Numbers and Time in Norwegian

In Brief

Norwegian uses regular number patterns after twenty, lowercase names for days and months, and klokka when telling the time. The key clock pattern is forward-looking: halv tre means 2:30—halfway to three—not “half past three.” For dates, expect an ordinal number: den første mai or 1. mai.

Overview

Numbers and time are A1 essentials. You need them to understand prices, phone numbers, timetables, opening hours, appointments, birthdays, and travel information. The basic system is manageable, but a few Norwegian habits differ sharply from English.

A cardinal number is a counting number such as one, two, or twenty-one. An ordinal number shows position in a sequence, as in first, second, or twenty-first. Norwegian uses cardinal numbers for quantities and clock hours, but ordinal numbers for calendar dates and ordered positions.

This article focuses on modern Bokmål. The beginner rules are simple: learn the irregular numbers up to twenty, build larger numbers in a predictable way, point half hours toward the next hour, and learn the common prepositions that accompany days, months, and seasons. Later sections explain variation that you may hear but do not need to produce immediately.

How It Works

Cardinal numbers from 0 to 20

Number	Norwegian	Number	Norwegian
0	null	10	ti
1	en / ett	11	elleve
2	to	12	tolv
3	tre	13	tretten
4	fire	14	fjorten
5	fem	15	femten
6	seks	16	seksten
7	sju / syv	17	sytten
8	åtte	18	atten
9	ni	19	nitten
		20	tjue

The number one has two basic forms because Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender (a noun class that affects nearby words):

• en krone — one krone; krone is masculine
• ei uke — one week; many Bokmål speakers also say en uke
• ett år — one year; år is neuter

When you are simply counting, én is often written with an accent to make “one” unmistakable, but the accent is not normally required: én, to, tre. Before a neuter noun, use ett: ett minutt. The word et is the indefinite article (“a/an”), while ett explicitly means the number one.

Both sju and syv mean seven. They are standard Bokmål forms; sju is especially common in everyday speech, while syv is also widely used.

Tens and numbers up to 100

Number	Norwegian	Example combination
20	tjue	tjueen (21)
30	tretti	trettifire (34)
40	førti	førtito (42)
50	femti	femtiseks (56)
60	seksti	sekstisju (67)
70	sytti	syttiåtte (78)
80	åtti	åttini (89)
90	nitti	nittifem (95)
100	hundre / ett hundre	ett hundre (100)

In the modern system, say the tens first and the units second, just as in English: tjueen, trettito, førtifem. These are normally written as one word. The final one follows the noun where relevant: tjueen kroner, but tjueett år.

Use a space between a number and a unit or currency name: 25 kroner, 3 timer, 10 km. In running text, smaller numbers may be written as words, but digits are natural in schedules, prices, measurements, and dates.

Ordinal numbers

The most useful ordinals are irregular enough to learn individually. An ordinal often appears with a definite marker such as den or det and a noun in the definite form:

Number	Norwegian ordinal	Example
1st	første	den første dagen
2nd	andre / annet	den andre dagen; det annet forsøket
3rd	tredje	den tredje uka
4th	fjerde	fjerde etasje
5th	femte	den femte gangen
6th	sjette	den sjette juni
7th	sjuende / syvende	den sjuende plassen
8th	åttende	den åttende dagen
9th	niende	den niende måneden
10th	tiende	den tiende desember
11th	ellevte	den ellevte siden
12th	tolvte	den tolvte januar
20th	tjuende	den tjuende april
21st	tjueførste	den tjueførste mai

The form andre is the normal everyday word for “second.” Annen/annet also means “other” or “another”; annet can occur as an ordinal with a neuter word, but beginners can safely use andre in ordinary sequences.

In written dates, a full stop after a digit marks an ordinal: 1. mai means “the first of May,” not a decimal. Say it as første mai or den første mai. Month names do not take a capital letter unless they begin a sentence.

Telling the time with klokka

Klokka is the definite form of klokke and literally means “the clock.” Ask Hva er klokka? (“What time is it?”) and answer Klokka er …. In informal speech, Hva er klokken? and Klokken er … are also used, especially in varieties that prefer the common-gender form.

Digital time	Common Norwegian expression	Literal orientation
3:00	klokka er tre	three
3:05	fem over tre	five past three
3:15	kvart over tre	quarter past three
3:20	ti på halv fire	ten to half four
3:30	halv fire	halfway to four
3:40	ti over halv fire	ten past half four
3:45	kvart på fire	quarter to four
3:55	fem på fire	five to four

The half-hour is the point most English speakers must retrain. Norwegian names the next hour: halv fire is halfway toward four, so it means 3:30. Around the half hour, på halv counts down to it and over halv counts forward from it.

For schedules and exact information, a 24-hour reading is common: Toget går klokka 17.20 can be read klokka sytten tjue. In conversation, a speaker may instead say ti på halv seks if the context makes morning or evening clear.

To specify the part of the day, add an expression such as om morgenen (in the morning), om ettermiddagen (in the afternoon), or om kvelden (in the evening): klokka åtte om kvelden.

Weekdays, months, and seasons

Category	Norwegian forms
Weekdays	mandag, tirsdag, onsdag, torsdag, fredag, lørdag, søndag
Months	januar, februar, mars, april, mai, juni, juli, august, september, oktober, november, desember
Seasons	vår, sommer, høst, vinter

Norwegian normally writes all of these with lowercase initial letters. The preposition depends on the kind of time reference:

• på mandag — on Monday, commonly the coming or contextually relevant Monday
• om mandagen — on Mondays, habitually
• i mai — in May
• i 2026 — in 2026
• om sommeren — in summer / during the summers, generally or habitually
• i sommer — this summer, often the current or approaching summer depending on context
• til vinteren — this coming winter / by winter

For an appointment, combine a day and time naturally: Vi møtes på tirsdag klokka ni (“We’ll meet on Tuesday at nine”). Norwegian does not use an equivalent of English “at” directly before clock time; use klokka.

Dates and years

A spoken date normally uses an ordinal day followed by the month:

• Det er den første mai. — It is the first of May.
• Hun har bursdag den tjueandre oktober. — Her birthday is on the twenty-second of October.
• Møtet er 14. mars. — The meeting is on March 14.

For the question, use Hvilken dato er det? (“What is the date?”). A year such as 2026 can be read to tusen og tjueseks. You will also hear established ways of grouping older years; recognition is more important than mastering every variation at A1.

Examples in Context

Norwegian	English	Note
Jeg har tre søstre.	I have three sisters.	A cardinal number gives a quantity.
Det koster tjueen kroner.	It costs twenty-one kroner.	Tens come before units.
Barnet er ett år.	The child is one year old.	Ett agrees with neuter år.
Telefonnummeret mitt er 98 12 34 56.	My phone number is 98 12 34 56.	Phone numbers are usually read in manageable groups.
Klokka er tre.	It is three o’clock.	Basic full-hour answer.
Vi møtes kvart over åtte.	We’ll meet at quarter past eight.	Over means past.
Filmen begynner halv ni.	The film starts at 8:30.	The half hour points to nine.
Bussen går ti på halv seks.	The bus leaves at 5:20.	Ten minutes before 5:30.
Butikken stenger kvart på ni.	The shop closes at 8:45.	På means to in this clock pattern.
Jeg jobber på mandag.	I’m working on Monday.	A specific or contextually understood Monday.
Vi trener om tirsdagen.	We train on Tuesdays.	Habitual repetition.
Hun har bursdag den første mai.	Her birthday is on the first of May.	Date with den and an ordinal.
Kurset starter 3. september.	The course starts on September 3.	The full stop marks an ordinal.
Vi reiser til Norge i juli.	We are travelling to Norway in July.	I with a month.
Det er kaldt om vinteren.	It is cold in winter.	General statement about a season.

Common Mistakes

Reading halv tre as 3:30

• Wrong: halv tre = 3:30
• Right: halv tre = 2:30
• Why: Norwegian counts forward to the named hour. At 2:30, you are halfway to three.

Using en before every noun

• Wrong: en år, tjueen år
• Right: ett år, tjueett år
• Why: År is neuter, so one is ett, including at the end of a compound number.

Capitalising days and months like English

• Wrong: Mandag 1. Mai
• Right: mandag 1. mai
• Why: Norwegian weekday and month names are common nouns and normally lowercase.

Leaving out the full stop in a numeric date

• Wrong: Møtet er 5 mai.
• Right: Møtet er 5. mai.
• Why: The full stop makes the digit ordinal: fifth rather than five.

Translating English time prepositions word for word

• Wrong: i mandag, på mai, ved klokka tre
• Right: på mandag, i mai, klokka tre
• Why: Norwegian uses på for a weekday, i for a month, and commonly klokka before a clock time.

Separating compound numbers in words

• Wrong: tjue en kroner
• Right: tjueen kroner
• Why: Numbers from a ten plus a unit are normally written as one word.

Usage Notes

Digital forms are everywhere in timetables, tickets, phones, and workplace communication. Written 08.30 and 08:30 can both be encountered, although style conventions vary by context. In speech, the traditional clock patterns with halv, over, and på remain extremely common.

You may hear both klokka and klokken. Bokmål permits variation in noun gender, and local speech strongly affects which form sounds natural. Learn Hva er klokka? as a reliable everyday phrase, but recognise Hva er klokken? as equivalent.

A bare på mandag does not encode the English distinction between “this Monday” and “next Monday” with complete precision. Context usually resolves it. Add a date when ambiguity matters: på mandag, 12. oktober.

Beyond the Basics: Variation and More Precise Time

You do not need to master these details at A1, but you will meet them later. Norwegian has an older way of constructing numbers in which the unit can come before the ten. Modern teaching and public usage favour the tens-first system described above, but older speakers and fixed contexts may preserve older forms. Treat these as recognition vocabulary rather than a model for your own speech.

The choice between i sommer, om sommeren, and til sommeren carries a useful time contrast. Om sommeren describes summer generally or something habitual. I sommer refers to the relevant summer, often the one in progress or just past depending on the tense and context. Til sommeren points ahead to the coming summer. Similar patterns occur with other seasons.

For exact durations and points in time, Norwegian distinguishes expressions that English often covers with “for” or “in.” I to timer can describe a duration, while om to timer points two hours into the future. These broader temporal expressions belong to the next stage of study; for now, notice that changing the preposition changes the time relationship.

Ordinal grammar also extends beyond dates. In phrases such as den første dagen and det tredje forsøket, Norwegian often uses a determiner (den/det/de), an ordinal, and a definite noun ending. This “double definiteness” has no direct English equivalent and deserves separate study when you work more deeply with ordinal numbers and noun phrases.

Practice Tips

1. Build numbers aloud. Pick ten random numbers from 0 to 100, say each one, then attach a noun: trettifire kroner, sekstito minutter, tjueett år. Pay special attention to en/ett.
2. Draw a Norwegian clock face. Label 3:15 kvart over tre, 3:30 halv fire, and 3:45 kvart på fire. Then practise the five- and ten-minute positions around halv.
3. Make a real weekly plan. Write three true sentences using a weekday, a month or date, and a clock time: Jeg trener på torsdag klokka seks. Real appointments are easier to remember than isolated forms.

Related Concepts

• Next step: Ordinal Numbers — develop the forms used for dates, floors, positions, and ordered sequences.
• Next step: Temporal Expressions — learn how Norwegian expresses duration, future time, “ago,” yesterday, and tomorrow.