Lesson goal
In this lesson, we introduce the präteritum of regular verbs and learn to briefly talk about what happened yesterday or recently. The focus is on clear patterns with frequent verbs and on the past tense form in a simple message about events.
New vocabulary
jobbet — worked
snakket — spoke; talked
spilte — played
bodde — lived
lærte — learned; studied
reiste — went; traveled
kjøpte — bought
lagde — cooked; made
Useful phrases
Jeg jobbet i går. — I worked yesterday.
Hun snakket med læreren. — She talked to the teacher.
Vi reiste til byen. — We went to the city.
De lagde middag hjemme. — They cooked dinner at home.
Jeg kjøpte mat etter jobb. — I bought food after work.
Han bodde i Oslo før. — He lived in Oslo before.
Vi lærte mye i timen. — We learned a lot in class.
Barnet spilte fotball ute. — The child played football outside.
Grammar
Präteritum is used for completed actions in the past: yesterday, last week, before, recently. For regular verbs, the präteritum form is usually formed by adding an ending to the verb stem. At the A2 level, it is convenient to memorize the ready-made forms as a whole: jobbe → jobbet, snakke → snakket, spille → spilte, bo → bodde, lære → lærte, reise → reiste, kjøpe → kjøpte, lage → lagde. The personal pronoun does not change the form of the verb: jeg jobbet, du jobbet, vi jobbet. In a regular declarative sentence, the word order is direct: first the subject, then the verb, then the other words. Indicators of past time often appear nearby: i går, i helgen, forrige uke, før.
Examples
Jeg jobbet hjemme i går. — I worked at home yesterday.
Hun snakket med en venn etter skolen. — She talked with a friend after school.
Vi spilte kort om kvelden. — We played cards in the evening.
Han bodde i Bergen i fjor. — He lived in Bergen last year.
Jeg lærte nye ord i timen. — I learned new words in class.
De reiste til sentrum med buss. — They went to the city center by bus.
Hun kjøpte en bok på butikken. — She bought a book at the store.
Vi lagde middag sammen. — We cooked dinner together.
Jeg snakket norsk med læreren. — I spoke Norwegian with the teacher.
Barnet spilte inne fordi det regnet. — The child played indoors because it was raining.
Han kjøpte kaffe før jobb. — He bought coffee before work.
De bodde der for mange år siden. — They lived there many years ago.