være

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See also: Väre, väre, vare, varé, våre, vaře, and варе

Danish

Alternative forms

Dialects

Etymology

All forms except the present are from Old Danish wæræ, waræ, from Old Norse vera, vesa, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną (“to be”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- (“to dwell, live, reside”). The present tense is derived from a different root: Proto-Germanic *izum, *izud, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”), which is also the origin of English is, are, Latin sum, and German ist. In Scandinavian, the singular has taken over the stem of the plural (with -z- > -r-).

Pronunciation

Verb

være (present tense er, past tense var, perfect tense har været)

  1. (copulative) to be (expresses identity between the subject and a predicative)
    Kierkegaard er en berømt filosof.
    Kierkegaard is a famous philosopher.
  2. (intransitive) to be, exist (with an adverbial phrase and/or the dummy subject der)
    På kontoret var (der) 15 ansatte.
    There were 15 employees in the office.
  3. (intransitive) to be (in cleft sentences emphasizing a noun phrase, with the dummy subject det and a relative clause)
    Det er Anders der har spist kagen.
    It was Anders who ate the cake.
  4. (auxiliary) to be (passive perfect tense with the past participle)
    Huset er bygget af træ.
    The house is built from wood.
  5. (auxiliary) to have (active perfect tense with the past participle of certain intransitive verbs)
    Synonym: have (used with most words)
    Pigen er løbet væk.
    The girl has run away.

Conjugation

Inflection of være
present past
simple er var
perfect har været havde været
passive væres —
participle værende været
imperative vær —
infinitive være —
auxiliary verb have —
gerund væren —

Note also archaic plural form ere (Vi ere - "We are")

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

All forms except the present are from Danish være, from Old Norse vera, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną (“to be”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- (“to dwell, live, reside”). The present tense is derived from a different root: Proto-Germanic *izum, *izud, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”), which is also the origin of English is, are, Latin sum, and German ist.

Pronunciation

Verb

være (imperative vær, present tense er, simple past var, past participle vært, present participle værende)

  1. to be
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Old Norse viðra, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd-.

Verb

være (imperative vær, present tense værer, simple past and past participle væra or været, present participle værende)

  1. (archaic) to sense or feel
    Jeg værer fiendtlighet mellom Ola og Per.
    I can sense hostility between Ola and Per.

See also

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Noun

være n (definite singular været, indefinite plural være, definite plural væra)

  1. an existence in a location
  2. a place or location that someone or something can exist

Etymology 2

Adjective

være

  1. definite singular of vær
  2. plural of vær

Etymology 3

Verb

være (present tense er, past tense var, past participle vore, passive infinitive værast, present participle værande, imperative vær)

  1. (pre-1938) alternative form of vere
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