dra is one of those small verbs that does enormous everyday work. It is the most natural way to say "go" or "leave" for any departure — by car, bus, plane, or on foot — regardless of how you travel. Jeg må dra ("I have to go/leave") is what a Norwegian actually says when they get up to leave a party; it is not gå (which is specifically walk) and not the slightly more formal reise (travel). On top of that, dra has a completely concrete second life meaning pull/drag. It is a strong verb, and its forms hide a classic trap: the preterite is dro (not the old-fashioned "drog") and the supine is dratt (double t).
Conjugation
Class: strong. Auxiliary: ha.
| Tense / mood | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å dra | to go / leave / pull |
| Presens | drar | go(es), leave(s); pull(s) |
| Preteritum | dro | went, left; pulled |
| Perfektum | har dratt | have/has gone, left; pulled |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde dratt | had gone, left; pulled |
| Futurum | skal/vil dra | will go / leave; will pull |
| Imperativ | dra! | go! / leave!; pull! |
| Presens partisipp | dragende | pulling (adjective) |
The strong preterite: dro, not "drog"
dra is a strong verb, so the past tense is formed by a vowel change rather than by adding -et or -te. The modern preterite is dro: jeg dro, du dro, vi dro — one form for all persons.
You will sometimes see drog in older texts, and your dictionary may list it as a permitted variant — but drog is archaic (archaic). No one writes or says it in modern Bokmål; the standard, expected form everywhere today is dro. Treat drog the way you'd treat an antique English spelling: recognise it if you meet it in an old book, never produce it yourself.
Vi dro i går.
We left yesterday. (modern preterite dro)
Hun dro fra festen tidlig.
She left the party early.
De dro til fjells i helga.
They went up to the mountains over the weekend.
The supine: har dratt (double t)
After the auxiliary ha, use the supine dratt — with a double t. This is the spelling trap on this verb: it is dratt, not "drat" and not "draget."
Har du dratt før?
Have you been (away) / left before? / Have you travelled there before?
Toget hadde allerede dratt da vi kom.
The train had already left when we arrived.
The same supine dratt also serves the "pull" sense in the perfect: Jeg har dratt i snora ("I've pulled the cord").
Sense 1: go / leave / set off — the everyday "go"
This is the headline use, and the one English speakers most need. dra means to go, leave, or set off — to depart from where you are and head somewhere else. The crucial point: it says nothing about how you travel. Walking, driving, flying, taking the train — it's all dra. When a Norwegian stands up and announces they're leaving, they say Jeg må dra, not jeg må gå (which would specifically mean walk away) and not jeg må reise (which sounds like embarking on a journey).
Når drar du?
When are you leaving / setting off?
Jeg må dra nå, ellers rekker jeg ikke bussen.
I have to go now, or I'll miss the bus.
Skal vi dra snart? Det begynner å bli sent.
Should we get going soon? It's getting late.
Notice that dra typically implies a destination or at least a departure — you go away from here, to there. That's why it pairs so naturally with directional phrases (dra til Bergen, dra hjem, dra på ferie), covered just below.
Sense 2: pull / drag
dra also has a fully concrete physical meaning: to pull or drag something. This is the original, literal sense (the cognate of English draw/drag), and it stays in constant everyday use.
Dra i snora for å starte motoren.
Pull the cord to start the engine.
Hesten dro en tung kjerre.
The horse pulled a heavy cart.
Ikke dra meg i armen!
Don't pull me by the arm!
The two senses rarely cause confusion in practice, because context makes it obvious: dra til Oslo ("go to Oslo") can't be misread as "pull to Oslo," and dra i snora ("pull the cord") can't mean "go in the cord." Think of them as one verb with a literal core ("pull/move") that extended naturally into "move yourself off, depart."
dra vs gå vs reise — three ways to "go"
English crams go, leave, walk, and travel into one or two verbs. Norwegian distributes the work across three, and choosing right is the single most useful thing on this page:
| Verb | Core meaning | Use it for… |
|---|---|---|
| gå | to walk; to go on foot | movement on foot: gå til skolen (walk to school) |
| dra | to go / leave / set off (any transport) | departing for somewhere: dra til Bergen, jeg må dra |
| reise | to travel (often longer / more formal) | journeys, trips: reise til utlandet (travel abroad) |
The big trap for English speakers: gå does not mean general "go." It means walk. So "jeg går til Spania" literally claims you're walking to Spain. For going to Spain you need dra or reise: jeg drar til Spania / jeg reiser til Spania. Use gå only when feet are actually involved (and short distances at that). dra is your default for "I'm going (somewhere)" when transport is involved or unspecified; reise leans toward proper trips and a slightly more formal register.
Jeg går til jobben hver dag.
I walk to work every day. (gå = on foot — this is literally walking)
Jeg drar til Spania på ferie.
I'm going to Spain on holiday. (dra — you're not walking there!)
Hun reiser mye i jobben.
She travels a lot for work. (reise — journeys, a touch more formal)
Particles: dra på, dra til, dra hjem, dra av sted
dra combines with little directional words to pin down where and how you're heading. These are worth learning as fixed combinations:
- dra på
- activity/place — "go to / go on": dra på ferie (go on holiday), dra på kino (go to the cinema), dra på hytta (go to the cabin), dra på fest (go to a party). The på marks the destination-as-activity.
- dra til
- place — "go to (a place)": dra til Bergen, dra til legen (go to the doctor), dra til utlandet (go abroad).
- dra hjem — "go home" (note: directional hjem, the motion form, not static hjemme).
- dra av sted / dra avgårde — "set off, head off, get going" — emphasising the act of departing.
Vi drar på hytta i kveld.
We're going to the cabin tonight.
Skal vi dra på kino på fredag?
Shall we go to the cinema on Friday?
Jeg er sliten — jeg drar hjem nå.
I'm tired — I'm going home now. (dra hjem: directional hjem)
Da var det på tide å dra av sted.
Then it was time to set off.
Common Mistakes
❌ Vi drog til byen i går.
Incorrect — drog is archaic; the modern preterite is dro
✅ Vi dro til byen i går.
We went to town yesterday.
❌ Jeg går til Spania på ferie.
Incorrect — gå means 'walk'; for going (not on foot) use dra or reise
✅ Jeg drar til Spania på ferie.
I'm going to Spain on holiday.
❌ Har du drat før?
Incorrect — the supine has a double t: dratt
✅ Har du dratt før?
Have you been / travelled there before?
❌ Jeg dra hjem nå.
Incorrect — this is the bare infinitive; the present tense needs the -r ending: drar
✅ Jeg drar hjem nå.
I'm going home now.
Key Takeaways
- dra / drar / dro / har dratt / dra! — strong verb; preterite dro (never the archaic drog), supine dratt (double t).
- Sense 1: the everyday "go / leave / set off" for any departure regardless of transport — jeg må dra is the natural "I have to go."
- Sense 2: the literal "pull / drag" — dra i snora.
- Don't use gå for general "go" — gå means walk. Use dra for departures, reise for journeys.
- Learn the particles: dra på (ferie/kino/hytta), dra til (place), dra hjem, dra av sted.
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- gå vs dra vs reise: Three Ways to 'Go'A2 — gå means to go on foot (walk), dra is the neutral everyday 'go/leave' by any means, and reise is to travel a longer journey — English 'go' splits three ways in Norwegian.
- gå (to go / walk)A1 — Full conjugation of the strong verb gå (gå / går / gikk / har gått / gå!), with the meaning split English lacks: gå means walk / go on foot, so 'I'm going to Spain' is reiser/drar, not går. Covers the perfect with ha (har gått, never er gått), the idiom det går bra ('it's going fine'), and the particles gå på, gå av, gå ut, gå ned, gå an.
- Modals Without a Main Verb (jeg må hjem)B1 — The very Norwegian ellipsis where a modal stands alone with a direction or place word and no verb of motion — jeg må hjem ('I have to go home'), vil du med? ('want to come along?') — one of the clearest markers of native-sounding Norwegian.
- 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.