Vi må fullføre jobben.

Because må is a modal verb, and in Norwegian modal verbs are followed by the bare infinitive.

So:

• Vi må fullføre jobben. = We must finish the job.

Not:

• Vi må å fullføre jobben. ❌

This is similar to English, where we say must finish, not must to finish.

Other common Norwegian modal verbs that work the same way are:

• kan = can
• skal = shall / will / am going to
• vil = want to / will
• bør = should

Examples:

• Jeg kan svømme. = I can swim.
• Du bør lese dette. = You should read this.

Jobben is the definite form of jobb.

• en jobb = a job
• jobben = the job

In Norwegian, definiteness is usually shown by adding an ending to the noun.

So:

• Vi må fullføre jobb. ❌
• Vi må fullføre jobben. ✅

Here, jobben means a specific job or task that both speaker and listener know about: the job.

Here is the breakdown:

• Vi = we
• må = must / have to
• fullføre = complete / finish
• jobben = the job

So the structure is:

• subject
  • modal verb
    • main verb
      • object

That gives:

• Vi
  • må
    • fullføre
      • jobben

This is a very common Norwegian sentence pattern.

Må often translates as both must and have to.

In many everyday situations, Norwegian må is used where English speakers might say either:

• We must finish the job
• We have to finish the job

So må can express:

• necessity
• obligation
• something unavoidable

Examples:

• Jeg må gå nå. = I must go now / I have to go now.
• Vi må vente. = We must wait / We have to wait.

In everyday speech, må is extremely common and natural.

A rough guide:

• vi sounds like vee
• må has a long vowel a bit like the vowel in British more, but not exactly the same
• fullføre is roughly fool-FUH-reh, though the exact vowels are more Norwegian than English

A few pronunciation notes:

• å is a separate Norwegian vowel, not the same as English a
• ll in fullføre is a normal l sound
• the final -e in fullføre is pronounced, unlike many silent final e letters in English

A learner does not need perfect pronunciation right away, but it helps to notice that må is one syllable and fullføre has three.

This is the normal word order for a main clause in Norwegian:

• subject
  • finite verb
    • rest of sentence

Here:

• Vi = subject
• må = finite verb
• fullføre = infinitive verb
• jobben = object

So the sentence follows standard Norwegian word order.

Because må is the conjugated verb, it comes right after the subject.

This is why:

• Vi må fullføre jobben. ✅

and not:

• Vi fullføre må jobben. ❌
• Vi jobben må fullføre. ❌

Yes. Fullføre often means complete, carry through, or finish fully.

So depending on context, the sentence could be understood as:

• We must finish the job.
• We must complete the job.

Compared with gjøre ferdig, fullføre can sound a little more formal or more focused on bringing something to completion.

Examples:

• fullføre et prosjekt = complete a project
• fullføre utdanningen = complete one’s education

So fullføre jobben is a natural phrase.

Yes, that is also natural.

• Vi må fullføre jobben.
• Vi må gjøre ferdig jobben.

Both can mean We must finish the job.

A small difference:

• fullføre often sounds a bit more like complete
• gjøre ferdig often sounds a bit more like get finished / make ready

In many everyday contexts, both work fine.

You move the finite verb må before the subject:

• Må vi fullføre jobben? = Must we finish the job?

This is standard Norwegian question formation for yes/no questions.

Compare:

• Vi må fullføre jobben. = We must finish the job.
• Må vi fullføre jobben? = Must we finish the job?

Usually ikke comes after the modal verb:

• Vi må ikke fullføre jobben.

This means:

• We must not finish the job.

That is important, because in English don’t have to and must not are different.

If you want to say We don’t have to finish the job, Norwegian often uses:

• Vi trenger ikke fullføre jobben.
• Vi behøver ikke fullføre jobben.

So:

• Vi må ikke fullføre jobben. = We must not finish the job.
• Vi trenger ikke fullføre jobben. = We don’t need to finish the job.

Yes, jobb is normally a common-gender noun in Bokmål, so you use:

• en jobb
• jobben

In Bokmål, common gender covers what used to be masculine and many feminine nouns in practice.

So for this sentence, jobben is the correct definite form.