reise ("to travel") is the verb for journeys — flights, trips abroad, going somewhere far. It is a weak Class 2 verb with the regular -te / -t past. But reise hides a genuine surprise: add the reflexive pronoun seg and the meaning jumps from "travel" to stand up / rise (reise seg). Same verb, two unrelated everyday senses. This page sorts out both, plus how reise differs from its near-rivals dra and gå.
Conjugation
Class: weak, Class 2 (-te / -t). Auxiliary: ha.
| Tense / mood | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å reise | to travel |
| Presens | reiser | travel(s), am/is/are travelling |
| Preteritum | reiste | travelled |
| Perfektum | har reist | have/has travelled |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde reist | had travelled |
| Futurum | skal/vil reise | will travel |
| Imperativ | reis! | travel! / rise! |
| Presens partisipp | reisende | travelling (also: a traveller) |
How the conjugation works
The stem is reis-. Class 2 builds the preterite with -te (reiste) and the supine with -t (reist). Because the stem already ends in s, the endings attach cleanly: reis-te, reis-t. There is no doubling and no -et anywhere — reisete and reiset are both wrong.
Watch the diphthong: the verb is spelled with ei (reise), pronounced roughly "ray." Do not confuse it with rise (a different, rarer word). The whole paradigm keeps ei: reise, reiser, reiste, reist, reis.
Vi reiser til Italia hver sommer.
We travel to Italy every summer.
De reiste jorda rundt på ett år.
They travelled around the world in one year.
Jeg har aldri reist alene før.
I've never travelled alone before.
Reis mens du er ung — du angrer ikke.
Travel while you're young — you won't regret it.
reise til, reise bort
The journey sense pairs with a few prepositions and particles:
- reise til — to travel to (a destination). The default. reise til utlandet = "travel abroad."
- reise bort — to go away (on a trip, out of town). Skal dere reise bort i påsken? = "Are you going away over Easter?"
- reise hjem — to travel home, head back. reise hjemmefra = to leave home (move out).
Skal dere reise bort i ferien, eller bli hjemme?
Are you going away over the holiday, or staying home?
Hun reiste hjemmefra da hun var nitten.
She left home when she was nineteen.
reise seg — the reflexive "stand up"
Here is the high-value twist. Add the reflexive seg (or the matching pronoun for the subject) and the verb means to stand up / to rise — to get to your feet from sitting or lying. This sense has nothing to do with travel; historically it is "to raise oneself."
The reflexive pronoun agrees with the subject: jeg reiser meg, du reiser deg, han/hun reiser seg, vi reiser oss, dere reiser dere, de reiser seg. Drop the reflexive and you lose the meaning — reise without seg cannot mean "stand up."
This pattern is common in Norwegian: a verb's reflexive form is often a distinct lexical item. reise seg (stand up) sits alongside reise (travel) the way sette seg (sit down) sits beside sette (place), and legge seg (lie down) beside legge (lay).
Hele salen reiste seg og klappet.
The whole hall stood up and applauded.
Han reiste seg fra stolen og gikk mot døra.
He rose from the chair and walked toward the door.
Reis deg når dommeren kommer inn.
Stand up when the judge comes in.
reise vs dra vs gå
All three can render English "go," but Norwegian splits them by manner and distance:
- gå — to go on foot, to walk. Jeg går til butikken means you are physically walking there. (gå also means "function/work": det går bra.)
- dra — the neutral, everyday "go / leave / set off," for any departure regardless of transport. Jeg må dra nå = "I have to go now." This is the casual all-purpose verb. (Preterite: dro.)
- reise — to travel, used for longer or more deliberate journeys, especially trips and going abroad. Vi reiser til Spania = "We're travelling to Spain."
So "I'm going to France" is jeg reiser/drar til Frankrike — not jeg går til Frankrike, which would claim you are walking the whole way. The English verb "go" is transport-neutral; Norwegian forces you to choose. For a quick local departure, dra; for a real journey, reise; for going somewhere on foot, gå.
Jeg går til jobben hver dag — det tar et kvarter.
I walk to work every day — it takes a quarter of an hour.
Vi må dra nå, ellers rekker vi ikke toget.
We have to go now, or we won't make the train.
Neste år reiser vi til Japan i tre uker.
Next year we're travelling to Japan for three weeks.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jeg har reiset mye i Europa.
Incorrect — the supine is 'reist', not 'reiset'
✅ Jeg har reist mye i Europa.
I've travelled a lot in Europe.
❌ Han reiste og forlot rommet.
Incorrect for 'he stood up' — 'stand up' needs the reflexive: reiste seg
✅ Han reiste seg og forlot rommet.
He stood up and left the room.
❌ Vi går til Spania i sommer.
Incorrect — 'gå' means walking there; for a trip use 'reise' or 'dra'
✅ Vi reiser til Spania i sommer.
We're travelling to Spain this summer.
❌ Jeg reiser meg til Oslo i morgen.
Incorrect — 'reise seg' means 'stand up'; for travelling, drop 'meg'
✅ Jeg reiser til Oslo i morgen.
I'm travelling to Oslo tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
- reise / reiser / reiste / har reist / reis! — weak Class 2, split endings -te (preterite) / -t (supine).
- reise seg (with a reflexive pronoun) means stand up / rise — a completely separate sense from "travel."
- Learn the prepositions: reise til (travel to), reise bort (go away).
- Split English "go": gå = on foot, dra = everyday leave/depart, reise = travel/journey.
- "Going to France" is reise/dra til Frankrike, never gå (that means walking there).
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.
- 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.
- 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).
- dra (to go / leave / pull)A2 — Full conjugation of the strong verb dra (dra / drar / dro / har dratt / dra!), with both senses — the everyday 'go/leave/set off' for any departure (jeg må dra) and the physical 'pull/drag' — plus the particles dra på, dra av sted, dra hjem, dra til, and the contrast with gå and reise.
- Reflexive Verbs and segA2 — How Norwegian reflexive verbs work — the meg/deg/seg paradigm, true reflexives like vaske seg, and the many inherently reflexive verbs (glede seg, føle seg) English has no equivalent for.