The Norwegian present tense is almost insultingly regular: take the infinitive, add -r, and you are done — kaste → kaster, spise → spiser, bo → bor. The same form covers every subject. But a small handful of the most common verbs in the language break that rule, and because they are common, you meet them in your very first sentences. This page collects them in one place. The good news is that there are only about a dozen, and several of them are irregular in a way that will feel oddly familiar to an English speaker.
The contracted verbs: present without the full stem
A few verbs have an infinitive ending in a vowel and a present that drops or alters that stem rather than tidily adding -r. The most important is å være ("to be"), whose present is simply er — there is no trace of the infinitive left in it at all.
| Infinitive | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| å være | er | am / are / is |
| å ha | har | have / has |
| å gjøre | gjør | do / does |
| å spørre | spør | ask / asks |
| å si | sier | say / says |
| å vite | vet | know / knows |
| å få | får | get / receive(s) |
| å gå | går | go / goes / walk(s) |
| å stå | står | stand(s) |
Three things to notice. First, er and vet look nothing like their infinitives — these you simply learn whole. Second, gjør keeps the gj- spelling but loses the -øre of gjøre, and crucially it does not take an extra -r (it is gjør, not gjørr). The verb å spørre ("to ask") contracts the same way: its present is spør, dropping the -re and adding nothing back — gjøre → gjør, spørre → spør, the same shape twice. Third, the å-final verbs få, gå, stå behave like a tiny regular family: they all just add -r to the single-syllable stem (får, går, står), which is exactly the plain rule applied to a very short verb.
Jeg er sliten, og jeg har ikke spist siden i morges.
I'm tired, and I haven't eaten since this morning.
Hva gjør du i helga?
What are you doing this weekend?
Jeg vet ikke hvor hun bor.
I don't know where she lives.
A practical note on å si → sier: this one does take a regular-looking -er, but learners often expect sir by analogy with the short verbs above. It is sier, two syllables.
Hun sier alltid det samme når hun er nervøs.
She always says the same thing when she's nervous.
Hun spør alltid om jeg har spist.
She always asks whether I've eaten.
Vi får besøk av svigerforeldrene mine i kveld.
We're getting a visit from my in-laws tonight.
Bussen går klokka åtte, så vi må skynde oss.
The bus leaves at eight, so we have to hurry.
The modals: no -r at all
The modal auxiliaries are the second, larger group of exceptions, and they exhibit a single clean pattern: in the present tense they take no ending whatsoever. Where a normal verb adds -r, a modal adds nothing.
| Infinitive | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| å kunne | kan | can / am able to |
| å ville | vil | will / want to |
| å skulle | skal | shall / am going to |
| å måtte | må | must / have to |
| å burde | bør | ought to / should |
So it is jeg kan, du vil, han skal, vi må, de bør — never kanr, vilr, skalr. The full meaning and usage of these verbs (when vil means "want" versus "will", how skal signals plans and promises) belongs to a separate page; here you only need the shapes.
Jeg kan ikke komme i morgen — jeg må jobbe.
I can't come tomorrow — I have to work.
Vil du ha kaffe eller te?
Do you want coffee or tea?
Vi skal på hytta i påsken.
We're going to the cabin at Easter.
Du bør sove litt før eksamen.
You ought to get some sleep before the exam.
Why the modals lack -r — and why English speakers already know this
Here is the distinguishing insight that turns this from a list to memorise into something you already understand. The Norwegian modals are descended from an ancient class of verbs called preterite-presents, and English has the exact same class, descended from the exact same source. That is why English modals behave so strangely in the third person singular.
Think about it: every normal English verb adds -s for he/she/it — he walks, she eats, it rains. But the modals refuse: we say he *can, she will, it should* — never he cans, she wills, it shoulds. English modals lack the third-person -s for the same historical reason Norwegian modals lack the present -r. They are the same words, frozen in the same old pattern.
This is also why you should not be tempted to "regularise" the modals by inventing an infinitive-based present. The infinitives kunne, ville, skulle, måtte, burde exist (you need them after another modal: jeg vil kunne svømme, "I want to be able to swim"), but the present forms are the bare kan, vil, skal, må, bør.
Watch the spelling: vet, not vett
One orthographic trap deserves its own warning. The present of å vite ("to know") is vet, with a single t. There is a separate, unrelated noun vett (with double t) meaning "sense, wits, good judgement". They are pronounced differently — vet has a long vowel, vett a short one — but spelled carelessly they collide.
Jeg vet ikke hva jeg skal si.
I don't know what to say.
Han har ikke vett til å holde munn.
He hasn't got the sense to keep quiet.
Write vet (the verb) with one t. If you can replace it with "know", it is the verb and takes one t.
Common Mistakes
❌ Han kanr ikke svømme.
Incorrect — an -r added to a modal.
✅ Han kan ikke svømme.
He can't swim.
The modals never take a present ending. The English instinct is right here: you don't say "he cans," so don't add -r to kan.
❌ Jeg viter ikke hva det heter.
Incorrect — å vite regularised to 'viter'.
✅ Jeg vet ikke hva det heter.
I don't know what it's called.
The present of å vite is the irregular vet, not viter. This is a whole-form irregularity — there is no logical shortcut, you simply learn vet.
❌ Hva gjørr du nå?
Incorrect — double r on gjør.
✅ Hva gjør du nå?
What are you doing now?
The present of å gjøre is gjør — the -øre of the infinitive is gone and no -r is added back. One r, with the gj- spelling intact.
❌ Jeg er ikke vett om det stemmer.
Incorrect — noun 'vett' used for the verb.
✅ Jeg vet ikke om det stemmer.
I don't know if that's right.
Two errors at once here: vett (the noun "sense") cannot replace the verb, and å være + a separate verb is wrong anyway. The verb "know" is vet, one t.
❌ Hun sir at hun kommer senere.
Incorrect — å si contracted too far.
✅ Hun sier at hun kommer senere.
She says she'll come later.
Unlike får / går / står, the verb å si keeps a full -er in the present: sier, two syllables.
Key Takeaways
- The present tense is regular (infinitive + -r) for almost every verb. Only a small, high-frequency set is irregular.
- Learn whole: er (være), har (ha), vet (vite), gjør (gjøre), spør (spørre), sier (si). Note gjør and spør take no extra -r.
- The short å-verbs follow the plain rule: får, går, står.
- The modals kan, vil, skal, må, bør take no present ending — the same preterite-present irregularity English shows in "he can," not "he cans."
- Spell the verb vet with one t; vett with two is the noun "sense."
Now practice Norwegian
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- The Present Tense (-r)A1 — How to form the Norwegian present tense — add -r to the infinitive, one form for every person — and how it routinely expresses the future with a time word.
- 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.
- være (to be)A1 — The complete conjugation of Norwegian's most important verb — present er, preterite var, supine vært, imperative vær — a fully suppletive copula whose forms never change for person.