Norwegian has two ways to make a passive. This page covers the s-passive — the one you build by gluing a single -s onto the verb. It looks effortless, but it is not a free synonym of the longer bli-passive: it has a strong flavour of rules, instructions and general truths, and it lives almost entirely in the present tense and the infinitive. Learn that flavour and you will reach for it in exactly the right places.
How to form it: just add -s
The recipe is mechanical. Take the infinitive or the present tense of the verb and add -s.
- selge → selges ("is sold")
- åpne → åpnes ("is opened")
- gjøre → gjøres ("is done")
Because Norwegian present-tense forms usually end in -er, the s-passive present typically ends in -es: selger → selges, sender → sendes. The cleanest way to think about it is that the -s replaces the personal/active ending, so you are really attaching it to the stem of the present.
Billettene selges ved inngangen.
The tickets are sold at the entrance.
Døra åpnes klokka ni hver morgen.
The door is opened at nine every morning.
After a modal verb you attach -s to the bare infinitive, which is extremely common in notices and rules:
Dette kan ikke forklares så lett.
This cannot be explained so easily.
Døra må låses når dere går.
The door must be locked when you leave.
Orthography: watch stems that already end in -s
You add exactly one -s, never two, and never a vowel to "help" it. The traps are verbs whose stem already ends in a sibilant. Lese ("read") has the present leser; its s-passive is leses, not leses-es or lesses. Likewise reise → reises, spise → spises. One clean -s is all you ever add.
Boka leses i mange klasserom over hele landet.
The book is read in many classrooms across the country.
The flavour: rules, signs, recipes and general truths
This is the heart of the page. The s-passive is not stylistically neutral. It carries a generic, regulatory tone: it states what is done in general, by anyone, as a standing rule — rather than reporting a particular event that happened to a particular thing. That is exactly why you see it on signs, in instructions, in laws and in recipes.
Øl selges ikke til mindreårige.
Beer is not sold to minors.
Sykler parkeres utenfor.
Bicycles are to be parked outside.
Notice that none of these describe a single moment. They describe policy: this is how things are done here, always, to anyone. English often reaches for "is to be" or a bare imperative ("park outside") where Norwegian uses a calm s-passive.
Recipes are the textbook case. Each step is a general instruction, not a report of something that happened, so the s-passive is the natural register:
Eggene piskes til de er stive, og sukkeret tilsettes litt etter litt.
The eggs are whisked until stiff, and the sugar is added little by little.
Suppa serveres varm med et dryss persille.
The soup is served hot with a sprinkle of parsley.
Register: formal and written
Beyond signs and recipes, the s-passive is simply more formal and more written. In a contract, an official letter, a regulation or an academic paper, the s-passive is everywhere because those texts deal in general rules and impersonal procedures. (For the wider picture of formal style, see register/formal-written.)
Søknaden behandles innen tre uker.
The application is processed within three weeks.
Avgjørelsen kan påklages til departementet.
The decision may be appealed to the ministry.
In casual speech the same idea usually comes out as a bli-passive instead, because conversation reports concrete events rather than stating policy. Choosing between the two is the job of a dedicated page — see choosing/s-passive-vs-bli-passive — but the rule of thumb is: general/written/present → s-passive; specific/spoken/past → bli-passive.
The past-tense gap — and why it matters
Here is the honest difficulty. There is a historical preterite s-passive (selgtes, gjordes), but in modern Norwegian it is archaic and essentially dead outside a few frozen phrases and old legal language. Do not build it. For any specific past event, Norwegian uses the bli-passive:
Bilen ble solgt i går.
The car was sold yesterday.
You will, however, still meet a past-time s-passive when the meaning is habitual or rule-like rather than a single event — because then you are back in the s-passive's home territory of general truths, and the verb can sit inside a past-tense frame carried by a modal or an auxiliary:
Den gangen skulle alkohol bare selges på apoteket.
Back then alcohol was only to be sold at the pharmacy.
The modal skulle carries the past time; the lexical verb selges stays in its s-form. This is the safe way to keep a generic flavour in the past — never the bare selgtes.
Common Mistakes
English speakers reach for the s-passive too often (it looks like the "easy" passive) and try to use it in the past. These are the errors to watch.
❌ Bilen selgtes i går.
Incorrect — the preterite s-passive (selgtes) is archaic; a specific past event needs the bli-passive.
✅ Bilen ble solgt i går.
The car was sold yesterday.
❌ Døra åpnes av læreren i sted.
Incorrect — a single past event by a specific agent is not the s-passive's job.
✅ Døra ble åpnet av læreren i sted.
The door was opened by the teacher a moment ago.
❌ Kan du fortelle meg når middagen serves?
Incorrect — one clean -s is added to the stem: serveres, not serves.
✅ Kan du fortelle meg når middagen serveres?
Can you tell me when dinner is served?
❌ I går behandles søknaden min.
Incorrect — the s-passive cannot carry past time on its own; use a past auxiliary or the bli-passive.
✅ I går ble søknaden min behandlet.
My application was processed yesterday.
A subtler error is overusing the s-passive in everyday speech. Saying Vinduet knuses to report that a window got broken last night sounds like a standing rule ("windows get broken," as policy) rather than an event. For the concrete event you want Vinduet ble knust.
Key Takeaways
- The s-passive is formed by adding one -s to the present or infinitive: selges, åpnes, kan gjøres.
- It carries a generic, regulatory flavour — signs, rules, recipes, contracts — and belongs to formal/written register.
- It lives in the present and infinitive; the preterite s-passive is archaic — use the bli-passive for specific past events.
- The two passives split by aspect and register, not freely: general truth vs concrete event. The decision page is choosing/s-passive-vs-bli-passive.
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
- The bli-PassiveB1 — How to form the periphrastic bli + past participle passive (ble åpnet, blir valgt, har blitt bygd) and why it — not the s-passive — is the default for specific events.
- s-Passive vs bli-PassiveB2 — When to use the synthetic s-passive (rules, recipes, signs, the present/infinitive) versus the periphrastic bli-passive (specific events, every tense, the spoken default) — with a decision table.
- Formal and Bureaucratic NorwegianB2 — The noun-heavy, passive-heavy kansellistil of officialdom, the Danish/Latinate connectors that mark it, and the official klarspråk movement pushing agencies toward plain language.
- Choosing a Passive by Register and AspectC1 — A decision guide for Norwegian's five passive strategies — bli, -s, være + participle, få, and the impersonal det-passive — by aspect, register, tense, and which argument you promote.
- Deponent s-Verbs: synes, finnes, trivesB1 — The lexical -s verbs that are never passives — synes, finnes, trives, lykkes — and the three-way 'think' split between synes, tror and mener.