Glemme is "to forget" — to lose something from memory, or to fail to do something you meant to do. It is the natural opposite of huske ("to remember"), and the two are best drilled as a pair. Glemme is a regular weak Class 2 verb, so its past forms are the tidy glemte / glemt. The two things to nail down are the obligatory å in glemme å ("forget to do something") and the very common phrasal glemme igjen ("leave behind").
Conjugation
Class: weak, Class 2 (preterite -te, supine -t). Auxiliary: ha. The supine glemt drops the stem's final -e-.
| Tense / mood | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å glemme | to forget |
| Presens | glemmer | forget(s) |
| Preteritum | glemte | forgot |
| Perfektum | har glemt | have/has forgotten |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde glemt | had forgotten |
| Futurum | skal/vil glemme | will forget |
| Imperativ | glem! | forget! |
| Presens partisipp | glemmende | forgetting (adjective) |
Sense 1: forget (lose from memory)
The core meaning: something slips your mind, or you can't recall it. Glemme takes a direct object, an at-clause, or a question word.
Jeg glemmer alltid hvor jeg har lagt brillene.
I always forget where I've put my glasses.
Hun glemte navnet hans i samme øyeblikk han sa det.
She forgot his name the very moment he said it.
Jeg har helt glemt hva vi skulle kjøpe på butikken.
I've completely forgotten what we were supposed to buy at the shop.
Det glemmer jeg aldri.
I'll never forget that.
glemme å — forget TO do something
When "forget" is followed by an action, Norwegian requires the infinitive marker å: glemme å + infinitive. Omitting the å is the single most common English-speaker error here, because English drops a marker in some constructions and learners overgeneralise.
Jeg glemte å slå av komfyren før jeg dro.
I forgot to turn off the stove before I left.
Ikke glem å sende søknaden innen fredag.
Don't forget to send the application by Friday.
Han har glemt å betale regningen tre måneder på rad.
He's forgotten to pay the bill three months in a row.
Distinguish this from glemme + noun (forget a thing) and glemme at (forget a fact). All three are common; only the verb version takes å.
glemme igjen — leave behind (by mistake)
A second high-frequency pattern: glemme igjen = to leave something behind somewhere, forgotten. The igjen ("behind / remaining") makes it concrete and physical — you didn't just forget about the object, you physically left it.
Jeg glemte igjen paraplyen på toget.
I left my umbrella behind on the train.
Har noen glemt igjen en blå jakke her?
Has anyone left a blue jacket behind here?
Pass på at du ikke glemmer igjen mobilen på kafeen.
Make sure you don't leave your phone behind at the café.
glemme vs huske — the forget/remember pair
The mirror image of glemme is huske ("remember"). Drilling them together is efficient — but note they belong to different weak classes, so their past forms don't rhyme.
| Verb | Meaning | Class | Preterite | Supine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| glemme | forget | Class 2 | glemte | glemt |
| huske | remember | Class 1 | husket | husket |
Jeg husker hva hun het, men jeg har glemt hvor hun bor.
I remember her name, but I've forgotten where she lives.
Glem det — det er ikke viktig lenger.
Forget it — it's not important anymore.
The imperative Glem det! ("Forget it! / Never mind!") is an everyday set phrase, both for dismissing a worry and for waving off a topic.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jeg glemte slå av komfyren.
Incorrect — 'forget to do' needs the infinitive marker å: glemme å.
✅ Jeg glemte å slå av komfyren.
I forgot to turn off the stove.
❌ Jeg har glemte navnet hans.
Incorrect — after har use the supine glemt, not the preterite glemte.
✅ Jeg har glemt navnet hans.
I've forgotten his name.
❌ Jeg glemmte paraplyen på toget.
Incorrect spelling — the past has a single m: glemte (and add igjen for 'left behind').
✅ Jeg glemte igjen paraplyen på toget.
I left my umbrella behind on the train.
❌ Jeg forlot mobilen på kafeen.
Wrong verb for an object — forlate means abandon a place/person; for a mislaid item use glemme igjen.
✅ Jeg glemte igjen mobilen på kafeen.
I left my phone behind at the café.
Key Takeaways
- glemme / glemmer / glemte / har glemt / glem! — weak Class 2 (-te / -t).
- Spelling: double m in glemme/glemmer, single m in glemte/glemt/glem.
- glemme å
- infinitive = forget to do (keep the å).
- glemme igjen = leave behind (an object) — Norwegian says glemme, not "leave," for mislaid things.
- Its pair-verb huske ("remember") is Class 1 (husket/husket) — different class, different endings.
Now practice Norwegian
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- Weak Verbs: The Four ClassesA2 — A map of the four regular Norwegian past-tense classes (-et/-a, -te, -de, -dde) — how to predict a verb's class from its stem and how the supine differs from the preterite.
- 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).
- Verbs with Fixed PrepositionsB1 — Verbs that govern a fixed, unpredictable preposition you must memorise as a unit: vente på (wait for), tenke på (think about), lete etter (look for), be om (ask for), glede seg til (look forward to), bestemme seg for (decide on) — where the Norwegian preposition almost never matches English.
- huske (to remember)A2 — Conjugation and usage of the weak Class 1 verb huske (huske / husker / husket / har husket): remembering, huske på (keep in mind / remember to), the contrast with glemme (to forget), and the homonym ei/en huske (a swing).
- Weak Class 2: -te / -t (spise)A2 — The -te class — preterite in -te, supine in -t (spise → spiste → har spist) — its voiceless-consonant logic, and the one-letter difference between preterite and supine.