This is the conjugation reference for være, "to be" — the single most frequent verb in Norwegian and the backbone of the language. It is suppletive: its forms (være, er, var, vært) come from historically different roots, so there is no stem you can apply a rule to. The good news is enormous, though, and you should hold onto it: være has one form per tense for every person. Where English juggles am / is / are / was / were, Norwegian uses just er and var.
Principal parts
There is no logical shortcut to these forms — like English be / am / was / been, they must simply be memorised. Note the æ in the infinitive være and the supine vært.
| Infinitive | Present | Preterite | Perfect (har + supine) | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| å være | er | var | har vært | vær! |
| to be | am / is / are | was / were | have been | be! |
One form for all persons
In English you change be depending on the subject: I am, she is, they are. Norwegian does none of this. The verb is invariant — only the subject pronoun changes. This is part of a wider rule covered on verbs/no-agreement: no Norwegian verb agrees with its subject, and være is the verb where English speakers most feel the difference, because English be is the one English verb that still inflects heavily.
Jeg er trøtt, og barna er sultne.
I'm tired, and the kids are hungry.
Hvor er du nå?
Where are you now?
Vi var der i går, men ingen var hjemme.
We were there yesterday, but nobody was home.
The copula: identity, location, state
Være links a subject to a description, exactly like English "be." It covers three core jobs:
Identity — who or what someone is:
Hun er legen min.
She's my doctor.
Location — where something is:
Nøklene er på kjøkkenbordet.
The keys are on the kitchen table.
State / property — how something is:
Det er kaldt ute i dag.
It's cold outside today.
A note on that last type: være describes a state as it is, not a change into it. When you mean "become" or "get" — a change of state — Norwegian switches to bli (det blir kaldt = "it's getting cold"). That være vs. bli split is the single most important contrast for an English speaker to internalise, and it has its own page at choosing/være-vs-bli.
The perfect: har vært (not er vært)
To say "have been," combine the perfect auxiliary har with the supine vært:
Har du vært i Norge før?
Have you been to Norway before?
Jeg har aldri vært så redd i hele mitt liv.
I've never been so scared in my whole life.
The supine vært never changes form. And note carefully: it is har vært, never er vært. This matters because of the next, very common trap.
Honest difficulty: være is NOT a perfect auxiliary
If you have studied German, Dutch, or French, you have learned that "to be" doubles as the perfect auxiliary for motion and change-of-state verbs: German ich bin gegangen, French je suis allé, Dutch ik ben gegaan — all literally "I am gone." Norwegian does not do this. Every compound tense, for every verb, uses ha (har / hadde) — see verbs/perfect-tense. So "I have gone" is jeg har gått, never jeg er gått.
Jeg har gått hjem.
I've gone home. (har, not er — even though 'go' is a motion verb)
Toget har allerede dratt.
The train has already left.
This is genuinely simpler than the learner's other languages: there is no auxiliary split to memorise. Ha does all the compound-tense work, and være stays a pure copula. (You will occasionally meet er kommet / er gått in older or literary writing, but in modern Bokmål, always reach for ha.)
The imperative: vær
The command form is vær (the bare stem, with æ). It shows up constantly in polite formulas:
Vær så snill, kan du hjelpe meg?
Please, can you help me?
Vær forsiktig på isen!
Be careful on the ice!
The set phrase vær så god (literally "be so good") is the all-purpose "here you go / you're welcome / please go ahead" — one of the first phrases you'll hear in any shop or café.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jeg er trøtt, han is trøtt, vi are trøtte.
Incorrect — there are no am/is/are forms; every person uses er.
✅ Jeg er trøtt, han er trøtt, vi er trøtte.
I'm tired, he's tired, we're tired.
❌ Jeg er gått hjem.
Incorrect — Norwegian never uses være as a perfect auxiliary; use har.
✅ Jeg har gått hjem.
I've gone home.
❌ Har du vert i Norge?
Incorrect — the supine is vært, with æ, not 'vert'.
✅ Har du vært i Norge?
Have you been to Norway?
❌ Det er kaldt nå (meaning 'it's getting cold').
Incorrect — for a change of state, use bli, not være.
✅ Det blir kaldt nå.
It's getting cold now.
❌ Ver forsiktig!
Incorrect — the imperative is vær, with æ.
✅ Vær forsiktig!
Be careful!
Key Takeaways
- være is suppletive: være / er / var / vært, plus imperative vær — memorise them as a block.
- One form per tense for all persons: er for every "am/is/are," var for every "was/were."
- The perfect is har vært. Være is never a perfect auxiliary — Norwegian uses ha for every compound tense.
- For a change of state ("become / get"), switch from være to bli.
Now practice Norwegian
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- No Person Agreement: One Form Fits AllA1 — Norwegian verbs do not change for person or number — one finite form serves every subject, in every tense — and why this halves the conjugation work for English speakers.
- The Present Perfect: har + supineA2 — How to build the Norwegian present perfect with har plus the invariant supine — and why Norwegian uses har for every verb, including come, go and be.
- være vs bli: Be vs BecomeA2 — Use være for a state that already holds and bli for any change of state, future state, or passive — the single most useful copula distinction in Norwegian.
- bli (to become / get)A1 — The full conjugation of bli — present blir, preterite ble, supine blitt, imperative bli — the change-of-state counterpart to være and the auxiliary of the bli-passive.