Learn About Verbs In Norwegian Part 3

A verb tells something about what is happening or the action taken. Associated with a verb is the tense of the verb. Norwegian verbs can use one of four tenses: presens, preteritum, futurum and perfektum.

If you are new to Norwegian verbs, please read:

1. Learn About Verbs in Norwegian Part 1
2. Learn About Verbs in Norwegian Part 2

Let us continue learning about the tenses of Norwegian verbs continuing with the futurum and perfektum.

Futurum (Future Tense)

A Norwegian verb in the futurum indicates something that will happen in the future.

Note that the futurum form is created by adding a skal before the infinitiv as below.

Infinitiv	Futurum	Example	English
å lese	skal lese	Han skal lese i morgen.	He shall read tomorrow.
å reise	skal reise	Hun skal reise om en time.	She shall travel in an hour.
å kjøpe	skal kjøpe	Jeg skal kjøpe is.	I shall buy icecream.
å lage	skal lage	Han skal lage middag.	He shall prepare dinner.
å sparke	skal sparke	De skal sparke fotball.	They shall kick football.
å gjøre	skal gjøre	Hun skal gjøre leksene sine.	She shall do her lessons.
å gå	skal gå	Vi skal gå på ski.	We shall go for skiing.

 

Perfektum (Past Tense)

A Norwegian verb in the perfektum indicates something that has happened in the past. But it is different from the preteritum that also indicates past tense. It is different because we use perfektum when we don’t tell when the action occurred.  

Note that the perfektum form is created by adding a har before the infinitiv and a t at the end as below.

Infinitiv	Perfektum	Example	English
å lese	har lest	Han har lest.	He has read.
å reise	har reist	Hun har reist.	She has travelled.
å kjøpe	har kjøpt	Jeg har kjøpt is.	I have bought.
å lage	har laget	Han har laget middag.	He has prepared dinner.
å sparke	har sparket	De har sparket fotball.	They have kicked football.
å gjøre	har gjort	Hun har gjort leksene sine.	She has done her lessons.
å gå	har gått	Vi har gått på ski.	We have gone for skiing.

 

Here are some videos to learn about verbs. More video lessons and practice tests can be found at Norwegian Class 101.