møte (to meet) | Norwegian Grammar

møte ("to meet") is everywhere in daily Norwegian — you meet people, you meet at a place, you attend et møte ("a meeting"), and crucially you and a friend møtes ("meet each other"). It is a regular weak Class 2 verb, but two things make it worth a full page: its preterite møtte (with a double t and the ø intact) is a magnet for spelling and look-alike errors, and its -s form møtes is a textbook example of the reciprocal — a construction English handles with the clumsy phrase "meet each other," but Norwegian builds right into the verb.

Conjugation

Class: weak, Class 2 (-te / -t). Auxiliary: ha.

Tense / mood	Norwegian	English
Infinitiv	å møte	to meet
Presens	møter	meet(s), am/is/are meeting
Preteritum	møtte	met
Perfektum	har møtt	have/has met
Pluskvamperfektum	hadde møtt	had met
Futurum	skal/vil møte	will meet
Imperativ	møt!	meet!
Presens partisipp	møtende	meeting (adjective)
Resiprok (infinitiv)	å møtes	to meet (each other)

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Watch the consonant count across the forms. The stem ends in a single t (møte, møter, møt!), but the Class 2 preterite ending -te attaches to that t and gives a double t: møtte. The supine then drops back to a single visible t with the -t ending: møtt. So: one t, two t's, then one t with the perfect ending — møter / møtte / har møtt.

The Class 2 pattern and the ø

møte is a Class 2 weak verb: it forms the preterite with -te and the supine with -t. Unlike Class 1 (where preterite and supine match), here they differ — møtte (preterite) vs møtt (supine) — and the difference is exactly the doubled t. The vowel ø never changes: it is ø in every single form, never o and never å.

Jeg møter sjefen min hver mandag morgen.

I meet my boss every Monday morning.

Vi møtte hverandre på en konsert i 2019.

We met each other at a concert in 2019.

Har du møtt den nye kollegaen vår ennå?

Have you met our new colleague yet?

møtte vs måtte — a dangerous look-alike

Two of the most common preterites in Norwegian sit one vowel apart:

møtte = "met" — the past of møte (to meet).
måtte = "had to" — the past of the modal måtte (must).

The only difference is ø vs å, and it changes the sentence completely. Jeg møtte ham = "I met him." Jeg måtte hjem = "I had to go home." Read your own writing back and check the vowel: a circle-slash ø for meeting, a ring å for obligation.

Vi møtte ingen på veien hjem.

We met no one on the way home.

Vi måtte gå hjem fordi det begynte å regne.

We had to go home because it started to rain.

møtes — the reciprocal -s

Add -s to møte and you get møtes, "to meet each other." This is the reciprocal: the subjects act on one another, so no object is needed — the -s absorbs the "each other." It is the natural, idiomatic way Norwegians arrange to see one another.

The -s rides through the tenses on the same stem: møtes / møttes / har møttes.

Vi møtes utenfor kinoen klokka sju, ok?

Let's meet outside the cinema at seven, okay?

Skal vi møtes til lunsj en dag denne uka?

Shall we meet up for lunch one day this week?

De møttes første gang på universitetet.

They met (each other) for the first time at university.

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Use plain møte when one party meets another (there's an object): jeg møter deg ("I'll meet you"). Use the reciprocal møtes when the parties meet mutually, as equals, with no object: vi møtes ("we'll meet"). Saying vi møter on its own sounds incomplete — a listener waits for the object that never comes.

The noun et møte, and the particles

The matching noun is et møte ("a meeting") — neuter gender: et møte, møtet, flere møter, alle møtene. It is the everyday word for a scheduled meeting at work.

Two particle phrases are worth knowing, both meaning roughly "show up / turn up":

møte opp — to show up, turn up (in person). Hele klassen møtte opp.
møte fram / frem — to turn up, present oneself (slightly more formal).

Møtet ble flyttet til torsdag på grunn av sykdom.

The meeting was moved to Thursday because of illness.

Bare halvparten av gjestene møtte opp.

Only half the guests showed up.

Common Mistakes

❌ Vi måtte på kafé i går og tok en kaffe.

Incorrect — for 'met (at a café)' you need møtte (ø), not måtte (= had to)

✅ Vi møtte på kafé i går og tok en kaffe.

We met at a café yesterday and had a coffee.

❌ Jeg har møtte henne flere ganger.

Incorrect — møtte is the preterite; after har use the supine møtt

✅ Jeg har møtt henne flere ganger.

I've met her several times.

❌ Vi møter klokka åtte i morgen.

Incorrect — for 'we meet (each other)' with no object use the reciprocal møtes

✅ Vi møtes klokka åtte i morgen.

We're meeting at eight tomorrow.

❌ Vi motte hverandre på jobben.

Incorrect — the stem vowel is ø, not o; it's møtte

✅ Vi møtte hverandre på jobben.

We met each other at work.

Key Takeaways

møte / møter / møtte / har møtt / møt! — regular weak Class 2; preterite møtte (double t), supine møtt (single t).
The vowel is always ø — never confuse the preterite møtte ("met") with måtte ("had to").
Use møte (+ object) for one party meeting another; use the reciprocal møtes for parties meeting one another.
The noun is et møte (neuter); møte opp / møte fram mean "show up, turn up."

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