Etter noen vintre blir vi vant til å kjøre med vinterdekk i mørketiden.

After a few winters we get used to driving with winter tyres in the dark season.

Breakdown of Etter noen vintre blir vi vant til å kjøre med vinterdekk i mørketiden.

• vi: we
• med: with
• i: in
• etter: after

Questions & Answers about Etter noen vintre blir vi vant til å kjøre med vinterdekk i mørketiden.

Why is it noen vintre and not something like noen vintere?

The noun vinter has an irregular plural in Norwegian:

• singular indefinite: en vinter – “a winter”
• singular definite: vinteren – “the winter”
• plural indefinite: vintre – “winters”
• plural definite: vintrene – “the winters”

So after noen (“some / a few”), you must use the correct plural form vintre, not vintere or vintrer, which are ungrammatical here.

What exactly does noen mean here? Is it “some” or “a few”? Could I use something else?

In etter noen vintre, noen means “a few” or “several”, and it’s intentionally vague. It suggests “not just one, but a small number of winters”.

You could say:

• etter et par vintre – “after a couple of winters” (more specific: about two)
• etter flere vintre – “after several winters” (emphasizes “more than a few”)

Noen is the most neutral choice when you just want to say “some / a few” without being precise.

Why does the sentence start with Etter noen vintre? Could I say Vi blir vant til … etter noen vintre instead?