Fortidsform

Fortidsform is a grammatical category that marks time as past in verbs. It covers verb forms that refer to events, actions or states that occurred earlier than the present moment. In many languages, fortidsform includes several distinct past tenses, which differ in how they relate to time and to other events.

In Norwegian grammar, fortidsformer are commonly represented by two main tenses: preteritum (simple past) and perfektum (present perfect). The preteritum describes a completed past action or state without reference to its present relevance, while perfektum indicates an action that was completed at an unspecified time before now and often has relevance to the present. A third form, pluskvamperfektum (past perfect), expresses an action that had occurred before another past event. Norwegian also distinguishes strong and weak verbs, which affect how the past forms are formed.

Examples illustrate the difference: in Norwegian, jeg gikk means “I walked” (preteritum), jeg har gått means “I have walked” (present perfect), and jeg hadde gått means “I had walked” (past perfect). In English, the equivalents are walked (simple past), has walked/have walked (present perfect), and had walked (past perfect). The choice among these forms influences narrative timing, aspect, and the perceived completion of actions.

The fortidsform category thus serves both temporal and aspectual functions: it situates events in the past and can signal whether an action is viewed as completed, habitual in the past, or relevant to a later past moment. Across languages, past tenses vary in form and usage, but share the core function of locating discourse in time before the present.