Presens partisipp 📕

We have two participle forms of Norwegian verbs: the present participle and the perfect participle.
Here we explain what the present participle is and how it is used:

The present participle tells us that someone is doing something, and that the action is not finished. We form the present participle by adding -(e)nde til infinitiven. Presens partisipp bøyes ikke! 🤩

He is the end of the race. The cat will lie down . She quickly runs away .

1. It is quite common to use the present participle as an adjective to describe nouns :
He had a gentle and soothing voice .

2. We can also use the present participle to describe manner or degree, together with verbs or adjectives :
A man behaved suspiciously at the NAV office.
He nodded reassuringly to the child.
The house was spotlessly clean .

3. We also use the present participle to express that an action is extended in time. Then we use the verb "to be" and the present participle of a position verb  (å stå, å ligge, å sitte) eller "å være", "å bo"eller "å gå".  This construction tells that the subject continues to stand, lie, sit, be, live or walk:

The books ended up on the table because I forgot to clean them.
Just be his end , because I'll be back soon.

⚠️ Note that when we use two verbs in such constructions, the second verb is in the infinitive :

He stopped and thought about what he had said.

We can say the same thing without using a participle: She stood for a long time thinking about what he had said.

4. We often use the present participle together with the verb "to come":
Wagon trains came running end up in the oncoming field.
He came running and told me that there had been an accident.