Once you can handle the basic time prepositions, the next layer is about scheduling precisely — and that requires a few words English doesn't have clean equivalents for. The star of this page is innen, "by [a deadline]," which English needs a whole different word ("by") for and which contrasts sharply with i (how long something lasts) and om (a point in the future). Around it sit ved (a precise point on the clock), i løpet av and under ("during / in the course of"), and the duration-versus-completion contrast between i and på in its trickier cases. For the foundational i/på/om/ved system, see i vs på vs om: Time; this page extends it into the deadline-and-duration cases that matter when you actually plan things.
The three things a time phrase can express
The whole system becomes manageable once you sort every time phrase into one of three questions:
- How long? (duration) → i (i tre timer)
- Within what span / by when? → på (completion) or innen (deadline)
- At / around what point? → ved, klokka, or om (future point)
Get the question right and the preposition follows. The errors below are almost all cases of asking the wrong question.
i — duration ("for")
i answers "how long?". It marks the stretch of time an action lasts — English "for" (which you must not translate as Norwegian for).
Vi satt og ventet i over en time.
We sat waiting for over an hour.
Han har vært sykmeldt i tre uker nå.
He's been on sick leave for three weeks now.
Jeg har ikke sett henne på årevis.
I haven't seen her in years. (negated — see på below)
That last example flags an important quirk: under negation, "in years / in ages" flips to på, not i — ikke … på årevis, ikke … på lenge ("not for a long time"). This is a fixed pattern worth memorising.
på — named days, completion-within, and negated duration
på has three time jobs at this level. Named days (på mandag) you already know. The two advanced ones are completion-within and negated duration.
Completion-within answers "within what span did the whole thing get done?" — English "in" in the sense of "I did it in two days":
De pusset opp hele leiligheten på to dager.
They renovated the whole flat in two days. (completed within)
Hun løp maratonet på under fire timer.
She ran the marathon in under four hours.
And the negated-duration pattern noted above:
Vi har ikke vært på kino på flere måneder.
We haven't been to the cinema in months.
So i to dager (it lasted two days) vs på to dager (it took two days to finish) vs ikke på to dager (not for two days). The completion/duration split is the same one English draws with "in" vs "for," but the negation flip to på is purely Norwegian.
om — future point and habitual
om answers "at what point in the future?" (om en uke = a week from now) and marks habitual periods (om kvelden = in the evenings). Both are covered fully on the om page, but they belong in the system here:
Søknadsfristen åpner om to uker.
The application window opens in two weeks.
Vi pleier å gå turer om kvelden.
We usually go for walks in the evening(s).
innen — "by" a deadline (the one with no English single word)
innen is the prize of this page. It means "by / no later than" a deadline, or "within" a period seen as a window with an endpoint. English splits this across "by" and "within," and learners who only know i and på have no way to say it precisely.
Søknaden må være levert innen fredag.
The application must be submitted by Friday.
Kan du svare innen utgangen av dagen?
Can you reply by the end of the day?
Vi må bestemme oss innen en uke.
We have to decide within a week. (deadline: no later than a week from now)
The contrast that makes innen indispensable: i en uke = "for a week" (it lasts a week), om en uke = "in a week" (a week from now, a point), but innen en uke = "within a week / by a week from now" (a deadline you must beat). Three different ideas, three different prepositions:
Jeg er på ferie i en uke.
I'm on holiday for a week. (duration — i)
Jeg drar på ferie om en uke.
I'm going on holiday in a week. (future point — om)
Jeg må bli ferdig innen en uke.
I have to finish within a week / by a week from now. (deadline — innen)
ved — a precise point ("at / around")
ved pins a moment to a salient point — midnight, noon, dawn, lunchtime — translating English "at" or "around":
Vi møtes ved lunsjtid.
Let's meet around lunchtime.
Toget kommer ved midnatt.
The train arrives at midnight.
Han ringte ved totiden.
He called around two-ish.
For ordinary clock times, Norwegians use klokka (klokka tre = "at three o'clock"), reserving ved for "around/at" a notable point. Don't use klokka before a noun like midnatt — that's ved.
i løpet av and under — "during / in the course of"
For "during a period" or "in the course of," Norwegian has two main options. i løpet av = "in the course of / over the span of" (something happening at some point within the period); under = "during" (something running through or coinciding with the period, especially events):
Jeg skal rydde litt i løpet av uka.
I'll tidy up a bit over the course of the week. (at some point within)
Det skjedde mye i løpet av de siste månedene.
A lot happened over the last few months.
Mobilen må være avslått under forestillingen.
Phones must be off during the performance.
Vi ble kjent under studietiden.
We got to know each other during our student years.
Rough split: under for a named event or stretch you were inside (the performance, the war, the trip); i løpet av for "somewhere within this span," often with a sense of accumulation or eventual completion.
fra … til, mellom, etter, før
Rounding out the system: fra … til spans start to end, mellom sits between two points, and etter / før order events ("after / before"):
Kontoret er bemannet fra ni til tre.
The office is staffed from nine to three.
Ring meg gjerne mellom to og fire.
Feel free to call me between two and four.
Vi tar en kaffe etter møtet.
Let's grab a coffee after the meeting.
Quick reference
| Question | Preposition | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| How long? (duration) | i | i tre timer | for three hours |
| Completed within? | på | på to dager | in two days |
| Not for (negated) | på | ikke på årevis | not in years |
| Future point | om | om en uke | in a week |
| By a deadline | innen | innen fredag | by Friday |
| At a salient point | ved | ved midnatt | at midnight |
| Over the course of | i løpet av | i løpet av uka | during the week |
| During an event | under | under møtet | during the meeting |
Common Mistakes
The traps: using i where innen (deadline) is needed, treating innen like om, and using klokka where ved belongs.
❌ Jeg leverer oppgaven i fredag.
Wrong — 'by Friday' (deadline) is innen fredag; 'i fredag' isn't a valid deadline phrase.
✅ Jeg leverer oppgaven innen fredag.
I'll hand in the assignment by Friday.
❌ Vi må bestemme oss om en uke, ellers mister vi plassen.
Wrong sense — 'om en uke' = a week from now (a point); a deadline you must beat is innen.
✅ Vi må bestemme oss innen en uke, ellers mister vi plassen.
We have to decide within a week, or we lose the spot.
❌ Vi møtes klokka midnatt.
Incorrect — for 'at midnight' use ved, not klokka.
✅ Vi møtes ved midnatt.
We're meeting at midnight.
❌ Han løp maratonet i fire timer.
Wrong sense — this says he ran for four hours (duration); completion uses på.
✅ Han løp maratonet på fire timer.
He ran the marathon in four hours. (completed within)
❌ Jeg har ikke vært der i flere år.
Incorrect — negated duration ('in years') flips to på.
✅ Jeg har ikke vært der på flere år.
I haven't been there in years.
Key takeaways
- Sort every phrase by question: how long (i), within/by (på completion / innen deadline), at what point (ved, om, klokka).
- innen = "by / within a deadline" — no single English word; contrast i (duration), om (future point), innen (deadline).
- Negated "in years/ages" flips to på: ikke på årevis, ikke på lenge.
- ved for salient points (ved midnatt); klokka for ordinary clock times.
- under = during an event you're inside; i løpet av = over the course of a span. Note i løpet av with ø.
Now practice Norwegian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- i vs på vs om: TimeA2 — The full systematic range of time prepositions — i (duration, this-period, years), på (named days, completion-within), om (future, habitual times of day), plus ved and for…siden — with the duration-vs-completion trap.
- Time Adverbs: nå, da, snart, allerede, ennåA2 — The Norwegian temporal adverbs — nå/da (now/then), allerede vs. ennå (already vs. still/yet), fortsatt, snart, straks — and the tense pairings English speakers must relearn.
- Compound and Complex PrepositionsB2 — Norway's multi-word prepositions — på grunn av, i stedet for, ved hjelp av, i forhold til, med hensyn til, til tross for, på vegne av, i løpet av, ut fra, når det gjelder, i tillegg til — their fixed structure, noun objects, formal register, and the klarspråk caution against overusing i forhold til.
- fra: FromA2 — fra cleanly means 'from' — spatial origin (fra Norge), source and sender (et brev fra mor), the start of a time span (fra mandag), and the fra…til frame — with a clear contrast to av.
- til: To, Until, Of, ForA2 — til covers direction (til Oslo), the everyday spoken possessive (boka til Kari), time limits (til klokka tre), recipients (en gave til mor), and a set of fixed phrases — with the noun-form rules English speakers miss.
- om: About, In (future), If/WhetherB1 — The preposition om does triple duty — topic ('about', en bok om Norge), future and habitual time ('in', om en time / om morgenen), and the embedded-question subordinator ('whether', jeg vet ikke om han kommer) — three unrelated English words packed into one Norwegian word.