Vi gleder oss til bryllupet.

We are looking forward to the wedding.

Breakdown of Vi gleder oss til bryllupet.

• vi: we
• oss: us
• glede seg til: to look forward to
• bryllupet: the wedding

Questions & Answers about Vi gleder oss til bryllupet.

What does gleder oss literally mean, and why is it translated as are looking forward?

Literally, gleder oss comes from the verb å glede (to make happy / to delight) plus the reflexive pronoun oss (ourselves).

So Vi gleder oss til bryllupet is literally something like We are making ourselves happy about the wedding.

In real, natural English, this idiom corresponds to We are looking forward to the wedding.
So å glede seg til noe is best learned as a fixed expression meaning to look forward to something.

Why do we need oss here? Why can’t we just say Vi gleder til bryllupet?

You must include oss because glede seg til is a reflexive verb in Norwegian.

Pattern:

• jeg gleder meg
• du gleder deg
• han / hun / den / det gleder seg
• vi gleder oss
• dere gleder dere
• de gleder seg

Without the reflexive pronoun, glede usually means to please / to make someone happy:

• Det gleder meg = It pleases me / It makes me happy.

But the idiom glede seg til (look forward to) always needs the reflexive pronoun:

• ✅ Vi gleder oss til bryllupet.
• ❌ Vi gleder til bryllupet. (ungrammatical in this meaning)

What is the grammatical role of oss in this sentence?

Oss is the first-person plural object pronoun (us), used reflexively here.

In Vi gleder oss til bryllupet:

• Vi = subject (we)
• gleder = verb (are delighting / making happy)
• oss = reflexive object (ourselves)
• til bryllupet = prepositional phrase (to the wedding)

So the subject (vi) and the object (oss) refer to the same people, which makes it a reflexive construction.

Why do we use til here and not something like for or på?

Because glede seg til is a fixed expression and always takes til.

English uses the preposition to with look forward:

• look forward to the wedding

Norwegian parallels this with til:

• glede seg til bryllupet

You cannot switch the preposition here:

• ✅ Vi gleder oss til bryllupet.
• ❌ Vi gleder oss for bryllupet.
• ❌ Vi gleder oss på bryllupet.

Those alternatives do not work in standard Norwegian with this meaning.

Why is it bryllupet and not just bryllup?

Bryllupet is the definite singular form: the wedding.

Forms of bryllup (neuter noun):

• Indefinite singular: et bryllup = a wedding
• Definite singular: bryllupet = the wedding
• Indefinite plural: bryllup = weddings
• Definite plural: bryllupene = the weddings

In Vi gleder oss til bryllupet, we are talking about a specific, known wedding (for example, one that has already been mentioned), so Norwegian uses the definite form bryllupet.

Is the Norwegian verb tense here more like We look forward or We are looking forward?

Norwegian only has a simple present tense; it usually covers both meanings.

Vi gleder oss til bryllupet can be translated as:

• We look forward to the wedding.
• We are looking forward to the wedding.

English has a special continuous form (are looking), but Norwegian does not normally mark this difference; the simple present gleder is used.

Can Vi gleder oss til bryllupet refer to something in the future, even though it is present tense?

Yes. Just like in English, the present tense can refer to future events when the context makes that clear.

Here, bryllupet is a future event, and gleder oss describes your emotional state now about that future event. So present tense is exactly what you want.

Norwegian has no separate, fully grammaticalized future tense like will; instead, it uses:

• Present tense (very common): Vi reiser i morgen. = We are travelling tomorrow.
• Or modal verbs like skal, vil in some contexts.

Is there any difference between Vi gleder oss til bryllupet and Vi ser frem til bryllupet?

Both mean We are looking forward to the wedding, but there are small nuances:

• Vi gleder oss til bryllupet.

  • Very common, neutral, natural in speech.
  • Slightly more emotional / enthusiastic in feel (you feel joy when you think about it).

• Vi ser frem til bryllupet.

  • Also correct and common.
  • Can sound a bit more formal, polite, or neutral—often used in emails, letters, or polite communication.

In everyday conversation, gleder oss is extremely frequent. In more formal writing, ser frem til is also very common.

Is the word order fixed, or could you say something like Vi til bryllupet gleder oss?

The natural, correct word order here is:

• Vi gleder oss til bryllupet.

You cannot normally split gleder and oss in this simple sentence, and the prepositional phrase til bryllupet comes after the verb phrase:

• ❌ Vi til bryllupet gleder oss. (wrong / very unnatural)
• ❌ Vi gleder til bryllupet oss. (wrong)

You can add adverbs and still keep the core order:

• Vi gleder oss veldig til bryllupet. = We are really looking forward to the wedding.
• Vi gleder oss allerede til bryllupet. = We are already looking forward to the wedding.

How would this sentence change with different subjects (I, you, they)?

The verb glede seg changes only in the reflexive pronoun, not in the verb form:

• Jeg gleder meg til bryllupet. = I am looking forward to the wedding.
• Du gleder deg til bryllupet. = You are looking forward to the wedding.
• Han / hun / den / det gleder seg til bryllupet. = He / she / it is looking forward to the wedding.
• Vi gleder oss til bryllupet. = We are looking forward to the wedding.
• Dere gleder dere til bryllupet. = You (plural) are looking forward to the wedding.
• De gleder seg til bryllupet. = They are looking forward to the wedding.

The verb gleder stays the same in the present tense; only meg / deg / seg / oss / dere change.

Why is oss used here instead of vi? Both mean we / us, right?

Norwegian distinguishes between subject and object forms, just like English:

• Subject: vi = we
• Object: oss = us

In Vi gleder oss til bryllupet:

• Vi is the subject form (doing the action).
• Oss is the object/reflexive form (receiving the action).

English does the same:

• We like them. (subject)
• They like us. (object)

So you cannot say:

• ❌ Vi gleder vi til bryllupet. You must use the object form oss after the verb.

How do you pronounce bryllupet?

Roughly, you can think of bryllupet as three syllables: BRYL-lu-pet.

Approximate guidelines for English speakers:

• bry-: br like in bring; y is like the French u in tu, or German ü in über (fronted u sound).
• -llup-: ll is a long l, then u is like the oo in good, but shorter and more central.
• -et: a short, unstressed eh-sound plus a very light t (often very weak in casual speech).

Stress is mainly on the first syllable: BRYL-lu-pet.