gro ("to grow") is one of three Norwegian verbs that all land on English "grow", and choosing the right one is the whole challenge. gro is the verb of vegetation and natural increase from a surface — plants sprouting, grass spreading, hair coming in, and, by a beautiful extension, wounds healing over. It is weak and regular in shape, but its meaning is precise, and an English speaker who reaches for it the way English uses "grow" will misuse it constantly. This page fixes the form first, then carves out exactly where gro belongs against vokse and dyrke.
Conjugation
Class: weak, vowel-stem (-dde / -dd on a stressed vowel, like dø). Auxiliary: ha (or være for the result-state, see below).
| Tense / mood | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å gro | to grow |
| Presens | gror | grow(s), is growing |
| Preteritum | grodde | grew |
| Perfektum | har grodd | have/has grown |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde grodd | had grown |
| Futurum | skal/vil gro | will grow |
| Imperativ | gro! | grow! |
| Presens partisipp | groende | growing (adjective) |
A weak verb with a strong-looking cognate
English grow / grew / grown is one of the oldest strong verbs in the language, so an English speaker instinctively wants a vowel-changing past for Norwegian gro. Resist it. Norwegian regularised this verb: the stem gro simply takes the dental endings, doubling the d after the stressed vowel just as dø does (døde / dødd):
- Preteritum: gro
- -dde → grodde
- Supine: gro
- -dd → grodd
One nice subtlety: because gro describes a process with a result, you will see it with være as well as ha when the focus is on the resulting state. Stien er grodd igjen ("the path has grown over") describes the path's current condition; stien har grodd igjen describes the event. Both are correct; være leans on the result, ha on the action.
Tomatene gror godt i år — det har vært en varm sommer.
The tomatoes are growing well this year — it's been a warm summer.
Det grodde mose på taket etter alle regnukene.
Moss grew on the roof after all those weeks of rain.
Skjegget hans har grodd helt vilt i løpet av turen.
His beard has grown completely wild over the course of the trip.
gro vs vokse vs dyrke — three ways to "grow"
This is the heart of the page. English "grow" does the work of three distinct Norwegian verbs, and they are not interchangeable:
- gro — to grow as vegetation grows, springing up and spreading from a surface: plants, grass, moss, hair, a beard. It is intransitive (the plant does it by itself) and emphasises appearing and covering. By extension it means a wound heals (såret gror).
- vokse — to grow in size: to get bigger or taller. This is the verb for people, children, animals, cities, economies, numbers. A child grows up = vokse opp. A plant can also vokse when you mean it gets taller, but its coming into being is gro.
- dyrke — to cultivate, to grow something deliberately: this is transitive — a farmer grows crops. Bonden dyrker poteter. English "grow tomatoes" (= cultivate them) is dyrke tomater, not gro tomater.
The cleanest summary: plants and grass gro by themselves; you dyrke them on purpose; living beings and sizes vokse. A wound gror (heals); a child vokser (grows up); a gardener dyrker roses.
Vi dyrker grønnsaker i hagen, og i sommer grodde det også ugress overalt.
We grow vegetables in the garden, and this summer weeds grew everywhere too.
Datteren vår har vokst ti centimeter på ett år.
Our daughter has grown ten centimetres in one year.
Han vokste opp på en gård der de dyrket korn.
He grew up on a farm where they grew grain.
gro of wounds: såret gror — and gro igjen
The most idiomatic use of gro is healing. A cut, a scrape, a surgical wound grows shut in Norwegian — the tissue grows back over the gap. This extends to anything that becomes overgrown and "closes up": a path no one walks gror igjen (grows over).
- såret gror — the wound heals / is healing
- gro igjen — to heal over; (of a path, pond, field) to grow over and disappear
- la noe gro — to let something grow / heal
Såret gror fint nå — du kan ta av plasteret i morgen.
The wound is healing nicely now — you can take the plaster off tomorrow.
Den gamle stien har grodd helt igjen; nå er det bare kratt der.
The old path has grown over completely; now there's just scrub there.
Gi det tid — sånne sår gror, både på huden og ellers.
Give it time — wounds like that heal, both on the skin and otherwise.
Common Mistakes
❌ Vi gror tomater i drivhuset.
Incorrect — deliberate cultivation is dyrke; gro is what plants do on their own
✅ Vi dyrker tomater i drivhuset.
We grow tomatoes in the greenhouse.
❌ Sønnen vår gror så fort.
Incorrect — a child getting bigger is vokse, not gro
✅ Sønnen vår vokser så fort.
Our son is growing so fast.
❌ Gresset grodde høyere og høyere.
Incorrect — for getting taller use vokse; gro is the appearing/spreading sense
✅ Gresset vokste høyere og høyere.
The grass grew taller and taller.
❌ Såret har grodde fint.
Incorrect — grodde is the preterite; after har use the supine grodd
✅ Såret har grodd fint.
The wound has healed nicely.
Key Takeaways
- gro / gror / grodde / har grodd / gro! — a weak verb (no vowel change), despite the strong English cognate grow/grew/grown.
- gro = plants/grass/hair springing up and spreading, and wounds healing (såret gror, gro igjen).
- Don't confuse the three "grow" verbs: gro (plants appear), vokse (size / a person grows up), dyrke (deliberately cultivate, transitive).
- Spelling: double d throughout — grodde, grodd.
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).