be is one of those tiny words that does enormous work. In two letters it covers ask, request, invite and pray — and almost every one of those meanings hangs on a single small preposition, om. It is also a contracted strong verb: the infinitive has lost the consonant it once had (compare archaic bede), which is why the forms look so short and why the preterite ba and supine bedt can catch you off guard.
Conjugation
Class: strong (contracted), vowel pattern e–a–e. Auxiliary: ha.
| Tense / mood | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å be | to ask / to pray |
| Presens | ber | ask(s), pray(s) |
| Preteritum | ba (older: bad) | asked, prayed |
| Perfektum | har bedt | have/has asked |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde bedt | had asked |
| Futurum | skal/vil be | will ask |
| Imperativ | be! | ask! / pray! |
| Presens partisipp | bedende | pleading (adjective) |
| Passiv (infinitiv) | å bes (bli bedt) | to be asked / invited |
The contracted strong pattern
Older Norwegian had bede / bad / bedt — a regular member of the strong family. Modern Bokmål clipped the infinitive to be, but the old preterite vowel survives in ba, and the old supine survives almost untouched in bedt. So the verb really does change its vowel (e → a → e), which is the hallmark of a strong verb, even though the shortness disguises it.
There is no living English cognate that helps directly here — English bid (as in "I bade him farewell") is a distant relative, but it has drifted in meaning. Treat be as a small, irregular item to memorise outright: be / ber / ba / har bedt. The older spelling bad for the preterite still turns up in literature and in fixed religious phrasing, but in everyday modern writing ba is standard.
Jeg ber deg pent — kan du skru ned musikken?
I'm asking you nicely — can you turn the music down?
Hun ba om en kopp kaffe og satte seg ned.
She asked for a cup of coffee and sat down.
Vi har allerede bedt dem om å komme tidligere.
We've already asked them to come earlier.
be om — the preposition that carries the meaning
The single most important thing on this page: when you ask for something, you say be om. The om is not optional, and leaving it out is the number-one English-speaker mistake, because English packs "for" into the verb so loosely that learners forget it is there at all.
- be om
- a noun = ask for something: be om hjelp, be om regningen, be om unnskyldning (apologise, literally "ask for forgiveness").
- be noen om å
- infinitive = ask someone to do something. The person is the direct object; the om å introduces the action.
That second frame is worth drilling, because the word order differs from English. English says "ask someone to do it"; Norwegian says "be noen om å gjøre det" — the person first, then om å, then the verb.
Kan jeg be om regningen, takk?
Could I ask for the bill, please?
Sjefen ba meg om å bli igjen etter møtet.
The boss asked me to stay behind after the meeting.
Jeg må be deg om unnskyldning for i går.
I have to apologise to you for yesterday.
be = to pray, and be (noen) inn = to invite
Without om, a bare be most often means to pray — the verb you use for addressing God or a higher power. Context does the disambiguating: be til Gud (pray to God), be en bønn (say a prayer).
be also means to invite in slightly more formal or old-fashioned usage: be noen i selskap / i bryllup (invite someone to a party / wedding). The everyday modern word for "invite" is invitere, but you will meet bedt i selskap ("invited to a party") in writing and in the speech of older speakers, so recognise it.
Bestemor ber alltid en bønn før maten.
Grandma always says a prayer before the meal.
De har bedt oss i barnedåp på søndag.
They've invited us to a christening on Sunday.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jeg ba hjelp da bilen stoppet.
Incorrect — 'ask for' needs om; it's be om hjelp, not be hjelp
✅ Jeg ba om hjelp da bilen stoppet.
I asked for help when the car broke down.
❌ Hun bedde meg om å vente.
Incorrect — be is strong; the preterite is ba, never a weak -dde form
✅ Hun ba meg om å vente.
She asked me to wait.
❌ Vi har ba om mer tid.
Incorrect — ba is the preterite; after har use the supine bedt
✅ Vi har bedt om mer tid.
We've asked for more time.
❌ Jeg ba ham å lukke døra.
Incorrect — when asking someone to do something, you need om å: be noen om å
✅ Jeg ba ham om å lukke døra.
I asked him to close the door.
Key Takeaways
- be / ber / ba / har bedt / be! — a short, contracted strong verb (older preterite bad).
- The preposition does the heavy lifting: be om = ask for; be noen om å = ask someone to.
- A bare be without om usually means pray (and, more formally, invite).
- Spelling traps: preterite ba (not bedde), supine bedt (with a written d), perfect har bedt (never har ba).
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
- The Strong Verb Ablaut ClassesB1 — The ablaut (vowel-change) classes of Norwegian strong verbs grouped by pattern — i–a–u, i–e–e, y/ju–ø–ø, a–o–å, e–a–e — each mapped onto its English cognate class so you can often guess the forms.
- Strong Verbs: Ablaut and the Vowel-Change ClassesA2 — Strong verbs build the past by changing the stem vowel instead of adding an ending (drikke → drakk → drukket) — the main ablaut series, grouped, with full tables and English cognate hooks.
- Verb Reference: How to Use These TablesA2 — How to read the Norwegian verb-reference pages — the five principal parts, weak vs strong classes, and the supine (the har-form).