Questions & Answers about Været kan endre seg raskt.
In Norwegian, when you talk about the weather in general, you normally use the definite form. Unlike English where we say weather without an article, Norwegian uses været (the weather) even for general statements.
• Vær (indefinite) would imply “a kind of weather” rather than the weather as a whole.
• Været covers the entire phenomenon (“the weather can change quickly”).
Kan is a modal verb meaning “can” or “may.” It modifies the main verb by expressing ability or possibility. In this case it signals that changing quickly is possible:
• kan + bare infinitiv (no å)
• Structure: kan (modal) + endre (infinitive) + seg (reflexive pronoun)
Endre alone is a transitive verb (“to change something”). By adding the reflexive pronoun seg, it becomes intransitive (“to change itself”), which is how we talk about weather:
• endre seg = “to change itself”
• Without seg, you’d need a direct object (e.g. endre planen = “change the plan”).