Tidlige

Tidlige is a form used in Scandinavian languages to mean “early” and is primarily a grammatical adjective in Norwegian Bokmål and Danish. It denotes an early stage or period when describing plural nouns, and is commonly found in phrases such as “tidlige år” (early years), “de tidlige dagene” (the early days), or “tidlige mennesker” (early humans). The word’s related adverbial form is tidlig, which is used to describe actions or moments rather than things.

Grammatical details include that tidlige is the indefinite plural form of the adjective tidlig. The definite plural is de tidlige, as in “de tidlige dagene.” The form varies with the noun’s number rather than its gender; it agrees with a plural noun. In practice, tidlige functions almost exclusively as an attributive adjective (before the noun) rather than as a standalone adverb.

Etymology and cognates: Tidlige is cognate with similar forms in Danish and Norwegian, both derived from the common Germanic word for time or timing. In these languages, modern equivalents in Swedish are tidiga for the plural form, while the Danish/Norwegian form tidlig(e) reflects a closely related development of time-based adjectives across the region.

Other notes: Tidlige is not typically used as a proper noun in widely recognized contexts, and there is no well-established place, organization, or person widely known simply as “Tidlige.” If encountered as a name, it would usually be a rare or context-specific designation. For linguistic use, refer to the base adjective tidlig for the singular or to the plural form tidlige when describing multiple items. See also tidlig and tidiga for related forms.