låne is one verb that does the work of two English ones: both "borrow" and "lend." English keeps them strictly apart — you borrow from someone but lend to someone — whereas Norwegian uses the single verb låne and lets the preposition show which direction the thing is travelling. That one fact is the whole lesson here, and it is the single most common stumbling block for English speakers.
Conjugation
Class: weak, Class 2 (-te / -t). Auxiliary: ha. (It looks like a strong å-stem because of the å in the stem, but it conjugates as a regular weak verb.)
| Tense / mood | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å låne | to borrow / to lend |
| Presens | låner | borrow(s) / lend(s) |
| Preteritum | lånte | borrowed / lent |
| Perfektum | har lånt | have/has borrowed / lent |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde lånt | had borrowed / lent |
| Futurum | skal/vil låne | will borrow / lend |
| Imperativ | lån! | borrow! / lend! |
| Presens partisipp | lånende | borrowing/lending (rare) |
The big idea: one verb, two directions
låne by itself just means "the temporary transfer of something." Who gets the thing depends on the preposition:
- låne (noe) av noen — to borrow something from someone (the thing comes to you).
- låne (noe) (bort) til noen / låne ut (noe) til noen — to lend something to someone (the thing goes out from you).
So the verb is neutral; av ("from") pulls the object toward the subject, while til / bort / ut push it away. When the direction is obvious from context, Norwegians often drop the preposition entirely: Kan jeg låne bilen din? ("Can I borrow your car?") is unambiguously borrowing, because you're asking about your (the other person's) car.
Jeg låner en bok av deg — er det greit?
I'll borrow a book from you — is that okay?
Kan du låne meg hundre kroner til i morgen?
Can you lend me a hundred kroner until tomorrow?
Hun lånte bilen til naboen i helga.
She lent the car to the neighbour over the weekend.
låne meg — the double-object lend
A very common everyday pattern is låne meg / deg / oss + a thing, which means lend with an indirect object — exactly like English "lend me." Here no preposition is needed because the indirect object pronoun already shows the thing is coming to that person:
- Kan du låne meg pennen? — "Can you lend me the pen?"
- Jeg lånte ham telten min. — "I lent him my tent."
Be careful: Kan jeg låne pennen din? ("Can I borrow your pen?") and Kan du låne meg pennen? ("Can you lend me the pen?") describe the same transfer from opposite sides — the pronoun and the possessive tell you who ends up holding the pen.
Kan du låne meg laderen din et øyeblikk?
Can you lend me your charger for a moment?
Han har lånt meg leiligheten mens han er bortreist.
He has lent me his flat while he's away.
låne ut and the noun et lån
To stress the lend direction explicitly, Norwegian uses the particle verb låne ut ("to lend out, loan out") — common for libraries, banks and rentals:
- låne ut — to lend out: Biblioteket låner ut e-bøker. ("The library lends out e-books.")
The matching noun is et lån ("a loan"), plural lån / definite lånet. You ta opp et lån ("take out a loan") and betale tilbake ("pay back") a loan.
Biblioteket låner ut bøker i tre uker av gangen.
The library lends out books for three weeks at a time.
Har du lånt boka tilbake til biblioteket ennå?
Have you returned the book to the library yet?
Vi måtte ta opp et lån for å kjøpe leiligheten.
We had to take out a loan to buy the flat.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jeg lånte en bok fra broren min.
Incorrect — when the lender is a person, use av, not fra: låne av broren min
✅ Jeg lånte en bok av broren min.
I borrowed a book from my brother.
❌ Kan du borge meg penger?
Incorrect — there's no separate verb for 'lend'; use låne in both directions
✅ Kan du låne meg penger?
Can you lend me money?
❌ Jeg har lånet sykkelen hans.
Incorrect — låne is Class 2; the supine is lånt, not *lånet
✅ Jeg har lånt sykkelen hans.
I've borrowed his bike.
❌ Jeg lante bilen av broren min.
Incorrect — keep the å in the stem: lånte, never *lante
✅ Jeg lånte bilen av broren min.
I borrowed the car from my brother.
Key Takeaways
- låne / låner / lånte / har lånt / lån! — weak Class 2 (-te / -t); keep the å in every form.
- One verb covers both borrow and lend; the preposition sets the direction.
- låne av noen = borrow from; låne til / bort / ut = lend to; låne meg X = lend me X.
- The noun is et lån; you tar opp et lån ("take out a loan").
Now practice Norwegian
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- 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.
- Weak Class 1 (-et) vs Class 2 (-te)B1 — A phonological heuristic for predicting whether a regular Norwegian verb takes the Class 1 -et ending or the Class 2 -te/-t — the stem's final sound usually tells you which.
- 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).