The doing words a story runs on, now and then

A Norwegian doing word never changes for who is doing it. Learn eleven that carry a whole fable, now and in the past, plus four helper words that put a second doing word behind them.

≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

A Norwegian verb has one form for everybody — no endings for I, you, he or they, ever.
In the present, most verbs end in -r; a few very common ones do not.
Books narrate in the one-word past: var, gikk, komvahr, yik, kom.
Ordinary verbs make that past with -et or -te; the common old ones change their vowel.
Four helper words — kan, vil, må, skalkan, vil, maw, skahl — put a second verb behind them with no åaw.
A bare verb on its own is an order: Kom!kom“Come!”

A handful of doing words carry a whole fable, and Norwegian gives them nearly free: a verb never changes for who is doing it. Jeg seryay sair“I see”, de serdee sair“they see”.

Eleven doing words, now and then

A doing word says what happens. These eleven carry a whole fable. Cover the right column and see whether you can produce the past.

Now	Then
sierSEE-er“says”	sasah“said” sier — says · Estimated A2
spørspurr“asks”	spurteSPUUR-tuh“asked” spør — asks · Estimated A2
svarerSVAH-rer“answers”	svarteSVAR-tuh“answered” svarer — answers · Estimated A2
sersair“sees”	såsaw“saw” ser — sees · Estimated A2
erair“is”	varvahr“was” er — is, am, are · Estimated A1
gårgawr“goes”	gikkyik“went” gå — to go · Estimated A1
kommerKOM-mer“comes”	komkom“came” kommer — comes · Estimated A2
fallerFAL-ler“falls”	faltfalt“fell” faller — falls · Estimated A2
løperLUR-per“runs”	løplurp“ran” løper — runs · Estimated A2
sitterSIT-ter“sits”	sattsat“sat” sitter — sits · Estimated A2
heterHAY-ter“is called”	hethayt“was called” heter — is called · Estimated A2

Cover the right column and guess. Watch såsaw: it is “saw”, and also “then” at the start of a line.

Two ways a doing word shows the past

Ordinary doing words add an ending for the past. Older, commoner ones change their vowel instead. Each row runs from the dictionary form to the past.

å snakkeaw SNAK-kuh“to speak”

snakketSNAK-kuh“spoke”

On an ordinary doing word, -et or -te means the past — å høreaw HUR-uh“to hear” gives hørteHUR-tuh“heard”.

å kommeaw KOM-muh“to come”

komkom“came”

The common old verbs change their vowel and add nothing, as English does in “sing” and “sang”.

Four helper words, and the doing word behind them

A helper word says can, will, must or shall, and a second doing word sits behind it unchanged. English does the same in “can go”.

English	Norwegian
can	kankan“can”
will, want to	vilvil“wants to”
must, have to	måmaw“must”
shall, is going to	skalskahl“shall”

A helper takes slot two, and the second verb follows it bare, with no åaw: Jeg kan se reven.yay kan say RAY-ven“I can see the fox.” Alone it is å seaw say“to see”. Strip the ending off and you have an order, with no doer: Kom!kom“Come!”

Now, then, and who is doing it

Reven så fuglen.
The past of “sees”.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Reven så fuglen.RAY-ven saw FUU-len“The fox saw the bird.”
Vi kan gå til skogen.
A helper, then a bare verb.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Vi kan gå til skogen.vee kan gaw til SKOO-gen“We can go to the forest.”

Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All Norwegian chapters ↗