English forbids stacking modals. You cannot say you must can swim or I will can help — English plugs the gap with paraphrases (must be able to, will be able to). Norwegian has no such ban. It chains modal verbs freely: du må kunne svømme, jeg vil kunne hjelpe, han skal ville selge. Each modal governs the next, and the result packs two or three layers of modality into one tight verb cluster. Because their native language blocks the structure, English speakers systematically under-use it — they reach for clumsy paraphrases where a Norwegian would stack. This page shows how the chains are built, what they mean, and where the limits lie. It assumes you know the individual modals (see verbs/modals-overview).
The rule: one finite modal, the rest bare infinitives
In a modal stack, only the first modal is finite (tensed). Every modal after it appears as a bare infinitive — no å. The cluster reads left to right, each modal taking the next as its complement, and the lexical verb sits at the end, also as a bare infinitive.
Du må kunne svømme for å bli med på turen.
You have to be able to swim to come along on the trip.
Jeg vil gjerne kunne hjelpe deg mer.
I'd like to be able to help you more.
Han skal ville selge huset, har jeg hørt.
He apparently intends to want to sell the house, I've heard. (skal = reported; ville = intention)
Note the forms: after the finite modal, kunne, ville, måtte, burde, skulle, få all appear as infinitives, identical in spelling to the citation form. The Norwegian modals are convenient here because their infinitives (kunne, ville, måtte) are distinct from their present-tense finite forms (kan, vil, må), so the structure is visible: the second slot is unmistakably non-finite.
Meaning composition: read the stack from the outside in
A stack is not redundant — each modal contributes a distinct layer, and the leftmost (finite) modal scopes over everything to its right. Read skal kunne as skal [kunne svømme]: the outer skal (obligation/expectation) applies to the inner kunne svømme (ability to swim). The whole means "you are expected to have the ability to swim".
| Stack | Layers (outer → inner) | English |
|---|---|---|
| du skal kunne dette | expectation + ability | you ought to be able to know this |
| jeg vil kunne komme | prediction/intention + ability | I'll be able to come |
| han vil måtte betale | prediction + necessity | he'll have to pay |
| du burde kunne dette nå | advice + ability | you should be able to know this by now |
| jeg må få lov | necessity + permission ('get to') | I have to get permission |
Du skal kunne dette utenat til prøven.
You're supposed to be able to know this by heart for the test.
Med litt flaks vil jeg kunne rekke det siste toget.
With a bit of luck I'll be able to catch the last train.
Før eller siden vil de måtte ta stilling til saken.
Sooner or later they'll have to take a stance on the matter.
The English column shows the cost of having no stacking: every Norwegian two-modal cluster becomes a modal + be able to / have to periphrasis. Norwegian compresses that into two short modals.
The "get to" stack: må få, skal få, vil få
The modal-like få ("get to, be allowed to, manage to") is a hugely productive second member. Må få = "have to get/be allowed to"; skal få = "shall be allowed to / will get to". See verbs/modal-få for få on its own; in a stack it slots in like any other infinitive.
Jeg må få lov til å si min mening her.
I have to be allowed to say my opinion here.
Du skal få vite alt når tiden er inne.
You'll get to know everything when the time is right.
Vi vil få se hvordan det går.
We'll get to see how it goes.
Modal + perfect: the epistemic and counterfactual stack
A different but related construction stacks a modal over a perfect infinitive — ha + supine. Here the modal expresses a judgement about the past: an inference (epistemic) or a counterfactual regret. The shape is modal + ha + supine (må ha gjort, burde ha visst, kunne ha vært). This is covered more fully in verbs/perfect-with-modals; what matters here is that it slots into the same chaining logic — and can even combine with a kunne/måtte layer.
Han må ha glemt avtalen — han pleier aldri å komme for sent.
He must have forgotten the appointment — he's never usually late. (epistemic inference)
Jeg burde ha visst bedre enn å stole på ham.
I should have known better than to trust him. (counterfactual regret)
Det kunne ha gått mye verre.
It could have gone much worse. (counterfactual possibility)
Crucially, only one ha appears, governed by the last modal in the chain, and the supine (gjort, visst, vært) is the non-finite past form. You do not double up the perfect.
Ordering tendencies and limits
The modals are not freely permutable — meaning fixes the order, because the outer modal scopes over the inner. Du må kunne svømme ("you must be able to swim") and du kan måtte svømme ("you may have to swim") are both grammatical but mean different things: the order encodes which modality is on top. Some pairings are natural (skal kunne, vil måtte, burde kunne, må få) while others are pragmatically odd or rare (?kan ville). Three-modal stacks exist but are uncommon and usually involve få or a perfect:
Du skal kunne få lov til å klage.
You should be able to be allowed to complain. (three-layer — formal/officialese)
In practice, two-modal stacks are everyday and ubiquitous; three-modal stacks belong to careful or bureaucratic writing. Don't force a triple just because the grammar permits it.
Common Mistakes
1. Avoiding the stack and importing the English paraphrase. The biggest error is not ungrammaticality but under-use: writing vil være i stand til å hjelpe where vil kunne hjelpe is shorter and more idiomatic.
❌ Jeg vil være i stand til å kunne hjelpe deg.
Clumsy and redundant — calques 'be able to' on top of the modal.
✅ Jeg vil kunne hjelpe deg.
I'll be able to help you.
2. Putting the second modal in a finite form. English's must has no infinitive, so learners forget Norwegian's do.
❌ Du må kan svømme.
Incorrect — the second modal must be the infinitive kunne, not the finite kan.
✅ Du må kunne svømme.
You have to be able to swim.
3. Inserting å between the modals. Modals govern bare infinitives; no å.
❌ Han vil å måtte betale.
Incorrect — no å between stacked modals.
✅ Han vil måtte betale.
He'll have to pay.
4. Doubling the perfect auxiliary in a modal+perfect stack. Only the last modal takes ha + supine.
❌ Han må ha kunne ha gjort det.
Incorrect — only one ha + supine.
✅ Han må ha kunnet gjøre det.
He must have been able to do it. (kunne → supine kunnet, then bare infinitive gjøre)
5. Mis-ordering the modals and inverting the meaning. Order is meaning; check which modality is on top.
❌ Du kan måtte dette nå. (meaning 'you should be able to know this')
Wrong stack — this says 'you may have to', not the intended 'you ought to be able to'.
✅ Du burde kunne dette nå.
You should be able to know this by now.
Key Takeaways
- Norwegian stacks modals freely: the first is finite, every later modal is a bare infinitive, and the lexical verb ends the cluster.
- Read a stack outside-in: the leftmost modal scopes over the rest, so order encodes meaning (må kunne ≠ kan måtte).
- Få ("get to") and the perfect infinitive (ha
- supine) are the most productive second members; vil kunne, vil måtte, burde kunne, må få are everyday.
- English bans double modals, so learners under-use this resource. Convert will/must be able to and will have to into stacks and your Norwegian will instantly sound more native.
Now practice Norwegian
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- 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.
- Perfect with Modals: må ha glemt, skulle ha sagt, har måttetB2 — The two ways modals combine with the perfect — modal + ha + supine for past modality ('must have forgotten', 'should have said'), and har/hadde + modal supine ('I've had to work').
- Modals Without a Main Verb (jeg må hjem)B1 — The very Norwegian ellipsis where a modal stands alone with a direction or place word and no verb of motion — jeg må hjem ('I have to go home'), vil du med? ('want to come along?') — one of the clearest markers of native-sounding Norwegian.
- få: Get, Be Allowed, ManageB1 — The multifunctional få — main verb 'get/receive', the permission/prohibition modal (får ikke = 'is NOT allowed to'), 'manage to', and the resultative få + supine ('get something done').