brenne ("to burn") is one of a small but high-value set of Norwegian verbs that have two complete paradigms — one strong, one weak — depending on whether the verb is intransitive (something is on fire) or transitive (someone burns something). This is the centrepiece of the page. The English verb "burn" hides this distinction (it's the same word either way), so English speakers consistently pick the wrong preterite. Get the split right and you sound markedly more native.
The two paradigms
The rule is clean and worth memorising as a single sentence: when nothing burns it — it just burns by itself — use the strong form (brant). When someone or something burns an object, use the weak form (brente).
| Tense / mood | Intransitive (strong) "be on fire" | Transitive (weak) "burn something" |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å brenne | å brenne |
| Presens | brenner | brenner |
| Preteritum | brant | brente |
| Perfektum | har brent | har brent |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde brent | hadde brent |
| Imperativ | brenn! | brenn! |
The infinitive, present, supine and imperative are identical for both. The split shows up in exactly one place: the preterite. Intransitive brant (strong, i→a ablaut), transitive brente (weak, dental -te suffix). And because the supine brent is shared, the perfect tense looks the same in both — the difference only surfaces in the simple past.
Intransitive brenne — "be on fire" (strong: brant)
Here the burning thing is the grammatical subject. Nobody is acting on it; it is simply alight. The preterite is the strong brant (vowel change i→a), patterning with finne/fant and vinne/vant.
Huset brant ned til grunnen før brannvesenet kom.
The house burned to the ground before the fire brigade arrived.
Det brenner i fjellet — du ser røyken herfra.
There's a fire on the mountain — you can see the smoke from here.
Stearinlyset hadde brent hele natten og var nesten borte.
The candle had burned all night and was almost gone.
Transitive brenne — "burn something" (weak: brente)
Here there is an agent and a direct object: someone burns the toast, the rubbish, an old letter. The preterite is the weak brente (dental suffix, no vowel change).
Jeg brente brevet i peisen så ingen skulle finne det.
I burned the letter in the fireplace so no one would find it.
Hvem brente middagen? Det lukter svidd i hele huset.
Who burned the dinner? The whole house smells of scorching.
De har brent alt løvet i hagen i en stor haug.
They've burned all the leaves in the garden in one big pile.
Because the supine brent is shared, the perfect har brent is ambiguous on its own — kakene har brent ("the cakes have burned," intransitive) vs jeg har brent kakene ("I've burned the cakes," transitive). Context and the presence of an object tell them apart. The split only forces a choice in the simple past.
brenne seg and brenne + particle
- brenne seg — to burn oneself, get burned. Reflexive, and it behaves like the transitive (you are acting on an object — yourself): preterite brente seg. Jeg brente meg på ovnen = "I burned myself on the stove." Figuratively, brenne seg på noe = "to get one's fingers burnt on something."
- brenne ned — to burn down. Intransitive (huset brant ned — "the house burned down") or transitive (de brente ned hytta — "they burned the cabin down"); the preterite follows the transitivity, brant vs brente.
- brenne opp — to burn up, be consumed by fire / use up.
- brenne inne (med) — idiomatic: to be left holding something, to fail to use or say something in time. Jeg brente inne med spørsmålet mitt = "I never got my question in."
- brennende (adjective) — burning, blazing, also figuratively "burning" (a brennende question), or "scorching" hot.
Pass på pannen — jeg brente meg stygt der i går.
Watch out for the pan — I burned myself badly on it yesterday.
Han brente seg på den aksjen og investerer aldri mer.
He got his fingers burnt on that stock and will never invest again.
Det er et brennende spørsmål som ingen vil ta i.
It's a burning question that no one will touch.
Common Mistakes
❌ Huset brente ned i fjor.
Incorrect — no agent acts on the house; intransitive 'be on fire' uses the strong brant
✅ Huset brant ned i fjor.
The house burned down last year.
❌ Jeg brant alle de gamle papirene.
Incorrect — there's an object (the papers); transitive 'burn something' uses the weak brente
✅ Jeg brente alle de gamle papirene.
I burned all the old papers.
❌ Jeg brant meg på kaffekoppen.
Incorrect — brenne seg is reflexive/transitive; the preterite is brente seg
✅ Jeg brente meg på kaffekoppen.
I burned myself on the coffee cup.
❌ Bålet har brant hele kvelden.
Marginal — the supine is brent, not brant; use har brent for both paradigms
✅ Bålet har brent hele kvelden.
The bonfire has burned all evening.
Key Takeaways
- brenne has two paradigms that differ only in the preterite: intransitive (strong) brant, transitive (weak) brente.
- The test: no object, the burning thing is the subject → brant (huset brant). There's a direct object you are acting on → brente (jeg brente brevet).
- The supine brent and the perfect har brent are shared by both — so the perfect doesn't reveal the split; only the simple past does.
- brenne seg ("burn oneself") is reflexive/transitive → brente seg.
- Imperative brenn!; useful idioms: brenne ned, brenne opp, brenne inne med, adjective brennende.
Now practice Norwegian
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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).
- Reflexive vs Non-Reflexive Verb PairsB1 — Verbs whose meaning shifts when you add seg — reise (travel) vs reise seg (stand up), legge (lay) vs legge seg (lie down), kjede (bore) vs kjede seg (be bored) — and why seg systematically turns the action back on the subject.
- henge (to hang)B1 — The two paradigms of henge: intransitive 'be hanging' (strong: hang) vs transitive 'hang something up' (weak: hengte). Both share the supine hengt. Plus henge med and henge sammen.