Today Norwegians had the chance to sleep one hour longer, as the official time changed from sommertid (summer time) to vintertid (winter time). 8 o’ clock in the morning became 7 o’ clock – and with temperatures below zero in the whole country (including lots of early snø, snow, in the city of Tromsø and other northern places), I guess many people enjoyed the prolonged stay in senga (the bed). 🙂

Let’s review how to talk about time in Norwegian:

• there’s no ”PM” or ”AM” in Norwegian. In the written language, a 24 hour system is used: 23.12 means 11:12 PM. 10.15 means 10:15 AM. In the spoken language, you normally just use the numbers from 1 to 12. If precision is needed, expression like ’i kveld’ (tonight) or ’i morgen tidlig’ (tomorrow morning) may be added: Klokka 8 i kveld? (At 8 o’ clock tonight?) Han kommer klokka 7 i morgen tidlig. (He’ll arrive at 7 AM tomorrow morning.)
• there’s no ”at” in Norwegian. ’Klokka 8’ means eight o’ clock or at eight (o’ clock).
• kvart på ni means ’a quarter to nine’. ’A quarter past nine’ is kvart over ni. (8:55 = fem på ni; 9:07 = syv over ni.)
• there’s no ”half past” in Norwegian. Instead, you imagine yourself being halfway on the walk to the next hour: halv ti literally means ’half ten’, that is, halfway to ten = 9:30.

And here are some useful phrases for talking about tida (the time):

• Hva er klokka? What time is it?
• Den er halv elleve. It’s half past ten.
• Når går bussen din? When does your bus leave?
• Jeg må skynde meg! I’ve got to hurry!
• Jeg har dårlig tid. I’m in a hurry! (Literally: I’ve got bad time.)
• Hvor lenge varer reisen? How long does the travel last?
• Har du klokke? Do you have (a) watch?
• Har du tid til en prat? Do you have the time for a chat?
• År, måned, uke, dag, time, minutt, sekund.  Year, month, week, day, minute, second.
• I går, i dag, i morgen. Senere. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. Later.
• Aldri, ofte, alltid. Never, often, always.