To talk about a finished action, most verbs add -et or -te to the stem: snakke becomes snakket, studere becomes studerte. The form is the same for every subject, but a small group of very common verbs is irregular and must be learned by heart: er/var, har/hadde, går/gikk, drikker/drakk.
Examples
- Jeg snakket med mor i går.
- I spoke with mum yesterday.
- Hun studerte i to timer i går kveld.
- She studied for two hours last night.
- Vi var i Oslo, og jeg drakk en kaffe.
- We were in Oslo, and I drank a coffee.
The mistake to avoid
Adding -et to irregular verbs ('jeg gået') instead of using the memorised form 'gikk'.
Where this fits in
Talking about the past, Norwegian A2: Tell stories about yesterday, last weekend, and life experiences using preteritum (simple past).