Vi venter et kvarter.

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Breakdown of Vi venter et kvarter.

• vente: to wait
• et kvarter: fifteen minutes

Questions & Answers about Vi venter et kvarter.

Why is it venter and not å vente?

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.

Why is there no word for for, as in wait for fifteen minutes?

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.

What exactly does et kvarter mean?

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.