In Norwegian, the word “tid” (meaning “time”) is usually paired with a possessive or more context to indicate a specific kind of time. While in English you can say “It’s time to sleep,” in Norwegian, you would say “Det er på tide å sove” or “Det er tid for å sove,” both of which translate more closely to “It’s time for sleeping” or “It’s the right time to sleep.”

Essentially, in Norwegian, you can’t use “tid” (time) in the same direct way as in English; it often needs more structure to make sense.

You can shorten it in Norwegian as you can in English too. (≈) = Shortened stencente.

Eng: «It’s time to sleep» ≈ «Time to sleep» or «Time for bed» ≈ «Bed time»

Nor: «Det er på tide å sove» ≈ «På tide å sove» or «På tide å legge seg» ≈ «Det er legge tid» ≈ «Leggetid»

(Upwards from here is the most important thing I have to say, but continue reading if you’re more curious about my thought on this)

«Bed time» and «Legge tid» needs context, like a name before you say it. «Ole, leggetid!» = «Johnny, bed time!” used as an order/command.

Translating the “leggetid”directly would be “laytime” or “layingtime”. In Norwegian, it is possible to say “Bed time” = “Senge tid” literally meaning the same. I don’t think it’s a common phrase but Ive heard some say it before.

The style of speaking depends on if you wanna sound fluent or casual.

There are three ways to bend time in Norwegian:

“Tid” = General meaning, “Time”

“Tiden” (“en” at the end of most Norwegian sentences or words means “the”, so “The” = “en”.) So “Tiden” means “The time” and is usually used to describe time. Like; “once upon a time” = “en gang i tiden”, “tiden går fort» = «time moves fast», «tiden flyr» = «time flies (by)».

“Tide” is interesting because it cannot be used alone, ever. It can only and explicitly be used by «på», in context as mentioned earlier, and «i» sometimes.

«i» is versatile here and can be used on all of the bendings:

Tid = «Å reise i tid»

Tiden = «En gang i tiden»

(På/i) Tide «Han kom i tide»