la ("to let, to allow") is a small, irregular, indispensable verb. It is how you grant permission (La meg gå — "Let me go"), how you express not interfering (Han lot oss vente — "He let us wait"), and how you tell someone to stop (La være! — "Cut it out!"). It is also a notorious trap on two fronts: its complement is a bare infinitive (no å), unlike få … til å; and its past forms lot / latt are shared letter-for-letter with a completely different verb, late ("to pretend"). This page sorts all of that out.
Conjugation
Class: strong (irregular). Auxiliary: ha.
| Tense / mood | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å la | to let / allow |
| Presens | lar | let(s), allow(s) |
| Preteritum | lot | let (past) |
| Perfektum | har latt | have/has let |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde latt | had let |
| Futurum | skal/vil la | will let |
| Imperativ | la! | let! |
| Presens partisipp | latende | letting (rare) |
la takes a bare infinitive
This is the structural heart of the verb. After la, the second verb appears as a bare infinitive — no å. The pattern is:
la + [someone/something] + bare infinitive
So it is La meg gå ("Let me go"), La barna leke ("Let the kids play"), Han lot oss vente ("He let us wait") — never la meg å gå. English does the same thing ("let me go," not "let me to go"), so the instinct is right; the danger is overcorrecting toward the å you have been drilled to insert after most verbs.
Contrast this sharply with the other causative, få … til å ("get someone to do something"), which does take til å:
- la
- bare infinitive = permit / not prevent: Jeg lar deg gå.
- få
- object + til å
- infinitive = cause / get someone to: Jeg får deg til å gå.
- object + til å
The semantic split matters: la is permissive (you allow it to happen), få … til å is causative (you make it happen). See the causatives page for the full få / la system.
La meg hjelpe deg med de tunge veskene.
Let me help you with the heavy bags.
Foreldrene lot barna være oppe lenge på nyttårsaften.
The parents let the kids stay up late on New Year's Eve.
Vi lar hunden løpe fritt på stranda.
We let the dog run free on the beach.
The causative / permissive nuance
la spans a small range, all under the umbrella of "not preventing":
- Permission: Læreren lot oss gå tidlig — "The teacher let us leave early."
- Non-interference / allowing a state to continue: La det ligge — "Leave it (lying there)"; La det stå — "Leave it (standing)."
- First-person suggestion (let's / let me): La oss begynne — "Let's begin." Here la oss is the standard way to form a hortative, exactly like English "let's."
La oss ta en pause før vi fortsetter.
Let's take a break before we continue.
Har du latt vinduet stå åpent hele natta?
Have you left the window open all night?
Bare la det ligge — jeg rydder opp senere.
Just leave it — I'll tidy up later.
la være (å) — the key idiom
la være literally "let be," is the everyday way to say refrain from / don't / stop. It comes in two shapes:
- La være! (on its own) = "Stop it! / Cut it out! / Don't!" — a complete command.
- la være å
- infinitive = "refrain from / not do": La være å røre den — "Don't touch it"; Jeg klarte å la være å le — "I managed not to laugh."
Note that å does appear here — but it belongs to the idiom la være å, not to la taking a complement directly. This is the standard Norwegian negative imperative: rather than a special "do not" form, Norwegian reaches for la være å. The full treatment is on the la være page.
La være! Du ødelegger den jo.
Stop it! You're breaking it.
Kan du være så snill å la være å snakke mens jeg konsentrerer meg?
Could you please refrain from talking while I'm concentrating?
Jeg lot være å si noe, selv om jeg var uenig.
I refrained from saying anything, even though I disagreed.
la (let) vs la (the preterite of legge) vs late (pretend)
Two separate overlaps cause real confusion. Keep them straight by meaning and construction:
| Form | Belongs to | Meaning | Clue |
|---|---|---|---|
| la (infinitive) | la | let / allow | followed by a bare infinitive |
| la (preterite) | legge | laid / put | legge / legger / la / lagt — takes a place |
| lot (preterite) | la or late | let, or pretended | la
|
| latt (supine) | la or late | let, or pretended | same disambiguation as lot |
First overlap: the infinitive la ("let") is spelled the same as the preterite la of legge ("to lay, to put"). Jeg la boka på bordet = "I put the book on the table" (that's legge); Jeg vil la deg lese boka = "I'll let you read the book" (that's la). Tell them apart by role: a la followed by another verb is "let"; a la with a thing and a place is the past of legge.
Second overlap: the past forms lot and latt are shared with late ("to pretend"). The disambiguator is the construction that follows. After la you get a bare infinitive ("let someone do"): Han lot oss vente. With late you get the fixed frame late som (om) ("pretend that") or late til ("appear / seem"): Han lot som om han sov. So lot + plain infinitive = "let"; lot som = "pretended." See the late page for the other half of this pair.
Han lot oss vente i en time uten å si noe.
He let us wait for an hour without saying anything.
Han lot som om han ikke hørte meg.
He pretended he didn't hear me.
Common Mistakes
❌ La meg å se på det.
Incorrect — la takes a bare infinitive, no å: la meg se
✅ La meg se på det.
Let me have a look at it.
❌ Jeg har lot deg vente for lenge.
Incorrect — lot is the preterite; after har use the supine latt
✅ Jeg har latt deg vente for lenge.
I've let you wait too long.
❌ Hun lot som han sov. (om 'pretend')
Incorrect — 'let someone do' uses lot + bare infinitive; 'pretend' is late som (om)
✅ Hun lot som om han sov.
She pretended he was asleep.
❌ Jeg la deg bruke bilen min. (om 'allow')
Incorrect — la here looks like the past of legge; for 'allowed' use the past of la, which is lot
✅ Jeg lot deg bruke bilen min.
I let you use my car.
Key Takeaways
- la / lar / lot / har latt / la! — strong and irregular; the infinitive is the bare la.
- After la, use a bare infinitive (no å): la meg se, not la meg å se.
- la is permissive ("allow/not prevent"); få … til å is causative ("make/get to do").
- la være (å) = refrain from / don't / stop; the standard negative imperative.
- The past lot / latt is shared with late ("pretend") — la
- bare infinitive = let; late som = pretend.
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
- Causatives: få noen til å, la, and få noe gjortB2 — How Norwegian builds 'make/get someone to do' (få … til å), 'let someone do' (la + bare infinitive), and 'have something done' (få + object + participle) — and why the til å is the trap.
- legge (to lay / put down)B1 — Full conjugation of the causative, transitive verb legge (legge / legger / la / har lagt), its pair-partner ligge, and the idioms legge seg, legge til, legge merke til, legge ut and legge ned.
- la være: Negative Imperatives and 'Refrain'B1 — How to tell someone NOT to do something: the neutral negative imperative is ikke + imperative (Ikke gå!), and the idiom la være (å) — literally 'let be' — is the Norwegian way to say 'refrain from / cut it out / leave it alone' (La være!; Kan du la være å mase?; Jeg lot være å si noe), a single-construction 'abstain' that English has no equivalent verb for.
- late (to pretend / let appear)C1 — Full conjugation of the strong verb late (late / later / lot / har latt), which lives almost entirely in two idioms — late som (om) 'pretend' and late til 'appear/seem' — and shares its past forms lot/latt with la.