Møtet slutter klokken tre.

The meeting ends at three o’clock.

Breakdown of Møtet slutter klokken tre.

• møtet: the meeting
• klokken: the clock
• slutte: to end
• tre: three

Questions & Answers about Møtet slutter klokken tre.

What does slutter mean in this sentence?

slutter is the present tense of the intransitive verb slutte, which means “to end” or “to finish.” Here it tells us that the meeting itself comes to a close at three o’clock.

Why is there no word for “at” before the time, like in English (“ends at three”)?

In Norwegian you don’t need a preposition for clock times. You simply state the time expression after the verb or subject. Thus slutter klokken tre already conveys “ends at three o’clock” without an extra word.

Can I drop klokken and just say Møtet slutter tre?

No, when you give a clock time in a neutral sentence, you normally introduce it with klokken (or its colloquial form klokka). So you would say Møtet slutter klokken tre. In speech you might hear Klokka tre slutter møtet, but not slutter tre on its own.

What’s the difference between klokken and klokke?

klokke is the indefinite form (“a clock” or “o’clock” in general), whereas klokken is the definite form, literally “the clock.” In time expressions you always use the definite form: klokken tre = “the clock three,” i.e. “three o’clock.”

How do I specify that it’s 3 p.m. (afternoon) rather than 3 a.m.?

You have two common options:
• Use a part-of-day phrase:
Møtet slutter klokken tre på ettermiddagen (“…at three in the afternoon”).
• Use 24-hour notation:
Møtet slutter klokken 15.

How do you ask “When does the meeting end?” in Norwegian?

Use the question word Når (“When”) plus inversion:
Når slutter møtet?
You can reply simply Klokken tre.

Can I move the time expression to the front? For example, “Klokken tre slutter møtet”?

Yes. Norwegian follows V2 word order, so if you start with Klokken tre, you must invert subject and verb:
• Klokken tre slutter møtet.
This is grammatically correct, but the neutral order is Møtet slutter klokken tre.

Why use slutte and not avslutte here?

slutte is intransitive (“to end” – the meeting ends by itself). avslutte is transitive (“to finish something” – you finish a task or close a program). Since the meeting is ending on its own, you use slutte.