Perfect participle: irregular verbs
Irregular perfect participles: gå→gått, komme→kommet, se→sett, drikke→drukket, skrive→skrevet
Can use common irregular perfect participles: gått, kommet, sett, drukket, gitt, tatt, vært
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Har du sett nøklene mine? Jeg har lett overalt.
Have you seen my keys? I have looked everywhere.
Vi har gått langt i dag og drukket mye vann.
We have walked far today and drunk a lot of water.
Jeg har aldri vært i utlandet og har ikke tatt passet mitt.
I have never been abroad and have not taken my passport.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Key irregular Norwegian participles: gå→gått, komme→kommet, se→sett, drikke→drukket, ta→tatt, gi→gitt, være→vært. No ge- prefix — unlike German.
Common Error Patterns
Adds ge- to irregular participle: 'har gegått' instead of 'har gått'
Norwegian NEVER uses ge- prefix. German gegangen → Norwegian gått.
Regularises an irregular participle: 'har gaet' or 'har gåt' instead of 'har gått'
The most common irregular participles must be memorised: gå→gått, se→sett, ta→tatt, gi→gitt, være→vært.
Har du sett nøklene mine? Jeg har lett overalt.
Have you seen my keys? I have looked everywhere.
'Sett' = participle of 'se' (see). 'Lett' = participle of 'lete' (search, group 2). Both used in perfect tense.
Vi har gått langt i dag og drukket mye vann.
We have walked far today and drunk a lot of water.
'Gått' = participle of 'gå'. 'Drukket' = participle of 'drikke'. Both irregular. 'I dag' (today) can co-occur with perfect.
Jeg har aldri vært i utlandet og har ikke tatt passet mitt.
I have never been abroad and have not taken my passport.
'Vært' = participle of 'være' (be). 'Tatt' = participle of 'ta' (take). Both end in -tt pattern.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises