Weak Class 1: -et / -a (kaste) | Norwegian Grammar

Class 1 is the default Norwegian verb class — the one to guess when you have no other information. Its defining feature is the simplest in the whole system: the preterite and the supine are identical, both ending in -et. Å kaste → kastet ("threw") → har kastet ("have thrown"). This page covers which verbs belong here, why preterite and supine collapse into one form, and the -a variant (kasta, snakka) that is fully correct Bokmål and everywhere in real speech.

The pattern

Infinitive	Present	Preterite	Supine (har + …)	English
å kaste	kaster	kastet	har kastet	throw
å snakke	snakker	snakket	har snakket	speak
å vaske	vasker	vasket	har vasket	wash
å hoppe	hopper	hoppet	har hoppet	jump
å jobbe	jobber	jobbet	har jobbet	work
å danse	danser	danset	har danset	dance

The rule: take the stem (infinitive minus -e), add -et for both the preterite and the supine. There is no shorter supine to remember — har kastet simply reuses the preterite. This makes Class 1 the easiest class to handle once you know a verb belongs to it.

Jeg kastet alle de gamle avisene i går.

I threw out all the old newspapers yesterday.

Vi snakket om turen i flere timer.

We talked about the trip for hours.

Har du vasket hendene?

Have you washed your hands?

Which verbs are Class 1?

The reliable signal is the shape of the stem. Class 1 strongly favours stems ending in two or more consonants or in a doubled consonant:

snakke (snakk-), jobbe (jobb-), hoppe (hopp-), vaske (vask-), danse (dans-), kaste (kast-), lage (lag-), handle (handl-), vente (vent-), huske (husk-).

Because Class 1 is the largest class and the historical default, when a brand-new or borrowed verb enters Norwegian it almost always joins Class 1: å google → googlet, å chatte → chattet, å like (on social media) → likte is Class 2, but most loanwords (å booste, å streame) land in Class 1 (boostet, streamet). That makes Class 1 the safe bet for unfamiliar verbs.

Hun jobbet hjemmefra hele forrige uke.

She worked from home all last week.

Vi danset til klokka tre om natta.

We danced until three in the morning.

The -a variant: fully correct Bokmål

Every Class 1 verb has a second, equally correct preterite and supine ending in -a: kasta, snakka, jobba, hoppa, vaska. This is not slang and not an error — it is sanctioned Bokmål (the radical / a-form tradition) and is the dominant choice in everyday speech across most of Norway, in text messages, and increasingly in published prose.

Infinitive	Preterite (-et)	Preterite (-a)	Supine (-et)	Supine (-a)
å kaste	kastet	kasta	har kastet	har kasta
å snakke	snakket	snakka	har snakket	har snakka
å jobbe	jobbet	jobba	har jobbet	har jobba

Both the preterite and the supine take -a together — you say jeg snakka and jeg har snakka, not a mix.

Jeg snakka med sjefen i dag.

I talked to the boss today.

Vi har jobba med dette prosjektet i månedsvis.

We've been working on this project for months.

Hvem kasta søpla i feil dunk?

Who threw the rubbish in the wrong bin?

💡

Register guidance: -et is the more conservative / written-neutral choice and is never wrong; -a is the more spoken / informal choice (and the radical-Bokmål written norm). For a job application or formal report, lean -et. In a text to a friend, -a sounds natural and -et can sound slightly stiff. Crucially: be consistent within a text — don't write snakka in one sentence and jobbet in the next.

Single-consonant stems can still be Class 1

The cluster heuristic ("two consonants → Class 1") is reliable, but the reverse is not: a single stem-final consonant does not guarantee Class 2. A number of common verbs end in just one consonant yet stay in Class 1, taking -et/-a:

å rote (to make a mess) → rotet / rota → har rotet / har rota
å vente → ventet / venta → har ventet / har venta

(Vente ends in the cluster -nt, so the rule of thumb already flags it as Class 1; rote is the genuinely tricky one, a single-t stem that nonetheless takes -et, never *rotte.) Most single-consonant stems, though, belong to Class 2 (spise, lese), which is exactly why the Class 1 vs Class 2 choice needs care. When the stem ends in two consonants, you are almost always safe with Class 1; when it ends in one, you have to know the verb.

Vi venta i kø i over en time.

We waited in line for over an hour.

Common Mistakes

1. Assigning Class 2 (-te) to a Class 1 verb. English speakers hear "spoke" and reach for a -te form, but snakke is Class 1.

❌ Jeg snakte med henne i går.

Incorrect — 'snakke' is Class 1: 'snakket' or 'snakka'.

✅ Jeg snakket med henne i går.

I spoke with her yesterday.

2. Shortening the supine. Class 1 keeps the full -et in the supine — there is nothing to drop.

❌ Har du vask bilen?

Incorrect — the supine is 'vasket', not 'vask'.

✅ Har du vasket bilen?

Have you washed the car?

3. Mixing -et and -a in the same form. You can choose -et or -a, but not blend them or pick a third spelling.

❌ Vi jobbete hele helga.

Incorrect — it's 'jobbet' or 'jobba', never 'jobbete'.

✅ Vi jobbet hele helga.

We worked all weekend.

4. Treating -a as wrong or slang. Learners over-correct -a back to -et even in casual contexts, which makes their speech sound oddly formal.

❌ Æsj, jeg rotet det til igjen. (when texting a friend, this sounds stiff)

Stylistically off in casual register — 'rota' fits better.

✅ Æsj, jeg rota det til igjen.

Ugh, I messed it up again.

Key takeaways

Class 1 is the default class: preterite and supine are both -et (or both -a).
Stems ending in two or more consonants (snakke, jobbe, vaske, kaste) are almost always Class 1.
The -a variant (snakka, jobba) is fully correct Bokmål and standard in speech — use it for informal register, -et for formal, and stay consistent.
New and borrowed verbs default to Class 1: å google → googlet.

Now practice Norwegian

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Norwegian→