skrike ("to scream, shriek, cry out") is a strong verb of the i–e family, conjugating skrike / skrek / skreket. It describes a loud, sharp, often involuntary outburst — fear, pain, anger, or a baby crying at the top of its lungs. Norwegian carefully distinguishes it from rope ("to call out, shout to someone") and gråte ("to cry, weep with tears"), and getting those three apart is where the real fluency lies. skrike also gives the noun et skrik ("a scream") — the title of Edvard Munch's famous painting, Skrik.
Conjugation
Class: strong, ablaut i–e–e. Auxiliary: ha.
| Tense / mood | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å skrike | to scream / shriek |
| Presens | skriker | scream(s), shriek(s) |
| Preteritum | skrek | screamed, shrieked |
| Perfektum | har skreket | have/has screamed |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde skreket | had screamed |
| Futurum | skal/vil skrike | will scream |
| Imperativ | skrik! | scream! |
| Presens partisipp | skrikende | screaming (adjective) |
| Passiv (infinitiv) | å skrikes | to be screamed |
The ablaut and the English cognate
skrike follows the i → e → e pattern, where preterite and supine share the vowel:
- i: skrike, skriker
- e: skrek (preterite)
- e: skreket (supine)
The English cognate is shriek — same Germanic root, same sharp, high sound — but English "shriek" went weak (shriek/shrieked), so it can't guide the Norwegian vowels. (English "screak" and dialectal "screek" preserve more of the old form.) The practical point: learn skrek and skreket as the fixed past forms, and resist the strong pull toward a weak skriket, which is the single most common learner error here.
Barnet skriker hver natt klokka tre.
The child screams every night at three o'clock.
Hun skrek av skrekk da lyset gikk.
She screamed in terror when the lights went out.
Babyen har skreket hele ettermiddagen.
The baby has been screaming all afternoon.
skrike vs rope vs gråte — the crucial three-way split
English "cry" and "shout" are slippery; Norwegian splits the territory cleanly, and using the wrong verb sounds odd.
| Verb | Core meaning | Forms |
|---|---|---|
| skrike | scream, shriek — a loud, sharp, often involuntary outburst (pain, fear, a baby) | skrek / har skreket |
| rope | call out, shout to someone — directed, communicative, to be heard at a distance | ropte / har ropt (weak) |
| gråte | cry, weep — shed tears, sob; about sadness, not volume | gråt / har grått (strong) |
The logic: skrike is about the sound (sharp and loud); rope is about communication (calling out so someone hears you); gråte is about tears (the emotional act of weeping, which can be completely silent). So an English "the baby cried all night" is skrek if it was loud screaming, but gråt if you mean tearful sobbing — and English "cry" hides that difference.
Han ropte på meg fra andre siden av gata.
He called out to me from the other side of the street.
Ikke skrik — bare rop hvis du trenger hjelp.
Don't scream — just call out if you need help.
Hun gråt stille gjennom hele begravelsen.
She wept quietly throughout the entire funeral.
Idioms and figurative uses
- skrike ut — to cry out, scream out (often of pain). Han skrek ut av smerte = "He cried out in pain."
- skrike etter — to scream/cry out for, and figuratively "to be crying out for" (urgently need). Veiene skriker etter vedlikehold = "The roads are crying out for maintenance."
- skrikende (adjective) — "screaming," and figuratively "glaring, blatant": en skrikende motsetning = "a glaring contradiction"; skrikende farger = "loud / garish colours."
Hele systemet skriker etter en reform.
The whole system is crying out for reform.
Hun hadde på seg en kjole i skrikende farger.
She was wearing a dress in loud colours.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hun skriket da hun så edderkoppen.
Incorrect — skrike is strong; the preterite is skrek, not skriket
✅ Hun skrek da hun så edderkoppen.
She screamed when she saw the spider.
❌ Babyen har skrek i en time.
Incorrect — skrek is the preterite; after har use the supine skreket
✅ Babyen har skreket i en time.
The baby has been screaming for an hour.
❌ Han skrek på meg fra kjøkkenet at maten var klar.
Incorrect — to call out to someone use rope, not skrike
✅ Han ropte på meg fra kjøkkenet at maten var klar.
He called out to me from the kitchen that the food was ready.
❌ Hun skrek hele filmen — det var så trist.
Incorrect — for weeping/tears use gråte, not skrike
✅ Hun gråt hele filmen — det var så trist.
She cried the whole film — it was so sad.
Key Takeaways
- skrike / skriker / skrek / har skreket / skrik! — strong, i–e–e (preterite and supine share e), like gripe.
- Spelling: skrek (preterite) and skreket (supine) — don't double the k, and avoid the weak slip skriket.
- Keep the three apart: skrike = scream (loud, sharp), rope = call out to someone, gråte = weep (tears).
- The noun et skrik = "a scream" (Munch's Skrik); skrikende = screaming / glaring / garish.
Now practice Norwegian
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- The Strong Verb Ablaut ClassesB1 — The ablaut (vowel-change) classes of Norwegian strong verbs grouped by pattern — i–a–u, i–e–e, y/ju–ø–ø, a–o–å, e–a–e — each mapped onto its English cognate class so you can often guess the forms.
- Strong Verbs: Ablaut and the Vowel-Change ClassesA2 — Strong verbs build the past by changing the stem vowel instead of adding an ending (drikke → drakk → drukket) — the main ablaut series, grouped, with full tables and English cognate hooks.
- 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).
- gripe (to grab/seize)B1 — Full conjugation of the strong verb gripe (gripe / griper / grep / har grepet), plus the idioms gripe inn, gripe fatt i and gripe sjansen.