Være (to Be) in Norwegian

In Brief

Norwegian være means “to be.” Use er for the present and var for the simple past, with exactly the same form after every subject: jeg er, hun er, vi er; jeg var, hun var, vi var. It is used for identity, descriptions, location, time, weather, and many expressions with det er.

Overview

Være is an irregular verb, meaning that its forms do not follow the most common Norwegian verb pattern. It is also indispensable. You need it to introduce yourself, say where someone is, describe a situation, talk about the weather, and locate an event in time. That is why it is one of the first verbs introduced at A1.

For an English-speaking learner, the basic conjugation is pleasantly simple. English divides the present into am, is, and are, and the past into was and were. Norwegian verbs do not change according to grammatical person (whether the subject is “I,” “you,” “she,” “we,” and so on). The present form is always er, and the past form is always var.

Most of the learning therefore lies outside the verb ending. You need to know where er or var goes in a statement or question, when a profession appears without an article, and how a following adjective can change to match what it describes. Learn the short core rule first; the later sections separate out forms and patterns that you can add gradually.

How It Works

The essential forms

The infinitive (the dictionary form of a verb) is å være, literally “to be.” The present and simple past forms are not built regularly from that infinitive and must be learned as a small set.

Time or function	Form	Usual English equivalent	Example
Infinitive	(å) være	(to) be	Det kan være sant. — It may be true.
Present	er	am, is, are	De er klare. — They are ready.
Simple past (preterite)	var	was, were	De var klare. — They were ready.
Perfect participle	vært	been	De har vært her. — They have been here.
Command	vær	be	Vær forsiktig! — Be careful!

A participle is a verb form used with another verb to build a tense. In har vært, har is the helping verb and vært is the participle. At A1, concentrate on er and var, but recognize the other forms when you meet them.

One present form and one past form

The subject is the person or thing that the sentence is about. Every subject takes the same verb form.

Subject	Present	Past
jeg (I)	jeg er	jeg var
du (you, singular)	du er	du var
han / hun / hen (he / she / singular gender-neutral pronoun)	han / hun / hen er	han / hun / hen var
den / det (it)	den / det er	den / det var
vi (we)	vi er	vi var
dere (you, plural)	dere er	dere var
de (they)	de er	de var

There is no equivalent of choosing between English am, is, and are. Nor do you choose between was and were: var covers both.

Basic sentence patterns

In a neutral statement, the usual beginner pattern is:

subject + er/var + information

• Jeg er student. — I am a student.
• Kaffen er varm. — The coffee is hot.
• Vi var på jobb. — We were at work.

The information after være can identify someone, describe them, or give a place or time. A noun is a naming word such as “teacher,” “city,” or “book”; an adjective is a describing word such as “tired,” “cold,” or “large.” Both can follow være, as can a phrase showing location.

Professions, roles, and identity

Norwegian normally uses a profession, nationality label, religion, or similar role without en/ei/et when it simply classifies the person:

• Jeg er lærer. — I am a teacher.
• Hun er lege. — She is a doctor.
• Han er nordmann. — He is Norwegian / a Norwegian.

This differs from English, which normally requires a/an before a singular profession. An article can appear when the noun is made more specific or evaluated: Hun er en dyktig lege (“She is a skilled doctor”). Here the point is not merely her profession but what kind of doctor she is.

Descriptions and adjective agreement

An adjective after være describes the subject. Norwegian adjectives may change form to agree with it—that is, to match its gender or number.

• Bilen er rød. — The car is red.
• Huset er rødt. — The house is red.
• Bilene er røde. — The cars are red.

This change belongs to adjective grammar, not to være: the verb remains er in all three sentences. A common A1 example is Det er kaldt, where kaldt has the neuter -t form because impersonal det is used.

Location and time

Use være to say where a person or thing is, or where an event takes place:

• Nøklene er på bordet. — The keys are on the table.
• Møtet er i morgen. — The meeting is tomorrow.
• Konserten var i Bergen. — The concert was in Bergen.

Norwegian also has more precise position verbs such as ligge (“lie/be situated”), stå (“stand”), and sitte (“sit”). Være gives neutral location and is normally safe when the exact position is unimportant.

Statements, questions, and negation

In a yes/no question, put er or var before the subject:

• Er du hjemme? — Are you at home?
• Var hun syk? — Was she ill?

With a question word, the verb normally comes next, before the subject:

• Hvor er bussen? — Where is the bus?
• Hvorfor var de sinte? — Why were they angry?

To make a simple negative statement, place ikke after the finite verb (the verb carrying the tense):

• Jeg er ikke trøtt. — I am not tired.
• Vi var ikke der. — We were not there.

If another element begins a statement, Norwegian’s main-clause verb-second rule still places the finite verb in the second position:

• I dag er jeg hjemme. — Today I am at home.
• I går var vi på kontoret. — Yesterday we were at the office.

Do not copy English order as I dag jeg er.... The opening time phrase occupies the first position, so er comes before jeg.

Examples in Context

The examples below move from the core A1 uses to patterns that you will see frequently in ordinary Norwegian.

Norwegian	English	Note
Jeg er lærer.	I am a teacher.	A profession normally has no indefinite article.
Hun er trøtt etter jobb.	She is tired after work.	A present description.
Det er kaldt ute.	It is cold outside.	Impersonal det for weather.
Vi var hjemme i går.	We were home yesterday.	var marks a past state or location.
Barna er sultne.	The children are hungry.	The adjective is plural; er does not change.
Er dere klare?	Are you ready?	Plural “you”; verb before subject in a question.
Jeg er ikke fra Sverige.	I am not from Sweden.	ikke follows er.
Hvor er toalettet?	Where is the bathroom?	Question word + verb + subject.
I dag er kontoret stengt.	The office is closed today.	Time first, then the verb.
Festen er på lørdag.	The party is on Saturday.	være locates an event in time.
Det var mange mennesker på toget.	There were many people on the train.	det var introduces existence in the past.
Hun har vært i Norge før.	She has been to Norway before.	Perfect form har vært.
Det kan være vanskelig.	It can be difficult.	Bare infinitive after the modal verb kan.
Vær så snill og vent her.	Please wait here.	Literally “be so kind and wait here”; a polite request.

Common Mistakes

Changing the verb for different subjects

• Wrong: Jeg er, men de are.
• Right: Jeg er, og de er.
• Why: Norwegian has no person endings here. Er is used with both singular and plural subjects. Do not import an English form into the Norwegian sentence.

Adding an article to every profession

• Less natural for a neutral statement: Jeg er en lærer.
• Natural: Jeg er lærer.
• Why: When you simply name a person’s profession or role, Norwegian usually omits the indefinite article. Use one when the noun is qualified or singled out, as in Jeg er en erfaren lærer (“I am an experienced teacher”).

Using present er with a finished past time

• Wrong: Vi er hjemme i går.
• Right: Vi var hjemme i går.
• Why: I går means “yesterday,” so a state that belonged to that finished past time takes var.

Keeping English word order in questions

• Wrong: Du er klar? as the standard neutral question
• Right: Er du klar?
• Why: A normal yes/no question begins with the finite verb. Statement order can occasionally sound like an echo or confirmation question, but it is not the basic pattern to learn.

Putting ikke before the verb

• Wrong: Hun ikke er her.
• Right: Hun er ikke her.
• Why: In an ordinary main clause, ikke follows er or var. Norwegian word order changes in subordinate clauses later on, but the A1 main-clause rule is verb first, then ikke.

Forgetting adjective agreement

• Wrong: Huset er stor.
• Right: Huset er stort.
• Why: Hus is a neuter noun, so the adjective normally takes -t in this form. The verb is still er; it is the adjective that changes.

Usage Notes

Det er can mean more than “it is”

Det er is extremely frequent. It can describe a situation—Det er sent (“It is late”)—or introduce something that exists—Det er en kafé her (“There is a café here”). In the second use, English changes between “there is” and “there are,” but Norwegian commonly keeps det er even when the following noun is plural: Det er to kafeer her (“There are two cafés here”). This broader construction is treated in detail under Det er (There is/are).

The same det also acts as a formal or “dummy” subject: a grammatical placeholder where no concrete person or object is doing anything. Weather sentences such as Det er kaldt work this way.

Age: Norwegian often uses være

Norwegian can express age with være, much like English:

• Jeg er tjue år. — I am twenty years old.
• Hvor gammel er du? — How old are you?

The word gammel literally means “old,” but Hvor gammel er du? is the normal neutral question for any age, including a child’s.

Spoken forms and pronunciation

In Bokmål, the written forms remain være, er, var, vært. Everyday pronunciation varies by dialect, and the infinitive may sound different from its spelling. Do not “correct” dialect speech into a single supposed spoken standard. For writing, use the standard forms given here unless you are deliberately writing another accepted Norwegian variety.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master this section at A1, but these forms make være a complete and useful verb beyond the present and simple past.

Perfect tenses

Use vært with har for the present perfect and with hadde for the past perfect:

• Jeg har vært syk denne uka. — I have been ill this week.
• Hun hadde vært der før. — She had been there before.

The present perfect connects a past situation with the present or speaks about experience without placing it at one finished past point. Compare Jeg var i Oslo i fjor (“I was in Oslo last year”) with Jeg har vært i Oslo (“I have been to Oslo”).

Future and modal constructions

After a modal verb (a helping verb expressing ideas such as ability, possibility, or obligation), use være without å:

• Det kan være sant. — It may be true.
• Du må være stille. — You must be quiet.
• Vi skal være der klokka åtte. — We will / are to be there at eight.

With many non-modal verbs and expressions, å remains: Jeg håper å være ferdig snart (“I hope to be finished soon”).

The command vær

The command form is vær, not være or er:

• Vær forsiktig! — Be careful!
• Vær ærlig. — Be honest.

It also appears in the common polite expression vær så snill, literally “be so kind”: Vær så snill og lukk døra (“Please close the door”). In natural requests, this may sound more insistent or emotionally marked than a simple question with kan du...; tone and context matter.

Være versus more specific location verbs

English “be” often maps to være, but Norwegian may choose a verb that shows position or stable location:

• Boka ligger på bordet. — The book is lying/on the table.
• Glasset står på bordet. — The glass is standing/on the table.
• Oslo ligger i Norge. — Oslo is situated in Norway.

Boka er på bordet is grammatical and gives neutral location. Ligge or stå adds information about position and is often more idiomatic when that physical arrangement matters.

Practice Tips

1. Make a two-column routine. Write five present sentences with er, then move each one into the past with a time phrase: Jeg er hjemme i dag → Jeg var hjemme i går. This reinforces that only the tense form changes, not the form for each person.
2. Rotate subjects without changing the verb. Say jeg er klar, du er klar, vi er klare, de er klare. Notice that er stays fixed while the adjective may change for plural agreement.
3. Train word order as whole patterns. Practise each idea as a statement, a negative, and a question: Hun er her. Hun er ikke her. Er hun her? Learning these as short spoken units is more effective than memorizing er in isolation.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Personal Pronouns — identifies the subjects used with er and var.
• Next step: Det er (There is/are) — develops the very common pattern used to present people, things, and situations.
• Next step: Formal Subject “Det” — explains placeholder det in weather and other impersonal sentences.