The infinitive is far more than a dictionary entry. In Norwegian it does the work English splits between two forms — the infinitive ("to read") and the gerund ("reading") — because Norwegian has no gerund at all. Where English nominalises a verb with -ing ("swimming is healthy," "I like reading"), Norwegian reaches for the plain infinitive: å svømme er sunt, jeg liker å lese. Once you internalise that single mapping, a whole category of English -ing nouns translates mechanically, and you stop hunting for a Norwegian gerund that doesn't exist. This page covers the infinitive's syntactic jobs; for the marker å itself and the å-vs-og confusion, see infinitive marker; for the missing gerund in depth, no gerund; for bare infinitives after modals, modals overview.
The headline rule: no gerund, so the infinitive does its work
English has two verbal nouns. "To swim" and "swimming" are different forms doing overlapping jobs. Norwegian collapses both into one — the infinitive with å. So every English -ing-as-a-noun becomes a Norwegian å-infinitive:
| English (-ing noun) | Norwegian (infinitive) |
|---|---|
| Swimming is healthy. | Å svømme er sunt. |
| I like reading. | Jeg liker å lese. |
| Learning a language takes time. | Å lære et språk tar tid. |
Å svømme er sunt, men jeg foretrekker å gå tur.
Swimming is healthy, but I prefer going for a walk.
Stop looking for a "-ing" word. If English uses an -ing form as a noun, Norwegian uses å + verb.
The infinitive as subject
An infinitive phrase can be the subject of a sentence — "to do X is …". Norwegian allows the infinitive right at the front:
Å lese er gøy når man finner en god bok.
Reading is fun when you find a good book.
Å stå opp tidlig om vinteren er ikke lett.
Getting up early in winter isn't easy.
Very often, though, Norwegian prefers to put a placeholder det in the subject slot and push the real infinitive to the end. This is the more natural everyday word order:
Det er sunt å trene tre ganger i uka.
It's healthy to exercise three times a week.
Det er lett å si, men vanskelig å gjøre.
It's easy to say, but hard to do.
Both å trene er sunt and det er sunt å trene are correct; the det-version sounds lighter and is far more common in speech.
The det-å subject
To topicalise a whole infinitive idea — "the thing of learning languages" — Norwegian can prefix det å: literally "the to …". It feels like a noun phrase built around the infinitive:
Det å lære språk tar tid og tålmodighet.
Learning languages takes time and patience.
Det å bo alene har både fordeler og ulemper.
Living alone has both advantages and disadvantages.
The infinitive as object
After many verbs, the infinitive is the object — "I like to read / reading." Verbs like like (like), elske (love), prøve (try), love (promise), bestemme seg for (decide), håpe (hope) take an å-infinitive:
Jeg liker å lese om kvelden, helst med en kopp te.
I like reading in the evening, preferably with a cup of tea.
Han lovte å komme, men dukket aldri opp.
He promised to come, but never showed up.
Vi prøver å spise mindre kjøtt nå for tiden.
We're trying to eat less meat these days.
The infinitive after prepositions
This is where English and Norwegian diverge sharply. After a preposition, English uses the gerund ("without saying," "by practising," "after eating"), but Norwegian uses the infinitive with å:
| English | Norwegian |
|---|---|
| without saying anything | uten å si noe |
| by practising every day | ved å øve hver dag |
| instead of waiting | i stedet for å vente |
Han gikk ut uten å si noe til noen.
He went out without saying anything to anyone.
Du lærer fortere ved å øve litt hver dag.
You learn faster by practising a little every day.
The perfect infinitive: etter å ha + supine
After etter ("after"), Norwegian needs the perfect infinitive — å ha + the supine — to express "after having done": etter å ha spist. There is no way to say etter å spise for "after eating"; the ha is obligatory because the action is completed:
Etter å ha spist dro vi rett hjem og la oss.
After eating (having eaten), we went straight home and went to bed.
Hun angret på det med en gang, etter å ha sagt det.
She regretted it at once, after saying it.
Purpose clauses: for å + infinitive ("in order to")
To express purpose — "in order to," "so as to" — Norwegian uses for å + infinitive. Crucially, both words are needed and they stay separate: for and å are two words, and dropping either breaks the construction:
Hun dro til byen for å handle julegaver.
She went to town (in order) to buy Christmas presents.
Vi trener hardt for å vinne kampen på lørdag.
We're training hard (in order) to win the match on Saturday.
Jeg ringte bare for å høre hvordan det gikk.
I just called to hear how things were going.
English often drops "in order" and just says "to win," which tempts learners to drop the for in Norwegian. Don't: a purpose meaning needs for å. Plain å vinne after a main clause would be ungrammatical or change the meaning.
The infinitive after adjectives
After adjectives of difficulty, ease, possibility — lett (easy), vanskelig (hard), viktig (important), mulig (possible) — Norwegian uses å + infinitive, matching English "easy to say":
Det er lett å si at man skal trene mer.
It's easy to say you'll exercise more.
Dialekten er vanskelig å forstå for nybegynnere.
The dialect is hard to understand for beginners.
Det er viktig å lese kontrakten før du signerer.
It's important to read the contract before you sign.
The bare infinitive: after modals and la / få / høre / se
The infinitive normally carries å, but it drops the marker in two places. First, after the modals (kan, skal, vil, må, bør): jeg kan svømme, not kan å svømme (see modals overview). Second, after the verbs la (let), få (in the sense "get something done"), and the perception verbs høre (hear) and se (see), the following infinitive is bare:
La meg hjelpe deg med de tunge bagene.
Let me help you with the heavy bags.
Jeg så ham komme gående nedover gata.
I saw him come walking down the street.
Vi hørte naboene krangle gjennom veggen igjen.
We heard the neighbours arguing through the wall again.
Notice the perception-verb pattern (så ham komme, hørte naboene krangle) mirrors English "saw him come," "heard them argue" — both languages use a bare infinitive here, a rare clean match.
Common Mistakes
❌ Svømming er sunt.
There is no such gerund noun — Norwegian uses the infinitive.
✅ Å svømme er sunt.
Swimming is healthy.
Norwegian has no -ing gerund. The subject "swimming" becomes the infinitive å svømme.
❌ Jeg liker lesing.
Wrong — 'reading' as an object is the infinitive.
✅ Jeg liker å lese.
I like reading.
After like, use the infinitive å lese, never a manufactured -ing noun.
❌ Hun dro til byen å handle.
Missing 'for' — a purpose clause needs for å.
✅ Hun dro til byen for å handle.
She went to town to shop.
Purpose = for å + infinitive. English drops "in order," but Norwegian keeps for.
❌ uten si noe
Missing å — after a preposition the infinitive keeps its marker.
✅ uten å si noe
without saying anything
Norwegian uses the infinitive (with å) after prepositions, where English uses the gerund.
❌ etter å spise dro vi hjem
Missing ha — 'after eating' needs the perfect infinitive.
✅ etter å ha spist dro vi hjem
after eating, we went home
A completed action after etter requires å ha + supine: etter å ha spist.
Key Takeaways
- Norwegian has no gerund: every English -ing used as a noun becomes an å-infinitive (å svømme er sunt, jeg liker å lese).
- The infinitive can be the subject (å lese er gøy), often via placeholder det (det er sunt å trene) or det å (det å lære språk tar tid).
- After prepositions, use the infinitive with å (uten å si noe, ved å øve); after etter, use the perfect infinitive å ha + supine (etter å ha spist).
- Purpose = for å
- infinitive (for å vinne) — keep both words.
- The infinitive is bare (no å) after modals and after la, få, høre, se (jeg så ham komme).
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- The Infinitive and the Marker åA1 — The dictionary form of the verb, the infinitive marker å ('to') and when it appears, why modal verbs take a bare infinitive, and how å contrasts with the identical-sounding conjunction og.
- Why There Is No -ing FormA2 — Norwegian has no English-style -ing form: the simple present covers 'am reading', the infinitive covers the gerund-noun, and holde på å / drive og expresses an action in progress.
- Modal Verbs: OverviewA2 — The six core Norwegian modals (kan, vil, skal, må, bør, få), their endingless present forms, their preterites, and the bare infinitive they govern — no å.
- 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.