Learn How To Tell The Time in Norwegian

Probably one of the unique aspects of Norwegian is the way people tell the time. Why it is unique you will know in just a few lines. But before that some common vocabulary about time that you should know.

Norwegian	English
en dag	a day
ei natt	a night
en morgen	a morning
en kveld	an evening
ei tid	a time
en time	an hour
et minutt	a minute
ei klokke	a time

Now to the interesting part about telling the time. An important point to remember is that på means to and over means past as shown in the below examples.

Klokka	Norwegian	English
	Hva er klokka?	What is the time?
13:05	Klokka er fem over ett.	The time is five past one.
13:10	Klokka er ti over ett.	The time is ten past one.
13:15	Klokka er kvart over ett	The time is quarter past one.
13:20	Klokka er ti på halv to.	The time is ten to one thirty.
13:25	Klokka er fem på halv to.	The time is five to one thirty.
13:30	Klokka er halv to.	The time is one thirty.
13:35	Klokka er fem over halv to.	The time is five over one thirty.
13:40	Klokka er ti over halv to.	The time is ten over one thirty.
13:45	Klokka er kvart på to.	The time is quarter to two.
13:50	Klokka er ti på to.	The time is ten to two.
13:55	Klokka er fem på to.	The time is five to two.
14:00	Klokka er to.	The time is two.

Once again my clever readers, you must have noticed the phrase, halv to, is a bit weird because it translates to half two and means one thirty in English.

Here is a nice little video that will help you learn to tell the time in Norwegian. To get more such video and audio lessons, please see Norwegian Class 101.