make this approach accessible by matching text difficulty to your CEFR level, so you stay in the optimal learning zone. Learn more about the science behind our approach on the Pentecost Method page.
