Time Conjunctions: når, da, mens, før, etter at

Norwegian has a rich set of conjunctions for locating one event in time relative to another — when, while, before, after, since, until. The tricky part for English speakers is not the vocabulary; it is that the single English word when splits into two Norwegian words, når and da, along a past/non-past line that English simply does not draw. Get that split right and the rest of the time conjunctions fall into place. Every conjunction on this page triggers subordinate word order, so the sentence adverb ikke lands before the finite verb — see the subordinating overview for the master rule.

The core split: når vs da

This is the single most error-prone pair in intermediate Norwegian. Both translate as English when, but they divide the labour:

• da — when, for one single completed event or period in the past. It points at a specific moment that happened once: that time.
• når — when, for everything else: the present, the future, and repeated or habitual past events (whenever).

The rule in one line: da for a single completed past, når for everything else. There is no equivalent split in English, which is exactly why this is a top intermediate error — English when covers both and gives you no signal which to pick.

This is one completed past event — getting home yesterday, that one time — so it must be da.

Here when means every time, a habit, so it is når even though it can describe the past as a routine.

"When I was little" is one continuous past period — a single stretch of your childhood — so it takes da, never når. Writing når jeg var liten is the classic English-speaker mistake.

Future reference always takes når.

For a deeper drill on this pair, see når vs da. Note that da also lives a second life as a sentence-final pragmatic particle (Kom igjen, da!) — that is a different word, covered under the particle da.

mens — while

mens marks two things happening at the same time. It works in any tense, and like every subordinator it puts ikke before the verb.

Notice mens du ikke ser — adverb before verb, the subordinate order. mens can also carry a contrastive "whereas" flavour, exactly like English while: Jeg liker te, mens hun liker kaffe (I like tea, while she likes coffee).

før — before, og etter at — after

før (before) and etter at (after) bracket an event in sequence. Two spelling and structure points matter here:

• før is written with ø, not o. The preposition and the conjunction are the same word.
• etter at is a two-word subordinator. As a plain preposition before a noun you use etter alone (etter middagen, after dinner), but to introduce a clause you need the full etter at (etter at vi hadde spist, after we had eaten). Dropping the at is a common slip.

Word order inside a før-clause behaves like any subordinate clause — if there is an ikke, it sits before the verb: Ikke ring meg før du er framme keeps the simple clause, but Vent her til du ikke ser bussen lenger shows du ikke ser, adverb before verb.

siden — since, ettersom — as

siden means since in the temporal sense — from a past point up to now. (It also has a causal sense, "since/seeing as," covered on the cause and reason page; context tells them apart.) ettersom can be temporal "as" but is more often causal.

Again, inside the clause: siden vi ikke har sett — adverb before verb.

til / inntil — until, idet — just as, så snart (som) — as soon as

A few more temporal subordinators round out the set:

• til / inntil — until. til is the everyday form; inntil is a touch more formal/written.
• idet — just as, at the very moment (slightly literary).
• så snart (som) — as soon as. The som is optional.

Fronted time clauses force inversion of the main verb

When a time clause comes first, two word-order facts stack up. Inside the time clause you have subordinate order (adverb before verb). In the main clause that follows, the time clause has filled the opening slot (the fundament), so the main verb must invert and come before its subject — exactly as in the Da jeg kom hjem i går, spiste jeg example above.

Trace it: Da vi endelig kom fram (the time clause fills the fundament), then var det (verb before subject). The English keeps subject-then-verb ("it was already dark"), so English speakers routinely forget to invert and write ...det var allerede mørkt. The Norwegian must be var det. See subordinate clauses for the full mechanics.

Common Mistakes

This is the når/da error. "When I was little" is one past period, so it must be da. English when gives no clue, so English speakers default to når for everything.

da is past-only. Anything present or future is når.

Bare etter takes a noun (etter konserten); to introduce a clause you need etter at.

Every subordinator triggers subordinate order: mens hun ikke spiste, not spiste ikke.

The fronted da-clause fills the fundament, so the main verb gikk must precede jeg.

Key Takeaways

• da = when for one single completed past event or period; når = when for present, future, and repeated/habitual past.
• The line in one sentence: da for a single completed past, når for everything else — English draws no such line.
• før is spelled with ø; etter at is a two-word subordinator (a clause needs the at).
• mens (while), siden (since), til/inntil (until), idet (just as), så snart som (as soon as) round out the set.
• Every time conjunction triggers subordinate order: ikke before the verb (mens jeg ikke var der).
• A fronted time clause inverts the main verb (Da jeg kom, var det mørkt).