øke means "to increase, grow, rise" — and also, transitively, "to increase / raise" something. It is the verb behind prices going up, temperatures climbing, speed building, and demand rising. It is grammatically tidy (a regular Class 2 weak verb) but comes with a small cluster of things worth nailing down: the preposition med for "increase by," the noun en økning, and the family of opposites — minke, synke, avta — that you'll want in the same breath.
Conjugation
Class: weak, Class 2 (-te / -t). The stem øk- ends in a single consonant, so the preterite is -te and the supine -t. Auxiliary: ha.
| Tense / mood | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å øke | to increase |
| Presens | øker | increase(s), is increasing |
| Preteritum | økte | increased |
| Perfektum | har økt | has increased |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde økt | had increased |
| Futurum | skal/vil øke | will increase |
| Imperativ | øk! | increase! / raise! |
| Presens partisipp | økende | increasing, growing (adjective) |
øke = both intransitive and transitive
A handy feature: øke works in both directions with no change of form. Intransitively, something øker on its own ("rises, grows"); transitively, you øker something ("raise / increase it"). English mostly uses "increase" the same way, so this maps cleanly.
Prisene øker hver eneste måned nå.
Prices are going up every single month now.
Bedriften vil øke lønningene fra nyttår.
The company is going to raise wages from the new year.
Farten økte da veien ble bredere.
The speed increased when the road got wider.
Renten har økt tre ganger i år.
The interest rate has risen three times this year.
øke med — "increase by"
The governed preposition for the amount of change is med ("by"). Øke med 10 prosent = "increase by 10 percent." To name the new level you reach, use til ("to"); to name where it climbs from, fra ("from").
Strømprisen økte med tjue prosent på ett år.
The price of electricity rose by twenty percent in one year.
Antallet søkere økte fra 200 til 350.
The number of applicants increased from 200 to 350.
Vi må øke produksjonen med det dobbelte.
We have to increase production twofold.
en økning — the noun
The standard noun is en økning ("an increase, a rise"), with the governed preposition i for what is rising: en økning i prisene ("a rise in prices"). It is the everyday word in news and statistics.
Vi ser en kraftig økning i antall smittede.
We're seeing a sharp increase in the number of infected people.
The opposites: minke, synke, avta
You'll constantly need the downward verbs alongside øke. They are not interchangeable:
| Verb | Conjugation | Sense of "decrease" |
|---|---|---|
| minke | minker / minket / har minket | diminish, dwindle (a quantity gets smaller) |
| synke | synker / sank / har sunket | sink, fall, drop (strong verb; of levels, prices, temperature) |
| avta | avtar / avtok / har avtatt | abate, taper off, decline (of intensity — wind, interest, pain) |
| redusere | reduserer / reduserte / har redusert | reduce (transitive — you reduce something) |
Note that synke is a strong verb (sank / sunket), the natural antonym when øke means "rise" — prices øker or synker. Avta describes intensity fading (the storm avtar), and minke describes a stock dwindling (supplies minker).
Temperaturen øker om dagen og synker om natta.
The temperature rises in the daytime and falls at night.
Interessen for saken har avtatt betraktelig.
Interest in the matter has declined considerably.
Common Mistakes
❌ Prisene oker hvert år.
Incorrect — the verb is øke with ø: øker, not oker
✅ Prisene øker hvert år.
Prices rise every year.
❌ Lønna har økte med fem prosent.
Incorrect — økte is the preterite; after har use the supine økt
✅ Lønna har økt med fem prosent.
The salary has risen by five percent.
❌ Prisen økte for ti prosent.
Incorrect — 'increase by' takes med, not for
✅ Prisen økte med ti prosent.
The price rose by ten percent.
❌ Vi må øke ned kostnadene.
Incorrect — there's no 'øke ned'; to lower something use redusere/senke
✅ Vi må redusere kostnadene.
We have to reduce the costs.
Key Takeaways
- øke / øker / økte / har økt / øk! — fully regular weak Class 2; always with ø.
- Works both ways: something øker (rises), or you øker something (raise it).
- Prepositions: med = by how much, til = to what level, fra = from what level.
- Noun: en økning (i + what's rising).
- Opposites: synke (fall, strong), avta (abate), minke (dwindle), redusere (reduce, transitive).
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).
- Prefixed Verbs: be-, for-, an-, unn-B2 — The inseparable, unstressed verb prefixes (mostly Low German) — be- (betale), for- (forstå), an- (anbefale), unn- (unngå), gjen-, mis-, sam- — that fuse to the front of a verb, never separate, and shift its meaning into a more abstract, formal register.
- gjelde (to apply/concern)B1 — Full conjugation of gjelde (gjelde / gjelder / gjaldt / har gjeldt), the mostly impersonal det gjelder ('it concerns / it's about'), the phrase når det gjelder, and the senses 'be valid' and 'apply to'.