Bør is Norwegian's "should" — the modal of advice, recommendation, and mild obligation. It tells someone what would be wise or right, without the hard pressure of må ("must / have to") or the imposed duty of skal ("shall / is to"). Its past form burde does double duty: it gives gentler advice and, with ha + supine, it expresses hindsight and regret — English "should have." That burde ha construction is structurally parallel to English yet chronically under-used by learners, so it gets full treatment here. For the necessity modal it contrasts with, see modal må; for the shared modal mechanics, modals overview.
The forms — and the vowel that changes
Bør is a pure modal: endingless present, bare infinitive after it (no å). Mind the orthography — the present bør has ø, but the preterite burde has no ø (the vowel shifts to u).
| Present | Preterite | Infinitive | Supine (perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|
| bør | burde | (å) burde | burdet |
| should / ought to | should (have) / ought to | to ought to | (have) ought to |
One form for every subject: jeg bør, du bør, hun bør, vi bør, de bør. And like all modals, it governs a bare infinitive: du bør hvile, never du bør å hvile.
Du bør hvile litt — du ser sliten ut.
You should rest a bit — you look tired.
Sense 1: advice and recommendation ("should / ought to")
The core meaning of present bør is advisability: the speaker recommends a course of action as wise, sensible, or right. It is softer than a command and weaker than a necessity.
Du bør spise mer grønnsaker hvis du vil ha mer energi.
You should eat more vegetables if you want more energy.
Vi bør dra nå hvis vi skal rekke toget.
We should leave now if we're going to catch the train.
Man bør lese kontrakten nøye før man signerer.
One should read the contract carefully before signing.
This covers both personal advice ("you should rest") and general recommendations / norms ("one should read the contract") — the same range as English "should."
bør vs. må vs. skal: the force scale
The biggest English-speaker error is treating bør and må as interchangeable. They sit at different points on a scale of force:
| Modal | Force | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bør | weak — advisable | "should / ought to" — it's a good idea |
| skal | strong — imposed | "shall / is to" — a duty or plan set by someone |
| må | strongest — necessary | "must / have to" — no real alternative |
So du bør gå til legen recommends it; du må gå til legen says you have no choice. Picking må when you mean bør sounds alarmingly forceful — like ordering someone rather than advising them.
Du bør gå til legen med den hosten.
You should see a doctor about that cough. (advice)
Du må gå til legen — det kan være alvorlig.
You have to see a doctor — it could be serious. (necessity)
bør softens requests and opinions politely
Because bør only recommends, it is a natural politeness device. Stating something with bør rather than må (or a bare imperative) frames it as advice the listener is free to weigh — useful for softening suggestions, criticism, and opinions (see politeness strategies):
Kanskje du bør tenke litt mer over det før du bestemmer deg.
Maybe you should think it over a bit more before you decide.
Jeg synes du bør si fra til sjefen din om dette.
I think you should tell your boss about this.
bør jeg …? — asking for advice
In a yes/no question, bør asks for a recommendation — "should I …?" The modal inverts to the front, as all modals do:
Bør jeg gå nå, eller kan jeg vente litt?
Should I go now, or can I wait a bit?
Bør vi ta med paraply? Det ser ut som regn.
Should we bring an umbrella? It looks like rain.
Sense 2: burde — softer advice and "should have"
The preterite burde has two jobs. First, as a present-time softener: burde often sounds gentler and more tentative than bør, the way English "you ought to" or a past-tense "you should really …" softens advice. Many speakers use burde for delicate suggestions:
Du burde egentlig ta en pause snart.
You ought to take a break soon, really.
burde + ha + supine: the "should have" of hindsight
The second job is the high-value one. burde + ha + supine is the regret / hindsight construction — English "should have done." You are saying that, looking back, a different action would have been wise. It is structurally parallel to English ("should have called" = burde ha ringt), which makes it easy to learn but easy to forget to use:
Du burde ha ringt — vi var bekymret.
You should have called — we were worried.
Jeg burde ha visst at det var for godt til å være sant.
I should have known it was too good to be true.
Vi burde ha bestilt bord; nå er det fullt overalt.
We should have booked a table; now everywhere is full.
The pieces are fixed: burde (preterite) + ha + supine (the har-form: ringt, visst, gjort, sagt). Leaving out ha, or using present bør, changes the meaning from past regret to present advice.
Du burde ha sagt fra med en gang.
You should have said so right away.
The supine burdet — rare
For completeness: burde has a supine burdet, used in the perfect (har burdet). It is genuinely uncommon — you will far more often meet burde ha + another verb's supine than har burdet itself. Don't worry about producing it; just recognise it.
Common Mistakes
❌ Du må hvile litt. (intending gentle advice)
Too strong — this says 'you have to rest', a necessity, not advice.
✅ Du bør hvile litt.
You should rest a bit.
For advice, use bør. Må states necessity and sounds like a command.
❌ Du bør ha ringt.
Wrong form — present bør can't express past 'should have'.
✅ Du burde ha ringt.
You should have called.
"Should have" needs the preterite burde + ha + supine, not present bør.
❌ Du burde ringt. (intending 'should have called')
Missing ha — the perfect needs burde ha + supine.
✅ Du burde ha ringt.
You should have called.
The hindsight construction is burde ha ringt — the ha is obligatory.
❌ Du bør å hvile.
A modal takes a bare infinitive — no å.
✅ Du bør hvile.
You should rest.
Like every modal, bør governs a bare infinitive; never insert å.
❌ Du børde ha sagt fra.
Orthography — the preterite is burde (u), with no ø.
✅ Du burde ha sagt fra.
You should have said so.
Present bør has ø; preterite burde drops it to u. They are not spelled alike.
Key Takeaways
- bør (present, ø) = advice / recommendation / mild obligation: "should, ought to" — weaker than må.
- Force scale: bør (advisable) < skal (imposed duty) < må (necessary). Don't swap bør and må.
- bør takes a bare infinitive (du bør hvile) and inverts in questions (bør jeg gå?).
- burde (preterite, u, no ø) softens advice and, as burde ha + supine, means "should have" — regret and hindsight (du burde ha ringt).
- The supine burdet exists but is rare; recognise it, don't worry about producing it.
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
- må / måtte: Necessity and Strong InferenceA2 — The modal må (måtte / måttet) — necessity and obligation ('have to'), strong logical inference ('must be'), and the high-stakes fact that må ikke is ambiguous: it can mean 'must not' OR 'don't have to', so the clear forms (trenger ikke, får ikke) carry the load.
- 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 Conditional: ville/skulle + InfinitiveB1 — How Norwegian expresses English 'would' with the preterite modals ville and skulle, including the ville + infinitive vs ville + supine flexibility English lacks.
- Politeness Without a Formal 'You'A2 — Norwegian has no everyday 'please' word and no polite pronoun — so politeness lives in tone, modals and understatement. Why a bare 'Kan du hjelpe meg?' is perfectly polite, and why English speakers should dial their politeness routines down, not up.