vare (to last) | Norwegian Grammar

vare means "to last," "to go on," or "to endure" — it is the verb for how long something takes up time. A film, a meeting, a marriage, a storm, or a good mood all varer. The one real hazard for English speakers is that vare looks and sounds almost exactly like være ("to be"), the single most common verb in Norwegian — so this page spends as much energy keeping them apart as it does on the conjugation itself.

Conjugation

Class: weak, Class 2 (-te / -t). The stem var- ends in a single consonant, so it takes -te in the preterite and -t in the supine. Auxiliary: ha.

Tense / mood	Norwegian	English
Infinitiv	å vare	to last
Presens	varer	last(s), is lasting
Preteritum	varte	lasted
Perfektum	har vart	has lasted
Pluskvamperfektum	hadde vart	had lasted
Futurum	skal/vil vare	will last
Imperativ	(var!)	last! (rare — see below)
Presens partisipp	varende	lasting (adjective)

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The supine vart ("has lasted") is spelled and said identically to the western-dialect past tense of være ("to be") — many Norwegians say jeg vart for standard jeg ble ("I became"). In standard Bokmål, though, vart is the supine of vare, and you only ever meet it after har/hadde: har vart.

vare vs være — the trap to drill

These two verbs sit one letter apart and overlap in several forms. Sort them out once and you will save yourself years of confusion.

	vare (to last)	være (to be)
Infinitive	å vare	å være
Present	varer	er
Preterite	varte	var
Supine	har vart	har vært

The danger zones are the two var-shaped forms. The preterite of være is var ("was/were") — jeg var trøtt = "I was tired." The present of vare is varer and the preterite is varte with a -t-. And the supines differ by the æ: vart (lasted) vs vært (been). Read these out loud as a pair until the æ in være/var/vært feels different from the plain a in vare/varer/varte/vart.

Filmen varte i to timer.

The film lasted two hours.

Jeg var trøtt fordi møtet varte så lenge.

I was tired because the meeting lasted so long.

In that second sentence both verbs appear: var ("was," from være) and varte ("lasted," from vare). If you can read it without hesitating, you've got it.

vare lenge / vare i + time

The everyday collocation is vare lenge ("last a long time"). To say how long, use i + a span of time: vare i to timer ("last for two hours"). You can drop the i in casual speech — møtet varte to timer is fine — but with i it sounds a touch more careful.

Håper festen ikke varer altfor lenge — jeg må tidlig opp.

I hope the party doesn't last too long — I have to get up early.

Lykken varte ikke lenge.

The happiness didn't last long.

Hvor lenge varer forestillingen?

How long does the show last?

Snøværet har vart i tre dager nå.

The snowfall has lasted three days now.

Ekteskapet deres varte i førti år.

Their marriage lasted forty years.

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For "how long does it take," Norwegian splits two ideas English merges. Vare is for something with its own duration that simply goes on (a film, a meeting). For the time a task requires, use ta: Hvor lang tid tar det? ("How long does it take?"). You wouldn't say a chore varer — it tar an hour.

vare ved — "persist, endure"

The particle verb vare ved is a slightly more literary way to say "persist / carry on / endure," typically of conditions or feelings. Ved here is a free particle, not a fixed prefix, so it can sit apart from the verb. (formal / literary)

Hvis kulden varer ved, fryser rørene.

If the cold persists, the pipes will freeze.

Common Mistakes

❌ Møtet vart i to timer.

Incorrect — vart is the supine; the simple past of 'last' is varte

✅ Møtet varte i to timer.

The meeting lasted two hours.

❌ Filmen var i to timer.

Incorrect — this means 'the film was two hours'; for duration use varte (from vare)

✅ Filmen varte i to timer.

The film lasted two hours.

❌ Festen har vært i fem timer.

Incorrect — vært is from være; for 'has lasted' use vart (from vare)

✅ Festen har vart i fem timer.

The party has lasted five hours.

❌ Hvor lenge varer det å lage middag?

Incorrect — for time a task takes use 'ta', not 'vare'

✅ Hvor lang tid tar det å lage middag?

How long does it take to make dinner?

Key Takeaways

vare / varer / varte / har vart — weak Class 2, "to last, endure in time."
Keep it apart from være ("to be"): varte vs var, vart vs vært — the æ is the tell.
Everyday phrase: vare lenge; for a span use vare i
- time.
For how long a task takes, switch to ta (det tar en time), not vare.

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