Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren.

Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren.

We travel to Norway in the summer.

Breakdown of Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren.

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Questions & Answers about Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren.

What exactly does reiser mean here, and how is it different from drar or går?

Å reise means to travel, usually implying a trip of some distance (often by plane, train, bus, etc.).

Vi reiser til Norge = We travel / go to Norway (as a trip).
Å dra also means to go / to leave, and Vi drar til Norge would be very natural too. Dra is a bit more colloquial and general; reise sounds a bit more like “travel”.
Å gå means to walk (on foot). Vi går til Norge would literally mean “We walk to Norway”, and sounds odd unless you really are walking all the way.

So in this context, reiser and drar are both fine; går is usually wrong unless you want to stress walking.

Why is the verb in the present tense (reiser) if this is something that happens every summer or in the future?

Norwegian uses the simple present tense a lot, including:

For habitual actions:
- Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren.
  = We go/travel to Norway in the summer (as a regular habit).
For planned future events, especially with a time expression:
- Vi reiser til Norge neste uke.
  = We are going to Norway next week.

So present tense reiser can mean:

a general habit (every summer), or
a future plan (if the context and time phrase suggest a specific future time).

You do not need a separate future tense in Norwegian the way English uses will.

Why is it til Norge and not i Norge?

The key difference is movement vs. location:

til is used when you are going to a place (movement toward):
- Vi reiser til Norge. = We travel to Norway.
i is used when you are in a place (location, no movement):
- Vi er i Norge. = We are in Norway.

So with verbs of movement (reise, dra, kjøre, fly, etc.), you typically say til Norge.
With verbs of being or staying (være, bo, jobbe), you normally say i Norge.

Why is there no article before Norge? Why not something like til det Norge?

Country names in Norwegian are proper nouns and almost never take an article:

Norge = Norway
Sverige = Sweden
Danmark = Denmark

So you say:

til Norge, i Norge, fra Norge
(to Norway, in Norway, from Norway)

You do not add an article like en, ei, et, or det in front of normal country names.

What does om mean in om sommeren, and why don’t we say i sommeren?

In this expression, om means something like during or in (the), when talking about general periods of time, especially seasons:

om sommeren = in the summer / during the summer (as a general, repeated period)
om vinteren = in the winter
om natten = at night / during the night

I sommeren is not idiomatic in modern Norwegian when you mean “in the summer” in a general, habitual sense. For seasons, om + definite form is the normal pattern.

Why is it sommeren (definite form) and not just sommer?

Sommer is the basic (indefinite) form: summer.
Sommeren is the definite form: the summer.

With seasons used in this general, habitual time expression, Norwegian normally uses the definite form:

om sommeren = in the (general) summer
om vinteren = in the (general) winter
om høsten = in the (general) autumn/fall
om våren = in the (general) spring

So om sommeren literally is “in the summer”, but in English we often just say “in summer”.

Is there a difference between om sommeren and i sommer?

Yes, they mean different things:

om sommeren
– general/habitual: “in the summer, in summers, during summer (as a rule)”.
– Suggests something you do every or normally in summer.
i sommer
– specific time: “this summer” (the current or upcoming one, depending on context) or “last summer” if you are talking about the past.
– Refers to one particular summer, not a habit over many years.

So:

Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren.
= We (generally) go to Norway in the summer (every summer / as a rule).
Vi reiser til Norge i sommer.
= We are going to Norway this summer (this year’s summer).

Could I also say Vi drar til Norge om sommeren or Vi reiser til Norge hver sommer?

Yes, both are correct, with slightly different nuances:

Vi drar til Norge om sommeren.
– Very natural, slightly more colloquial because of drar, but essentially same meaning as Vi reiser ….
Vi reiser til Norge hver sommer.
– Emphasizes the every explicitly.
– hver sommer = every summer.

All of these sound natural:

Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren.
Vi drar til Norge om sommeren.
Vi reiser til Norge hver sommer.

Can the word order change, like Om sommeren reiser vi til Norge? Is that still correct?

Yes, that is correct, and very natural:

Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren.
Om sommeren reiser vi til Norge.

Norwegian main clauses follow a V2 rule (the verb must be in second position):

If you put om sommeren at the start, the verb reiser must still be second:
- Om sommeren reiser vi til Norge.

The two versions mean the same; putting om sommeren first can give it a bit more emphasis (“As for summer / In the summer, we go to Norway”).

Could I say Vi skal reise til Norge om sommeren instead? How does that change the meaning?

You can say it, but it sounds different:

Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren.
– Neutral, states a general habit.
Vi skal reise til Norge om sommeren.
– Sounds more like a plan or decision, often for a particular future period, or like a statement of intention (“We are going to travel to Norway in the summer” – maybe talking about what you’ve decided to do from now on).

For a simple habitual statement (every summer), Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren is the normal choice.

Does the verb reiser change form if the subject is singular instead of plural?

No. Norwegian verbs do not change for person or number in the present tense.

Jeg reiser til Norge om sommeren. = I travel to Norway in the summer.
Du reiser til Norge om sommeren. = You travel …
Han / hun reiser til Norge om sommeren. = He / she travels …
Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren. = We travel …
De reiser til Norge om sommeren. = They travel …

The verb form reiser stays the same for all subjects.

How do you pronounce the words in Vi reiser til Norge om sommeren?

Approximate pronunciation (Bokmål, standard East Norwegian; IPA in slashes):

Vi – like English vee: /ʋiː/
reiser – roughly RAI-ser (RAI as in ride without the d, but shorter): /ˈræɪsər/ or /ˈɾæɪsər/
til – like til in tilt without the t at the end: /tɪl/
Norge – roughly NOR-yeh: /ˈnɔrjə/
om – like English om in om-mmmm, short: /ɔm/
sommeren – roughly SOM-uh-ren (o like in off): /ˈsɔmərən/

Spoken quickly, words will flow together, but this gives a usable guide to start with.