spørre ("to ask a question") is irregular in two separate places, which is why it deserves close attention early. First, the present tense drops the whole ending: it is spør, not the regular-looking spørrer. Second, the past loses the double r and changes vowel quality: spurte, spurt. So three of its four core forms surprise you. The good news is that spørre is extremely high-frequency — you'll use it constantly — so the forms cement quickly once you've met them.
Conjugation
Class: irregular (reduced present spør; weak -te/-t past on a changed stem). Auxiliary: ha.
| Tense / mood | Norwegian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitiv | å spørre | to ask |
| Presens | spør | ask(s), am/is/are asking |
| Preteritum | spurte | asked |
| Perfektum | har spurt | have/has asked |
| Pluskvamperfektum | hadde spurt | had asked |
| Futurum | skal/vil spørre | will ask |
| Imperativ | spør! | ask! |
| Presens partisipp | spørrende | asking / questioning (adjective) |
| Passiv (s-form) | spørres | be asked |
The reduced present: spør, not spørrer
Most Norwegian verbs build the present by tacking -er onto the stem. A handful of very common verbs instead have a monosyllabic present that just is the bare stem — gjøre → gjør, si → sier (irregular too), vite → vet, være → er. spørre → spør is squarely in this group. The infinitive keeps both r's and the -e (spørre), but the present collapses to a single syllable: spør.
This is the form you'll reach for most, since you're usually asking right now or describing what someone generally does. Drill it as a fixed pair with the infinitive: å spørre — jeg spør.
Jeg spør bare fordi jeg er nysgjerrig.
I'm only asking because I'm curious.
Hvis du lurer på noe, spør meg.
If you're wondering about something, ask me.
Hun spør alltid om lov før hun låner noe.
She always asks permission before borrowing anything.
The past: spurte, spurt
In the past, the stem vowel shifts to u and the double r disappears: spurte (preterite), spurt (supine). The ending is the weak -te / -t, so like velge and selge, spørre changes its stem and keeps a dental ending — the hallmark of these irregular-but-not-strong verbs. Note again the one-letter gap: spurte stands alone as a past tense, spurt needs har / hadde.
Læreren spurte om noen visste svaret.
The teacher asked whether anyone knew the answer.
Jeg har spurt overalt, men ingen vet hvor han er.
I've asked everywhere, but nobody knows where he is.
Hadde du spurt før, kunne jeg ha hjulpet deg.
Had you asked earlier, I could have helped you.
spørre om and how to frame a question
spørre most often appears with om:
- spørre om
- noun — to ask about/for something. spørre om veien — "to ask for directions."
- spørre om
- clause — to ask whether/if. Hun spurte om jeg ville bli med — "She asked whether I wanted to come along." Here om = "whether/if."
- spørre noen om noe — to ask someone about something. The person is a plain object; the topic follows om.
- spørre etter — to ask after / ask for (someone, or an item at a counter). Det var en mann som spurte etter deg.
The closely related noun is et spørsmål — "a question" (plural spørsmål, definite spørsmålet). You stiller a question (stille et spørsmål, "to pose a question") — note Norwegian uses stille, not spørre, with the noun. So you can either spørre om noe (verb) or stille et spørsmål om noe (verb + noun); you cannot spørre et spørsmål.
Kan jeg spørre om noe litt personlig?
Can I ask you something a little personal?
En turist spurte meg om veien til togstasjonen.
A tourist asked me for directions to the train station.
Etter foredraget var det mange som ville stille spørsmål.
After the lecture, lots of people wanted to ask questions.
spørre, be, svare — three verbs English calls "ask/answer"
English packs a lot into "ask." Norwegian splits it:
- spørre (om) — ask a question, seek information. Answer expected.
- be (om) — ask for / request an action or thing.
- svare (på) — to answer, the natural reply-verb to a spørsmål. Svare på spørsmålet — "answer the question."
Keeping all three in view stops the most common confusion: spørre and be are not interchangeable, and the thing you do to a question is svare på, never spørre.
Jeg spurte om hjelp, men måtte vente lenge på svar.
I asked for help, but had to wait a long time for an answer.
Common Mistakes
❌ Han spørrer alltid de samme tingene.
Incorrect — the present is spør, with no -er ending
✅ Han spør alltid de samme tingene.
He always asks the same things.
❌ Læreren spørte om vi var klare.
Incorrect — the past keeps the u and loses the double r: spurte, not spørte
✅ Læreren spurte om vi var klare.
The teacher asked whether we were ready.
❌ Jeg har spurte ham allerede.
Incorrect — spurte is the preterite; after har use the supine spurt
✅ Jeg har spurt ham allerede.
I've already asked him.
❌ Kan du spørre meg et spørsmål?
Incorrect — you don't 'ask a question' with spørre; stille a question or spørre om something
✅ Kan du stille meg et spørsmål?
Can you ask me a question?
Key Takeaways
- spørre / spør / spurte / har spurt / spør! — irregular in two ways at once.
- Present is spør (no -er) — the trap that catches everyone.
- Past is spurte / spurt (vowel → u, single r, weak ending); spurte stands alone, spurt needs har.
- spørre om = ask about/whether; the noun is et spørsmål, which you stiller (not spørre).
- Don't confuse spørre (seek an answer) with be (make a request) or svare (give an answer).
Now practice Norwegian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
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.
- Irregular and Contracted Present FormsA1 — The small set of high-frequency verbs whose present tense breaks the infinitive-plus-r rule — er, har, vet, gjør, sier, får, går — plus the modals, which take no -r at all.
- be (to ask/pray)B1 — Full conjugation of the strong verb be (be / ber / ba / har bedt), plus the essential frame be om (ask for), be noen om å (ask someone to), and be (to pray).
- svare (to answer)A2 — Full conjugation of the weak Class 2 verb svare (svare / svarer / svarte / har svart), the key collocation svare på (answer a question, never svare for), svare noen, and svare til (correspond to).