Vi må fyre i vedovnen før vi legger oss.

We must light the wood stove before we go to bed.

Breakdown of Vi må fyre i vedovnen før vi legger oss.

• vi: we
• i: in
• måtte: must
• før: before
• legge seg: to go to bed
• vedovnen: the wood stove
• fyre: to light (the stove)

Questions & Answers about Vi må fyre i vedovnen før vi legger oss.

What does må mean here, and how strong is it?

Må is a modal verb meaning must / have to.
In this sentence it expresses necessity or obligation: we need to / have to put wood in the stove.

Compared with other modals:

• må = must / have to (strong necessity)
• skal = will / supposed to (plan or obligation, often future)
• burde = should / ought to (advice, weaker than må)

So Vi må fyre i vedovnen is closer to We have to light the wood stove than We should….

What exactly does fyre mean? Is it just “to make a fire”?

Å fyre means to heat or make a fire in a fireplace, stove, boiler, etc., especially by adding fuel (wood, coal, pellets).

Common uses:

• fyre i vedovnen – make/keep a fire in the wood-burning stove
• fyre i peisen – make a fire in the fireplace
• fyre med ved / olje / gass – heat with wood / oil / gas

It can mean either to light a fire or to keep the fire going by adding more fuel, depending on context. If you want to stress starting from nothing, you can say fyre opp i vedovnen (“light up the stove”).

Why is it i vedovnen and not på vedovnen?

Norwegian normally uses i (“in”) with things that have an inside where the activity happens.

• fyre i vedovnen – the fire is inside the stove
• i ovnen, i peisen – in the oven, in the fireplace

På (“on”) would mean on the surface of the stove, which would be wrong for the fire itself. You might use på vedovnen in a sentence like Katten sitter på vedovnen (“The cat is sitting on the wood stove”), because the cat is literally on top of it.

What does vedovnen literally mean, and why is it one word?

Vedovnen is made of:

• ved = firewood
• ovn = oven / stove
• -en = the (definite article, common gender)

So vedovn = wood(-burning) stove, and vedovnen = the wood stove.

In Norwegian, compound nouns are usually written as one word:

• vedovn (wood stove)
• barneseng (child bed = crib)
• snøskuffe (snow shovel)

Writing them as two words (ved ovn) would either be wrong or change the meaning.

Why is the present tense used in Vi må fyre … før vi legger oss when it’s about something we will do later?

Norwegian often uses the present tense for near-future actions when the time is clear from context or from a time expression like i morgen, snart, før vi legger oss, etc.

So:

• Vi må fyre i vedovnen før vi legger oss.
  = We have to light the wood stove before we go to bed. (later)
• Jeg reiser i morgen.
  = I’m leaving tomorrow.

You could use an explicit future with skal (Vi skal fyre…), but the simple present is very natural and common here.

Why is it legger oss and not just legger?

Legger oss comes from the reflexive verb å legge seg = to go to bed / to lie down (to sleep).

Reflexive verbs in Norwegian need a reflexive pronoun:

• jeg legger meg – I go to bed
• du legger deg – you go to bed
• han/hun legger seg – he/she goes to bed
• vi legger oss – we go to bed
• dere legger dere – you (pl.) go to bed
• de legger seg – they go to bed

If you say just vi legger, it sounds like we put/lay (something), and listeners will expect an object: vi legger boka på bordet (“we put the book on the table”).

What’s the difference between å legge seg, å ligge, and å sove?

• å legge seg = to go to bed / to lie down (movement, an action you do)
  • Jeg legger meg klokka ti. – I go to bed at ten.
• å ligge = to lie / to be lying (position, no movement)
  • Jeg ligger i senga. – I’m lying in bed.
• å sove = to sleep
  • Jeg sover godt. – I sleep well.

In your sentence, før vi legger oss means before we go to bed, i.e. before we lie down to sleep.

Why is it oss and not seg in før vi legger oss?

The reflexive pronoun must agree with the subject:

• jeg legger meg
• du legger deg
• han/hun legger seg
• vi legger oss
• dere legger dere
• de legger seg

Seg is only used for third person (han/hun/de).
Because the subject here is vi (we), the correct reflexive pronoun is oss: vi legger oss.

Why do we repeat vi in før vi legger oss? Can we say før legger oss?

You must repeat the subject pronoun in Norwegian; you cannot drop it like that.

• Correct: Vi må fyre i vedovnen før vi legger oss.
• Incorrect: Vi må fyre i vedovnen før legger oss.

Each clause—Vi må fyre i vedovnen and (før) vi legger oss—needs its own subject. Norwegian generally does not allow subject drop the way some other languages do.

Could you also say Før vi legger oss, må vi fyre i vedovnen? Is the word order flexible?

Yes, that sentence is correct and natural:

• Vi må fyre i vedovnen før vi legger oss.
• Før vi legger oss, må vi fyre i vedovnen.

Both are fine. Moving Før vi legger oss to the front just changes the emphasis slightly (putting more focus on the “before we go to bed” part). The verb må still comes in the second position of the main clause, which follows Norwegian word order rules.

Is there a more explicit way to say “before we go to bed,” like in English?

Yes, very common alternatives include:

• før vi går og legger oss – literally “before we go and go to bed”
• før vi går til sengs – literally “before we go to bed” (using sengs)

So you might hear:

• Vi må fyre i vedovnen før vi går og legger oss.
• Vi må fyre i vedovnen før vi går til sengs.

Your original før vi legger oss is slightly shorter but means the same in this context.

Could you use skal or burde instead of må here? How would it change the meaning?

Yes, but the nuance changes:

• Vi må fyre i vedovnen…
  = We have to / must light the stove (necessary, maybe it will be cold otherwise).

• Vi skal fyre i vedovnen…
  = We will / are going to light the stove (plan or arrangement; not necessarily a strong “must”).

• Vi burde fyre i vedovnen…
  = We should / ought to light the stove (it’s a good idea, but weaker obligation).

So må is the strongest in terms of necessity.