Hittil har vi ventet lenge.

to have

Breakdown of Hittil har vi ventet lenge.

• vi: we
• vente: to wait
• lenge: for a long time

Questions & Answers about Hittil har vi ventet lenge.

Why is the word order Hittil har vi ventet and not Hittil vi har ventet?

Because Norwegian follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb must come in the second position.

In this sentence:

• Hittil = first element
• har = finite verb, so it must come second
• vi = subject
• ventet lenge = rest of the sentence

So:

• Hittil har vi ventet lenge. ✅
• Hittil vi har ventet lenge. ❌

If you start with the subject instead, you get:

• Vi har hittil ventet lenge.

That is also possible, but the original sentence puts more emphasis on hittil.

What does hittil mean exactly?

Hittil means so far, up to now, or until now.

It refers to everything up to the present moment.

Examples:

• Hittil har alt gått bra. = So far, everything has gone well.
• Hittil vet vi veldig lite. = So far, we know very little.

In your sentence, hittil tells us that the waiting has lasted up to now.

Why does the sentence use har ventet instead of just ventet?