Vi venter et kvarter.

Venter is the present tense form of the verb å vente.

• å vente = to wait
• venter = wait / am waiting / are waiting

In a normal statement, Norwegian uses the finite verb:

• Vi venter = we wait / we are waiting

You would only use å vente when you need the infinitive:

• Det er kjedelig å vente. = It is boring to wait.

In Norwegian, when you talk about how long someone waits, you can often use the time expression directly after the verb:

• Vi venter et kvarter.

This is a very natural Norwegian pattern. English often needs for, but Norwegian does not.

Compare:

• Vi sover åtte timer. = We sleep eight hours.
• Hun jobbet to dager. = She worked two days.

So here et kvarter expresses duration.

Et kvarter means a quarter of an hour, that is, fifteen minutes.

It is a fixed and very common time expression in Norwegian.

Examples:

• Vent et kvarter. = Wait fifteen minutes.
• Møtet varer et kvarter. = The meeting lasts fifteen minutes.

Because kvarter is a neuter noun in Norwegian, so it takes et in the indefinite singular.

• et kvarter = a quarter of an hour

In Norwegian, nouns usually have grammatical gender:

• en for many masculine/feminine nouns
• et for neuter nouns

So this is something you simply have to learn with the noun:

• et kvarter
• kvarteret = the quarter of an hour / the fifteen-minute period

Usually here, yes: it means a quarter of an hour.

But be careful: in Norwegian time expressions, kvarter is especially common for 15 minutes.

Examples:

• et kvarter = fifteen minutes
• tre kvarter = forty-five minutes

So in this sentence, it is not vague at all; it specifically means 15 minutes.

Because this is a normal declarative statement with standard Norwegian word order:

Subject + verb + other information

• Vi = subject
• venter = verb
• et kvarter = time duration

So:

• Vi venter et kvarter.

This is the most neutral word order in Norwegian.

Yes. Norwegian present tense often covers both the simple present and the present progressive meanings that English separates.

So Vi venter et kvarter can correspond to:

• We wait fifteen minutes
• We are waiting for fifteen minutes
• more naturally in context: We’ll wait fifteen minutes or We’re waiting fifteen minutes

The exact English translation depends on context.

No, not in normal usage.

Et kvarter by itself means a quarter of an hour / fifteen minutes, not quarter past.

To talk about clock time, Norwegian uses different expressions, such as:

• kvart over tre = quarter past three
• kvart på tre = quarter to three

So Vi venter et kvarter means waiting for fifteen minutes, not waiting until quarter past.

This is a very common question.

• vente

  • time expression = wait for a length of time
  • Vi venter et kvarter. = We wait fifteen minutes.

• vente på

  • person/thing = wait for someone/something
  • Vi venter på bussen. = We are waiting for the bus.
  • Jeg venter på Anna. = I am waiting for Anna.

So in your sentence, there is no på because et kvarter is a duration, not the thing being waited for.

Yes, you may hear that too, and it can also mean We wait for fifteen minutes.

However, Vi venter et kvarter is very natural and compact. Adding i can make the duration a bit more explicit.

Very roughly:

• Vi venter et kvarter. = We wait fifteen minutes.
• Vi venter i et kvarter. = We wait for fifteen minutes.

Both are understandable and idiomatic, but the version without i is very common.

Grammatically, venter is present tense, but Norwegian often uses the present tense for the near future too.

So depending on context, Vi venter et kvarter could mean:

• We are waiting fifteen minutes.
• We’ll wait fifteen minutes.

For example, if someone says Bussen er forsinket, then Vi venter et kvarter would naturally mean We’ll wait fifteen minutes.

Yes. Both are correct:

• Vi venter et kvarter.
• Vi venter femten minutter.

They mean the same thing.
Et kvarter is just a very common, natural way to say fifteen minutes.

The past tense of å vente is ventet:

• Vi ventet et kvarter. = We waited fifteen minutes.

Other useful forms:

• å vente = to wait
• venter = wait / am waiting / are waiting
• ventet = waited
• har ventet = have waited

So the sentence changes very simply:

• Vi venter et kvarter.
• Vi ventet et kvarter.