fra: From | Norwegian Grammar

Good news for once: fra maps almost perfectly onto English "from." It marks spatial origin (jeg er fra Norge), source and sender (et brev fra mor), the starting point of a time span (fra mandag), and the second half of countless phrases pairs with til in the fra … til frame. There is very little idiomatic residue here — fra is one of the easiest prepositions in the language. This page reassures you of that while drilling the one frame worth automating (fra … til) and the one distinction worth nailing (fra vs av).

Spatial origin: "from"

fra marks where someone or something comes from — the place of origin, the point you started from:

Hun kommer fra Oslo, men bor i Tromsø nå.

She's from Oslo but lives in Tromsø now.

Jeg er fra Norge — hvor er du fra?

I'm from Norway — where are you from?

Toget går fra spor 3.

The train leaves from platform 3.

Han ringte meg fra flyplassen.

He called me from the airport.

For "from" with country and place names specifically, see Coming From Countries — but the rule is simply fra + the place name, no surprises: fra Sverige, fra Bergen, fra fjellet.

Source and sender: "from"

fra introduces the source or sender of something received — a letter, a gift, a message, information:

Det kom et brev fra mor i dag.

A letter came from Mum today.

Jeg fikk en hyggelig melding fra sjefen.

I got a nice message from the boss.

Denne osten er fra en liten gård på Vestlandet.

This cheese is from a small farm in the west.

Time: the starting point of a span

fra marks when a span begins — English "from / starting":

Den nye prisen gjelder fra mandag.

The new price applies from Monday.

Jeg er på ferie fra og med neste uke.

I'm on holiday from next week (onwards).

Note the very common fixed phrase fra og med ("from and including / as of"), and its partner til og med ("up to and including"). These pin the inclusive edges of a range and appear constantly in dates, schedules, and rules:

Kontoret er stengt fra og med 1. juli til og med 15. juli.

The office is closed from 1 July through 15 July (inclusive).

The fra … til frame

The construction worth drilling until it is automatic is fra … til — a span with a start and an end, in both space and time. This is the single most useful fra pattern:

Butikken er åpen fra ni til fem.

The shop is open from nine to five.

Vi gikk fra huset til stranda på ti minutter.

We walked from the house to the beach in ten minutes.

Han jobbet hardt fra morgen til kveld.

He worked hard from morning till night.

Avstanden fra Oslo til Bergen er rundt 460 kilometer.

The distance from Oslo to Bergen is around 460 kilometres.

For the til half of this frame in detail, see til: To, Until, Of, For.

fra vs av: keep "from" and "of/by" apart

The one distinction that trips English speakers is fra vs av. Both can touch the English word "from," but they cover different ground:

fra = origin / source / a point you move away from. ("I'm from Norway.")
av = "of / made of / by (an agent)." ("a kilo of sugar," "a book by Ibsen," "made of wood").

So "I am from Norway" is jeg er fra Norge — never av Norge. But "a play by Ibsen" is et skuespill av Ibsen — not fra Ibsen (which would mean a physical object sent from him). Compare:

Dette brevet er fra Ibsen.

This letter is from Ibsen. (he sent it — source)

Dette stykket er av Ibsen.

This play is by Ibsen. (he authored it — agent)

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Litmus test: if English would use "from" (origin, sender, starting point), use fra. If English would use "of," "made of," or "by (someone who created it)", use av. See av for the full range of av.

"Away from" and separation

fra also expresses moving or being away from something — often reinforced by borte ("away") or vekk:

Hold deg vekk fra kanten!

Stay away from the edge!

Han har vært borte fra jobb i en uke.

He's been away from work for a week.

Common Mistakes

The errors here are few, because fra is so regular: using av for origin, confusing fra with for, and dropping the inclusive og med where a rule needs it.

❌ Jeg er av Norge.

Incorrect — origin is fra, not av.

✅ Jeg er fra Norge.

I'm from Norway.

❌ Toget går for spor 3.

Wrong preposition — 'from a platform' is fra.

✅ Toget går fra spor 3.

The train leaves from platform 3.

❌ Denne boka er fra Ibsen.

Wrong sense — authorship is av; fra would mean Ibsen mailed it to you.

✅ Denne boka er av Ibsen.

This book is by Ibsen.

❌ Kontoret er stengt fra 1. til 15. juli — og den 15.?

Ambiguous — does it include the 15th? Use 'fra og med … til og med'.

✅ Kontoret er stengt fra og med 1. til og med 15. juli.

The office is closed from the 1st through the 15th (inclusive).

Key takeaways

fra = "from": spatial origin (fra Norge), source/sender (et brev fra mor), the start of a time span (fra mandag).
The fra … til frame ("from … to") is the highest-value pattern — drill it for both place and time.
fra og med / til og med mark inclusive edges of a range.
Keep fra ("from": origin/source) apart from av ("of / by": material or agent). "From Norway" is fra Norge; "by Ibsen" is av Ibsen.
fra is one of the most regular prepositions — almost no idiom to memorise.

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