Past tense (preteritum)
Use preteritum for things that happened at a specific time in the past.
We teach BokmÄl, the written standard most people in Norway use.
What is this about?
The past is everything that has already happened: yesterday, last year, when you were a child. When you tell someone about your weekend or your life before Norway, you need a verb form that shows the action is finished and behind us.
Norwegian has two common past forms. Preteritum is the simple past, used when you say or know when it happened: «Jeg jobbet i gÄr» (I worked yesterday), «Vi spiste pizza pÄ lÞrdag» (We ate pizza on Saturday). The perfect, «har jobbet» (have worked), is used when the exact time doesn't matter, that has its own lesson. Here we look at preteritum. Most verbs add an ending like -et or -te, but some important ones change their vowel: «gÄ, gikk» (go, went), «vÊre, var» (be, was).
This is very close to English: «I worked yesterday» versus «I have worked», and English has strong verbs like go, went, too. One big bonus in Norwegian: the form is the same for every person, «jeg var, du var, vi var». You'll use preteritum every Monday, when colleagues ask «Hva gjorde du i helgen?» (What did you do at the weekend?).
Rules
- Group 1 (-et): Ă„ jobbe â jobbet (worked).
- Group 2 (-te): Ă„ spise â spiste (ate).
- Groups 3â4 (-de, -dde): Ă„ prĂžve â prĂžvde (tried), Ă„ bo â bodde (lived).
- Strong verbs change the vowel and must be learned: Ă„ gĂ„ â gikk, Ă„ vĂŠre â var, Ă„ ha â hadde.
- Like the present tense, the form is the same for all persons.
Examples
- I gÄr jobbet jeg til klokka fem.Yesterday I worked until five o'clock.
- Vi bodde i Bergen i to Ă„r.We lived in Bergen for two years.
- Hun gikk til butikken.She went to the shop.
- Forrige uke var jeg hos legen med sĂžnnen min.Last week I was at the doctor's with my son.
- Vi spiste middag og sÄ pÄ TV.We had dinner and watched TV.
- Toget var forsinket, sÄ jeg kom for sent pÄ jobb.The train was delayed, so I was late for work.
- I sommer leide vi ei hytte i Lofoten.This summer we rented a cabin in Lofoten.
- Maria sendte sÞknaden til NAV i gÄr kveld.Maria sent the application to NAV last night.