Norwegian grammar guide

Norwegian Past Tense Exercises

Review regular and irregular past-tense verbs through ten graded English–Norwegian sentence examples.

3 clear rules · 10 bilingual examples · Free to read

How the Norwegian past tense works

Use preteritum for completed actions and past situations. Weak verbs take a past ending; strong and irregular verbs must be learned as forms.

1
Recognize common weak endings
Regular verbs commonly form the past with -et, -te, -de, or -dde, depending on the verb stem.
Hun jobbet. Vi kjøpte.
She worked. We bought.
2
Learn strong forms in context
Strong verbs often change their vowel and do not follow a single ending rule.
Han gikk hjem. Vi drakk kaffe.
He went home. We drank coffee.
3
Keep the same word-order patterns
Use ikke after the finite verb in statements and start yes/no questions with the finite verb.
Hun kom ikke. Kom hun?
She did not come. Did she come?

Common mistake: English uses “did” in past questions and negatives. Norwegian does not: the main verb itself stays in the past form.

Read each sentence in English, then compare the Norwegian.

Example 1 · Daily lifeBasic
I liked coffee.
Jeg likte kaffe.
Example 2 · Daily lifeBasic
We did not drink coffee.
Vi drakk ikke kaffe.
Example 3 · WorkBasic
Did he walk to work?
Gikk han til jobb?
Example 4 · WorkBasic
You spoke with the boss about the report.
Du snakket med sjefen om rapporten.
Example 5 · WorkIntermediate
You did not know that the boss came to the meeting.
Du visste ikke at sjefen kom til møtet.
Example 6 · WorkIntermediate
Did she ask the boss about the new report yesterday?
Spurte hun sjefen om den nye rapporten i går?
Example 7 · SocialIntermediate
She visited her friends in the large apartment in the centre last weekend.
Hun besøkte vennene sine i den store leiligheten i sentrum forrige helg.
Example 8 · WorkIntermediate
They did not meet the new client at the office to talk about the important project yesterday.
De møtte ikke den nye kunden på kontoret for å snakke om det viktige prosjektet i går.
Example 9 · WorkAdvanced
Did they understand that the boss wanted the team to work with the client?
Forsto de at sjefen ville at teamet skulle jobbe med kunden?
Example 10 · WorkAdvanced
She was at the office all day because the team worked on an important report.
Hun var på kontoret hele dagen fordi teamet jobbet med en viktig rapport.

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