Questions & Answers about Jeg er helt trøtt i kveld.
Helt literally means completely / totally, but in everyday speech it often just means very.
In this sentence, Jeg er helt trøtt i kveld is close to:
- I’m really tired tonight.
- I’m very tired tonight.
Strength comparison (roughly, from weaker to stronger):
- litt trøtt – a bit tired
- ganske trøtt – quite/pretty tired
- veldig trøtt – very tired
- helt trøtt – totally / really tired (often sounds a bit more dramatic)
- kjempetrøtt / drittrøtt – extremely tired (very colloquial)
So helt here adds emphasis, but it’s common and natural in everyday speech.
Yes, you can absolutely say Jeg er trøtt i kveld.
- Jeg er trøtt i kveld = I’m tired tonight.
- Jeg er helt trøtt i kveld = I’m really / totally tired tonight.
Without helt, it’s a neutral statement: you are tired. With helt, you’re stressing how tired you are. The sentence is still perfectly correct and natural either way.
These three can all be related to “tired”, but they’re used a bit differently:
trøtt
- Most common general word for tired.
- Can be from lack of sleep, long day, etc.
- Jeg er trøtt – I’m tired.
søvnig
- More specifically sleepy / drowsy, like you’re about to fall asleep.
- Less common in casual speech than trøtt.
- Jeg er veldig søvnig – I’m very sleepy.
sliten
- Worn out / exhausted, often after work, exercise, or stress.
- Can be physically or mentally exhausted.
- Jeg er helt sliten etter jobb – I’m completely worn out after work.
In Jeg er helt trøtt i kveld, trøtt is the normal, everyday choice. You could also say helt sliten if you want to emphasize being exhausted from effort.
For time expressions like this evening / tonight, Norwegian typically uses i + a part of the day:
- i dag – today
- i går – yesterday
- i morgen – tomorrow
- i kveld – this evening / tonight (in the evening)
- i natt – tonight (during the night) / last night, depending on context
So:
- i kveld = this evening / tonight (after work, in the evening hours)
- denne kvelden = this (particular) evening (more specific, less common in casual speech for just “tonight”)
- på kvelden = in the evenings (generally, as a habit), e.g. Jeg er ofte trøtt på kvelden – I’m often tired in the evenings.
In your sentence, i kveld is the natural way to say tonight / this evening.
Yes. English splits evening and night, but Norwegian time words work a bit differently:
i kveld
- The evening period (after work/late afternoon until you go to bed).
- Often translated as both this evening and tonight, depending on English context.
- Jeg er helt trøtt i kveld – I’m really tired tonight (this evening).
i natt
- The night period (when people are usually sleeping, late night).
- Can mean tonight (the coming night) or last night, depending on context:
- Jeg skal jobbe i natt – I’m working tonight (during the night).
- Jeg sov dårlig i natt – I slept badly last night.
So if you mean the time before going to bed, i kveld is correct. For the middle of the night, i natt is used.
Yes, that is correct.
Two common word orders are:
- Jeg er helt trøtt i kveld.
- I kveld er jeg helt trøtt.
Both are grammatical. The difference is in emphasis:
- Jeg er helt trøtt i kveld. – neutral, focusing on being tired, and adding tonight at the end.
- I kveld er jeg helt trøtt. – puts extra focus on tonight (e.g., maybe you’re not usually tired, but tonight you are).
Norwegian main clauses generally follow the V2 rule: the verb (er) must be second element:
- I kveld (1st element) er (2nd element) jeg helt trøtt.
In this sentence, trøtt is an adjective used after the verb (predicative form). In Bokmål, it agrees with number (and sometimes gender) of the subject:
Singular:
- Jeg er trøtt. – I am tired.
- Han er trøtt. – He is tired.
- Hun er trøtt. – She is tired.
Plural:
- Vi er trøtte. – We are tired.
- De er trøtte. – They are tired.
So:
- Singular: trøtt
- Plural: trøtte
There’s no special neuter form in this predicative position for trøtt. You don’t need to change anything for jeg; Jeg er trøtt is always correct.
Each verb would give a different meaning:
Jeg er helt trøtt i kveld.
- er = am (present state)
- You are already tired now, this evening.
Jeg blir helt trøtt i kveld.
- blir = become / get
- Means “I (will) get really tired tonight.” It focuses on the change to a tired state, often about something that will happen.
Jeg var helt trøtt i kveld.
- var = was (past)
- Refers to a past evening: “I was really tired tonight/this evening” (you’re describing something that already happened).
For simply stating how you feel now this evening, er is the right choice.
Approximate pronunciation (Bokmål, standard-ish):
- jeg – often like yai [jai] (in many dialects closer to jæ [jæ])
- er – like English air, but shorter [ær]
- helt – helt, but often the t is weak or almost silent; hel or helt [heːlt/heːl]
- trøtt – treut with rounded lips; like truht with an ö sound [trøt] (final t is usually clear)
- i – like English ee [iː]
- kveld – like kvel [kʋel] (final d often dropped in casual speech)
Put together roughly as:
- yai ehr helt trøtt ee kvel (very rough English approximation)
Main things to notice:
- The ø in trøtt is a rounded vowel (like the vowel in French peu).
- The d in kveld is usually not pronounced in everyday speech.
- jeg is rarely pronounced with a full “g” sound.
Jeg er helt trøtt i kveld is neutral and very natural in almost any context:
- Fine with friends and family.
- Fine with colleagues.
- Fine in polite conversation.
It’s not slangy or rude, and not very formal either. It’s just normal, everyday Norwegian.