Modal Verbs: Overview

Modal verbs are the small helper verbs that colour an action with possibility, necessity, intention or permission: can, want, shall, must, should. Norwegian has a tight set of six core modals, and they share two features that make them feel familiar to an English speaker: their present tense takes no ending (just like English "I can," "she can" — no -s), and they govern a bare infinitive with no å. This page maps the whole system. Each modal gets its own deep-dive page (verbs/modal-kan, verbs/modal-må, and so on); here you learn the pattern they all share.

The six core modals

A note on that last row: få ("get") works as a modal in the permission sense (får jeg "may I"), but unlike the other five it is also an ordinary main verb ("get, receive") and its present får does carry an -r. The five "pure" modals — kan, vil, skal, må, bør — are the ones with the striking endingless present, so they are where we'll focus.

Feature 1: the present takes no -r

Norwegian's regular present adds -r to the stem (kaster, spiser). The five core modals break this rule: their present has no ending at all.

And — exactly as in English — the form is identical for every subject. Jeg kan, du kan, han kan, vi kan, de kan: one form, all persons.

Feature 2: a bare infinitive — no å

The infinitive marker in Norwegian is å ("to"): å spise, å gå. But after a modal, that å disappears. The modal is followed by a bare infinitive. This matches English perfectly — we say "I can swim," never "I can to swim."

There is no å anywhere in those sentences. Kan svømme, not kan å svømme. This is one of the most common learner errors, partly because the standalone infinitive does take å (Å svømme er sunt "Swimming is healthy"), so the instinct to insert it is strong.

The preterite forms (and a tense quirk)

The preterite (simple past) of the modals is the -e form that doubles as the infinitive stem: kunne, ville, skulle, måtte, burde. So the same shape kunne can be either the infinitive ("to be able") or the preterite ("could").

These preterite modals are also how Norwegian softens a request or expresses a hypothetical, much like English "could you" or "would you": Kunne du hjelpe meg? ("Could you help me?") is politer than the blunt Kan du hjelpe meg?.

Stacking modals and the perfect

Because the form after a modal is a bare infinitive, you can chain a modal onto another modal's infinitive. English does this awkwardly ("I will be able to…"); Norwegian does it cleanly with the infinitive kunne:

Here skal (present modal) governs the bare infinitive kunne ("to be able"), which in turn governs svare. You can also put a modal into the perfect with the supine forms in the table (har kunnet, har måttet), though these are less frequent.

Modals can stand alone — the directional ellipsis

This is the feature that marks out natural Norwegian, and English does not allow it. When a directional or locational phrase makes the verb obvious, Norwegian lets you drop the infinitive entirely and keep just the modal plus the destination. The motion verb ("go," "travel") is recoverable from context, so it simply isn't said.

In each case English forces an explicit verb of motion ("go," "go out"), but Norwegian leaves it unspoken because the direction word (hjem, til Oslo, ut, på jobb) already implies "go." Saying jeg må hjem rather than jeg må dra hjem is not lazy or incomplete — it is the idiomatic, fully grammatical default. Mastering this ellipsis is one of the quickest ways to stop sounding like a textbook.

A word on meanings (briefly)

The full nuances live on each modal's own page, but a one-line orientation helps:

• kan — ability and possibility ("can"), also informal permission ("may").
• vil — want / volition first, prediction second. Not a plain "will." (See verbs/modal-vil.)
• skal — intention, arrangement, obligation imposed from outside ("you are to…"), and the planned future.
• må — necessity and obligation ("must, have to"). Also strong inference ("must be"): Han må være syk "He must be ill."
• bør — recommendation, "should / ought to" — weaker than må.

Common Mistakes

After a modal, the infinitive is bare — no å. This is the single most frequent modal error.

The five core modals take no present ending. Kan, not kanner; må, not mår.

Don't map English "will" onto vil. Vil means want; for a promise or neutral future, use skal.

With a direction word, omit the motion verb: jeg må hjem. Including gå is grammatical but sounds heavier than natural Norwegian.

Key Takeaways

• Six modals: kan, vil, skal, må, bør (the five pure ones) plus få (permission).
• The pure modals' present takes no ending: kan, vil, skal, må, bør — same for every subject.
• A modal governs a bare infinitive — no å: kan svømme, not kan å svømme.
• Preterites: kunne, ville, skulle, måtte, burde (also used for polite/hypothetical requests).
• A modal can stand without its verb when a direction word makes it recoverable: jeg må hjem.
• vil = want, not "will" — for a neutral future use skal or kommer til å.