Norwegian

External Resources Edit

https://www.reddit.com/r/duolingo/wiki/index#wiki_norwegian

A HEARTFELT WELCOME TO THE NORWEGIAN COURSE! Edit

Norwegian is a language with simpler grammar than many other European languages, but it is still a gendered language with three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.

Grammatical Gender Edit

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
en mann	ei kvinne or en kvinne	et barn
a man	a woman	a child

All feminine gendered nouns can be classified as masculine gender as well. In theory, one could treat all feminine nouns as masculine ones, but most Norwegians still use the feminine form, especially for certain words.

The choice really is up to you! Both en kvinne and ei kvinne are grammatically correct, and the tendency to use the feminine gender depends on geography and dialect. We have decided to teach it where it is most natural to use it, with words such as jente meaning girl, for example.

Pronouns Edit

Norwegian pronouns are very straightforward and correspond well to English ones:

Singular		Plural
jeg	I.	vi	we
du	you, singular	dere	you, plural
han, hun, det	he, she, it	de	they

Verbs Edit

Conjugation couldn't be simpler. All conjugated verbs have an -r stem in the present, and verbs don't change according to the subject! How easy is that?

Singular		Plural
jeg er	I am	vi er	we are
du er	you are	dere er	you are
han, hun, det er	he, she, it is	de er	they are

Although not as common as det, den is used to mean it or that when referring to a masculine or feminine subject, and not a neuter one.

Pronunciation Edit

As a general rule, words are spelled as they're pronounced in Norwegian. One exception is words beginning with hv, such as hva, meaning what. In this word, the h is silent.

In addition, there are several letters and letter combinations that are pronounced differently from English.

Norweg.	IPA, Notes
A	[ɑ], very open
B	[b]
C	[s] or [k] depending on word, very rare
D	[d], silent in consonant clusters
E	[e] or [ɛ], [æ] in her and der, [i] in de
F	[f]
G	[g], [j] before an i; silent before a j; silent after an i and sometimes an a or o
H	[h], silent before v
I	[i] like the e in email or ebook, [ɪ] before two consonants
J	[j], like the y in yes or yellow
K	[k]
kj, ki, ky	[ç], like the sharp h in human
L	[l]
M	[m]
N	[n]
O	[u] like the oo in soon, but longer, [ʊ] before two consonants
P	[p]
R	[ɾ], tap, like the tt in North American butter; some in Norway use [ʁ], the so-called French R
rs	[ʃ], r + s combinations produce sh sound, even between words
S	[s]
skj, ski, sky, sl	[ʃ], like the sh in ship or shell
T	[t], silent after an e sometimes, ex. det
U	[ʉ], like the ew in new, but more closed
V	[v]
Y	[y] or [ʏ], like the e in email, but more closed

Norwegian also has three special vowels, Æ, Ø and Å.

-	Similar To	IPA
Æ	the a in add or apple	[æ]
Ø	no real equivalent, but not far from the vowel sounds in bird or earth	[ø] or [œ]
Å	the o in open or old	[o] or [ɔ]

Special Notes on Common Words Edit

Norweg.	Meaning	Pronunciation
jeg	I	yai, rhymes with English <em>guy</em>
er	am, is, are	ær, similar to English are but with tapped r
det	it, that	deh, silent t
de	they	dee

DEFINITE FORMS Edit

The definite form, the man, the woman, et cetera, is formed by attaching the indefinite article onto the end of the noun. This ending is called a postfix or a suffix.

Indefinite		Definite
en mann	a man	mannen	the man
et barn	a child	barnet	the child

Although the t is pronounced as such in the phrase et barn, it turns silent in the definite form, barnet, which is pronounced more like barneh. This is the case with all neuter nouns in the singular definite form. Be sure to drop the t sound, otherwise you might sound rather Swedish.

For feminine-classified nouns, there is one irregularity in the definite form:

Indefinite		Definite
ei kvinne or en kvinne	a woman	kvinna orkvinnen	the woman
ei jente or en jente	a girl	jenta orjenten	the girl

Both jenta and jenten are appropriate translations for the girl. These same endings apply to all feminine nouns. Please consult the tips and notes section for the first lesson if you would like a review of the Norwegian grammatical genders.

Edit

Common Phrases Edit

Below is a list of common phrases in the Norwegian language, for your reference.

Norwegian	English
Hei	Hello
God dag	Good day
God morgen	Good morning
God kveld	Good evening
God natt	Good night
Hvordan har du det?	How are you?
Hvordan går det?	How is it going?
Bare bra, takk!	Just fine, thanks!
Jeg har det bra	I'm doing well
Ha det bra!	Goodbye!
Vi ses!	See you later!

Languages and Nationalities Edit

In Norwegian, most names of languages are derived from the name of the country, the adjective or the nationality with the ending –sk at the end. Below are a few examples.

Country	Adjective	Nationality	Language
Norge - Norway	norsk - Norwegian	en nordmann- a Norwegian	norsk - Norwegian (language)
England- England	engelsk - English	en engelskmann - an Englishman	engelsk - English (language)
Frankrike- France	fransk - French	en franskmann- a Frenchman	fransk - French (language)

As you may have noticed above, Norwegians do not capitalize adjectives, nationalities or languages, only countries. All words are capitalized if they come at the beginning of the sentence, just like in English.

MEASURE WORDS Edit

Remember that in Norwegian, the word for of, av, is omitted where one would normally use it in English to join a measure word with another noun.

Norwegian	English
en kopp kaffe	a cup of coffee
et glass vin	a glass of wine

Neat, huh?

Animals Edit

Many animal names in Norwegian share etymological ties with English ones, but the meaning has drifted over time in one direction or another. Below are some examples.

Beware these false friends!

Norwegian	Translation	Related Word
hund	dog	hound
fugl	bird	fowl
elg	moose	elk
dyr	animal	deer

The following words are true friends, meaning that the words are similar in both spelling and meaning.

Norwegian	English
katt	cat
bjørn	bear
krabbe	crab
elefant	elephant
ulv	wolf
mus	mouse

You know more Norwegian than you thought you did!

DEFINITE FORMS Edit

The definite form, "the man" "the woman" et cetera, is formed by placing the indefinite article "a/an" or in Norwegian, "en/et" on the end of the word instead of at the beginning. This is called a postfix or a suffix.

Indefinite		Definite
en mann	a man	mannen	the man
et barn	a child	barnet	the child

For feminine-classified nouns, there is one irregularity:

Indefinite		Definite
ei kvinne OR en kvinne	a woman	kvinna OR kvinnen	the woman
ei jente OR en jente	a girl	jenta OR jenten	the girl

Both jenta and jenten are appropriate translations for the girl. These same endings apply to all feminine nouns.

It is also normal to use the masculine article "en" for indefinite forms, even when preferring a feminine suffix in definite. This is not considered an error!

Indefinite		Definite
en jente	a girl	jenta	the girl
en øy	an island	øya	the island

OBJECT PRONOUNS Edit

We were introduced to the Norwegian pronouns in the first skill. Let's have a look at them here:

Singular		Plural
jeg	I	vi	we
du	you, singular	dere	you, plural
han, hun, det	he, she, it	de	they

As in English, the pronouns above only pertain to subjects. The pronouns at the receiving end of a verb, in other words the object pronouns, are as follows:

Singular		Plural
meg	me	oss	us
deg	you, singular	dere	you, plural
ham, henne, det	him, her, it	dem	them

Although not as common as det, den is used to mean it or that when referring back to a masculine or feminine subject, and not a neuter one. In addition, the pronoun han is an alternative form of ham.

PLURALS Edit

With few exceptions, most masculine or feminine nouns (most nouns) pluralize with -er or -r.

Norwegian	English
eple	apple
epler	apples
gutt	boy
gutter	boys
jente	girl
jenter	girls

Words that end in -er already add an extra -e to signify the plural.

Norwegian	English
lærer	teacher
lærere	teachers
amerikaner	American
amerikanere	Americans

Single-syllable neuter nouns, such as hus house and dyr animal, often do not change spelling in the indefinite plural.

Norwegian	English
hus	house or houses
dyr	animal or animals
barn	child or children

How then can you tell the difference between hus meaning house and hus meaning houses? That depends on context and adjective endings, which we will cover a bit later in the course.

One exception to these rules is the Norwegian word for "man" which pluralizes in an irregular way that's almost identical to English:

Norwegian	English
mann	man
menn	men

Here are some additional common irregular plurals, a couple of which are also irregular in English.

Singular	Plural	English Translation
and	ender	duck - ducks
bok	bøker	book - books
fot	føtter	foot - feet
hånd	hender	hand - hands
natt	netter	night - nights
tann	tenner	tooth - teeth
tre	trær	tree - trees

DEFINITE PLURALS Edit

With very few exceptions, all nouns can be converted to the definite plural form, i.e. the books, the cows, the dogs... by changing the -er ending on the plural form to an -ene ending:

Norwegian	English
hund	dog
hunden	the dog
hunder	dogs
hundene	the dogs

Many neuter nouns do not have to follow this rule. Instead, they can become definite plurals by adding on an -a ending instead. The choice is yours, but the -ene ending is somewhat more common.

Norwegian	English
brev	letter or letters
brevet	the letter
brevene or breva	the letters

Keep in mind that the word "barn" meaning "child" almost always becomes "barna" in the definite plural, although "barnene" is grammatically correct as well.

Norwegian	English
barn	child
barnet	the child
barn	children
barna	the children

PRESENT Edit

The present tense is used to describe things that are happening or are true now:

The present tense is also in general statements that are independent of time:

For things that repeat and that are still recurring:

The present tense can be used to talk about the future as well, especially when it is certain:

As a rule of thumb, you can use the present tense where you would use either the present (I leave tomorrow.) or present progressive (I am leaving tomorrow.) tenses in English.

You do not have to worry about person or number when dealing with verbs in Norwegian, the verb stays the same. This is even simpler than English where you have to remember to add the -sin the third person singular in the present tense.

Forming the present is extremely easy, just add the suffix -r to the infinitive (the form you'll find in the dictionary).

The table below shows you how to do it:

Group	Suffix	Infinitive	Present	English Translation
1	-er	å vaske	vasker	wash(es), am/are/is washing
2	-er	å kjøre	kjører	drive(s), am/are/is driving
3	-r	å bo	bor	live(s), am/are/is living (as in making one's home somewhere

There are three groups of verbs with different patterns for forming tenses in Norwegian, but in the present case they all behave in the same way as you can see.

Location Edit

To describe where something is, Norwegian often forgoes the verb to be in favor of to stand or to lie. Most often, upright objects with legs, such as beds, stand, while other objects, especially those on their side, tend to lie, just like in English.

Norwegian	English
Sengen står på gulvet.	The bed [stands/is] on the floor.
Hunden ligger på gulvet.	The dog [lies/is] on the floor.

Possessive Adjectives Edit

Possessive adjectives change depending on the gender and number of the possessor and the possessed. Be sure to pay special attention to "sin, si, sitt, & sine," which do not have equivalents in English.

MY Edit

The Definite Form Edit

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
faren min	mora mi	barnet mitt	foreldrene mine
my father	my mother	my child	my parents

The above form takes the definite form of the noun and places the possessive adjective after it. This is the more common form in colloquial Norwegian, and the one you will encounter most often.

• Faren min er fargeblind.
• My father is colorblind.

Another form is as follows:

The Indefinite Form Edit

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
min far	mi mor	mitt barn	mine foreldre
my father	my mother	my child	my parents

This form takes the possessive adjective and places it before the indefinite form of the noun. This form is considered more formal and places special emphasis on the possessor.

• Mitt barn er perfekt.
• My child is perfect.

Below is a complete list of the possessive adjective combinations:

YOUR (SINGULAR) Edit

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
faren din	mora di	barnet ditt	foreldrene dine
din far	di mor	ditt barn	dine foreldre
your father	your mother	your child	your parents

• Hvem er foreldrene dine?
• Who are your parents?

SIN, SI, SITT, & SINE Edit

The above are an interesting set of possessive adjectives in Norwegian. They all translate to his, her, its, or their and can only be attached to objects in a sentence. Sin, Si, Sitt, & Sine describe something that the subject has or owns, not somebody else. This distinction does not exist in English.

Norwegian	English
Hun elsker faren sin.	She loves her (own) father.
Hun elsker faren hennes.	She loves her (another woman's) father.
Faren hennes elsker henne.	Her father loves her.

In the last sentence, we use faren hennes instead of faren sin because her father is the subject, not the object, of the sentence.

HIS, HER, OR THEIR (OWN) Edit

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
faren sin	mora si	barnet sitt	foreldrene sine
sin far	si mor	sitt barn	sine foreldre
his/her/their (own) father	his/her/their (own) mother	his/her/their (own) child	his/her/their (own) parents

HIS Edit

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
faren hans	mora hans	barnet hans	foreldrene hans
hans far	hans mor	hans barn	hans foreldre
his father	his mother	his child	his parents

• Hunden hans er vennlig.
• His dog is friendly.

HER Edit

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
faren hennes	mora hennes	barnet hennes	foreldrene hennes
hennes far	hennes mor	hennes barn	hennes foreldre
her father	her mother	her child	her parents

• Hva heter barnet hennes?
• What is her child's name?

OUR Edit

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
faren vår	mora vår	barnet vårt	foreldrene våre
vår far	vår mor	vårt barn	våre foreldre
our father	our mother	our child	our parents

• Vi elsker døtrene våre.
• We love our daughters.

YOUR (PLURAL) Edit

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
faren deres	mora deres	barnet deres	foreldrene deres
deres far	deres mor	deres barn	deres foreldre
your (pl.) father	your (pl.) mother	your (pl.) child	your (pl.) parents

• Hvor kommer familien deres fra?
• Where does your family come from?

THEIR Edit

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
faren deres	mora deres	barnet deres	foreldrene deres
deres far	deres mor	deres barn	deres foreldre
their father	their mother	their child	their parents

• Datamaskinen deres fungerer ikke.
• Their computer does not work.

Notice how deres can mean your (pl.) or their. You will be able to tell the difference through context.

CLOTHING Edit

This lesson introduces you to clothing as well as the Norwegian word seg. This word is the reflexive pronoun for all third-person nouns, himself, herself, themselves, etc. It is used in many verbs. In fact, the reflexive is far more common in Norwegian than in English.

For clothing, one uses har på seg to describe what someone is wearing. It literally means, have on oneself and is the equivalent of the English, have on.

• Hun har på seg en hatt.
• She has on (herself) a hat.
• She's wearing a hat.

That and Those Edit

We learned early on how to describe definite nouns with the appropriate gender- and number-specific suffixes.

Gender	Norwegian	English	Masculine	stolen	the chair
Feminine	boka	the book
Neuter	bordet	the table
Plural	husene	the houses

In order to specify further with the word that or those, all we do is add one gender- and number-specific word to the mix.

That & Those Edit

Gender	Norwegian	English	Masculine	den stolen	that chair
Feminine	den boka	that book
Neuter	det bordet	that table
Plural	de husene	those houses

DIRECTION AND MOTION Edit

In Norwegian, adverbs of place that describe where something is change when they become adverbs of motion and describe where something moves. Below are some examples:

Existence	Translation	Motion	Translation	er hjemme	is at home	går hjem	goes home
er inne	is inside	går inn	goes in
er ute	is outside	går ut	goes out
er oppe	is up	går opp	goes up
er nede	is down below	går ned	goes down

Be careful to use the proper adverb for each situation. For most of the words above, the endings fall off when in motion. Think of them like a pocket book on top of a car. The car moves, so the pocket book falls off.

Existence	Translation	Motion	Translation	er her	is here	går hit	goes here
er der	is there	går dit	goes there

The words hit and dit are related to the antiquated English words hither and thither, which used to describe here and there in motion. English no longer uses this construct, but Norwegian still does.

PREPOSITIONS Edit

As in English, all prepositions in Norwegian stand before the noun. Below is a reference sheet for the prepositions introduced in this chapter.

Norwegian	English	Notes	til	of	Used with possession.
av	of, off	Used with fractions or two-part verbs.
for	for, to	Often does not translate directly.
med	with	Pronounced like meh but in a neutral tone.
uten	without
unntatt	except	Literally, "taken out."
i stedet for	instead of
ved hjelp av	using
for ... skyld	for ...'s sake
overfor	opposite

Adjectives Edit

Norwegian adjectives change for gender, number, indefinite and definite forms. Let's take a look at adjectives join to nouns by the phrase to be, starting with the adjective stor, which means big or great.

THE INDEFINITE FORM Edit

Gender	Norwegian	English	Masculine	En stol er stor.	A chair is big.
Feminine	Ei bok er stor.	A book is big.

So far, so good. There is no change to the adjective in either masculine or feminine form.

Gender	Norwegian	English	Neuter	Et bord er stort.	A table is big.
Plural	Hus er store.	Houses are big.

As you can see above, the neuter noun changes the spelling of stor to include a -tending, and the plural noun changes stor to include an -e ending. This pattern applies to most adjectives in the indefinite form, as shown below.

Gender	Norwegian	English	Masculine	en stor stol	a big chair
Feminine	ei stor bok	a big book
Neuter	et stort bord	a big table
Plural	store hus	big houses

Many adjectives ending in -ig or -sk, like viktig and norsk, do not sound pleasant with a -t ending. This is why we do not add a -t to these specific adjectives in the neuter form.

Norwegian	English	et viktig brev	an important letter
et norsk hus	a Norwegian house

We do still add the -e ending in the plural form, however!

Norwegian	English	viktige brev	important letters
norske hus	Norwegian houses

THE DEFINITE FORM Edit

The simple thing about adjectives in the definite form is that the endings are almost all the same.

Most adjectives in the definite form end in -e.

In addition to the noun transitioning into the definite form, we place an additional word before the adjective in the definite form. This word changes depending on gender and number, as you see below.

Gender	Norwegian	English	Masculine	den store stolen	the big chair
Feminine	den store boka	the big book
Neuter	det store bordet	the big table
Plural	de store husene	the big houses

Missing Endings in Old and Famous Names Edit

As students of Danish may be aware, the postfixes after the nouns above are absent in Danish, and as a legacy of Danish colonialism, some Norwegian phrases lack the noun endings shown in the table above. These words are generally famous titles or institutions, such as The White House or The French Academy. See how they operate below.

Norwegian	English	Det franske akademi	The French Academy
Det hvite hus	The White House

Note that det hvite huset can also mean the white house, just not the one the US President lives inside.

COMBINING POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS WITH ADJECTIVES Edit

There are two ways to combine possessive pronouns with adjectives. The possessive pronoun can either follow the noun in the definite form or precede the adjective. Let's take a look at how this works.

Gender	Norwegian	English	Masculine	den store stolen min	my big chair
Feminine	den store boka mi	my big book
Neuter	det store bordet mitt	my big table
Plural	de store husene mine	my big houses

Gender	Norwegian	English	Masculine	min store stol	my big chair
Feminine	mi store bok	my big book
Neuter	mitt store bord	my big table
Plural	mine store hus	my big houses

In the second set of examples, notice how the adjective endings are all -e, just like in the definite form, but the nouns have no endings, just like in the indefinite form. In a sense, this second method of combining possessive pronouns and adjectives is a blending of grammar rules.

LITEN Edit

The adjective liten meaning little or small is the most highly irregular adjective in the Norwegian language. Take a look at how it declines. Commit this table to memory, because as in English, the word small is used a lot.

Gender	Norwegian	English	Masculine	en liten stol	a small chair
	den lille stolen	the small chair
Feminine	ei lita bok	a small book
	den lille boka	the small book
Neuter	et lite bord	a small table
	det lille bordet	the small table
Plural	små hus	small houses
	de små husene	the small houses

Pay special attention to context, and in time, these adjective endings become second nature.

Colors as adjectives Edit

Below is a reference chart for all of the most basic Norwegian colors.

Norwegian	English	hvit	white
grå	gray
svart	black
brun	brown
rød	red
rosa	pink
oransje	orange
gul	yellow
grønn	green
blå	blue
lilla	purple

Most colors change their endings for gender and number, like most other adjectives in Norwegian.

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural	en brun stol	ei brun bok	et brunt bord	brune hus
en gul stol	ei gul bok	et gult bord	gule hus
en grønn stol	ei grønn bok	et grønt bord	grønne hus

Certain colors are irregular, however, in certain situations.

The words hvit, grå and blå have an extra -t in their neuter forms, and grå and blå also have the option of omitting the plural ending.

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural	en hvit stol	ei hvit bok	et hvitt bord	hvite hus
en grå stol	ei grå bok	et grått bord	grå(e) hus
en blå stol	ei blå bok	et blått bord	blå(e) hus

Unlike most adjectives, the words rosa, oransje, and lilla never change for gender or number. They always remain the same.

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural	en rosa stol	ei rosa bok	et rosa bord	rosa hus
en oransje stol	ei oransje bok	et oransje bord	oransje hus
en lilla stol	ei lilla bok	et lilla bord	lilla hus

Colors as nouns Edit

Colors can also be nouns. In that case they look a lot like the neuter form of the adjective:

Norwegian	English	hvitt	white
grått	gray
svart	black
brunt	brown
rødt	red
rosa	pink
oransje	orange
gult	yellow
grønt	green
blått	blue
lilla	purple

FAMILY Edit

Welcome to the family skill! Family words are some of the most common in Norwegian, but also some of the most irregular. Pay attention to how the following words pluralize.

English	Indef. Sing.	Def. Sing.	Indef. Plur.	Def. Plur.	father	far	faren	fedre	fedrene
mother	mor	moren	mødre	mødrene
brother	bror	broren	brødre	brødrene
sister	søster	søsteren	søstre	søstrene

In Norwegian, each grandparent has a unique name that's very intuitive.

Norwegian	English	mormor	mother's mother
morfar	mother's father
farmor	father's mother
farfar	father's father

Bestemor is the generic term for grandmother.

Bestefar is in turn the generic term for grandfather.

TIME Edit

In order to ask what time it is, you may ask,

Hva er klokka?

or literally, What is the clock?

The response will be something like,

Klokka er to.

which means the clock is two, or in other words,

It's two o'clock.

Several Norwegian expressions of time use the preposition i in combination with a noun. These must be learned independently and treated as completely separate from the nouns they're used with. For example:

Norwegian	English	i dag	today
i kveld	tonight
i morgen	tomorrow
i morgen tidlig	tomorrow morning
i går	yesterday
i år	this year
i fjor	last year

Dates Edit

Below are the days of the week. The reason they're so similar to English is because English gets most of the words for the days of the week from the names of Norse gods. Keep in mind that the days of the week, unlike English, are only capitalized at the beginning of the sentence. The g at the end of these words may or may not be pronounced.

Norwegian	English	mandag	Monday
tirsdag	Tuesday
onsdag	Wednesday
torsdag	Thursday
fredag	Friday
lørdag	Saturday
søndag	Sunday

These are the months of the year, also normally in lower-case. Keep in mind the RS sound in mars makes it sound like marsh. This RS letter combination creates an SH sound in the Norwegian language.

Norwegian	English	januar	January
februar	February
mars	March
april	April
mai	May
juni	June
juli	July
august	August
september	September
oktober	October
november	November
desember	December

Work Edit

Unlike in English, Norwegian usually drops the indefinite article when describing someone's profession.

Norwegian	English	Jeg er student.	I am a student.
Hun er lege.	She is a doctor.
Han er forfatter.	He is a writer.

Be mindful that constructions such as jeg er en student are also grammatical, but they are far less common.

INFINITIVES Edit

To infinitives, and beyond!

Most infinitive verbs in Norwegian end in the stem -e. There are many, many exceptions, however. A few modal constructions exist that link to infinitive verbs directly, such as kanand vil.

Norwegian	English	Jeg kan spise.	I can eat.
Hun vil finne katten.	She wants to find the cat.

Many infinitives link with other parts of the sentence with the word å, which translates to to, as in, å se or to see. This applies to all situations where an infinitive is present without a modal verb.

Norwegian	English	Det er viktig å lese.	It is important to read.
Han liker å lage mat.	He likes to cook.

You may have noticed that in the final sentence above, the verb å lage mat could have easily translated to cooking, and you would be correct. Sometimes an infinitive beginning with an å can act like a gerund, which is nerd for a noun ending in -ing.

QUESTIONS Edit

Yes-No Questions Edit

All yes-no questions in Norwegian can be asked by simply switching the subject and the verb, much like with the English verb to be.

Norwegian	English	Du har en hund.	You have a dog.
Har du en hund?	Do you have a dog?
Ja, det har jeg.	Yes, I do.
Nei, det har jeg ikke.	No, I do not.

As shown above, you can answer such a such a question either in the affirmative ja or the negative nei. Often the verb from the question, here har, is repeated in the reply.

Jo exists as a way to negate an assertion implied in a negative question, as if to say, on the contrary.

Norwegian	English	Har du ikke en bror?	Do you not have a brother?
Jo, det har jeg.	Yes, as a matter of fact I do.

Question Words Edit

Below are words that begin questions as they do in English:

Norwegian	English	Hva?	What?
Hva slags?	What kind?
Hvem?	Who?
Hvor?	Where?
Hvorfor?	Why?
Når?	When?
Hvordan?	How?
Hvor mye?	How much?
Hvor mange?	How many?

Just like in English, these question words send the subject to the other side of the verb.

Norwegian	English	Hva er det?	What is it?
Hvem er du?	Who are you?

Keep in mind some constructions cannot be translated word-for-word.

Norwegian	English	Hvor leser de?	Where are they reading?
Hvorfor spiser du det?	Why are you eating that?

WHICH Edit

The word which is used somewhat more often in Norwegian than it is in English. If the word which can be used in English, always use a form of hvilken for the Norwegian translation.

Norwegian	English	Hvilken bok leser du?	What book are you reading?

Below are all the forms of hvilken, meaning which (and sometimes what, as shown above).

Language	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural	Norwegian	hvilken stol?	hvilken bok?	hvilket bord?	hvilke hus?
English	which chair?	which book?	which table?	which houses?

By now, you should be getting a feel for the patterns that dominate Norwegian grammar in reference to gender and number.

CONJUNCTIONS Edit

Below is a short list of some of the most common conjunctions in the Norwegian language.

Norwegian	English	og	and
men	but
eller	or
at	that
fordi	because
om	whether, if (binary plausibility)
hvis	if (cause and effect)

Norwegian conjunctions act very similarly to English ones, with a couple of special rules.

Ikke Edit

Keep in mind that in dependent clauses, the negation ikke gets pulled to a position in-between the subject and the main verb. This occurs with several other constructions as well. This is one weird quirk with Norwegian grammar, but it will sound natural after a while.

Norwegian	English	Hun er ikke her.	She is not here.
Jeg vet at hun ikke er her.	I know that she is not here.

Isn't that interesting?

V-2 Word Order Edit

The V-2 Rule is a linguistic law that applies to all Germanic languages... except English. You can see a rare instance of it in English in the expression here comes the bus. This rule states that all sentences that are statements, in other words not questions, must have a verb in the second position. This allows for some flexibility in the word order for emphasis. What it essentially means is that Norwegian verbs refuse to move from the second position in statements.

The V-2 Rule applies to dependent clauses that begin sentences. In this specific situation, the whole dependent clause is treated as being in the first position, so the verb in the independent clause comes immediately after it, in the second position, followed by the subject in the independent clause.

Norwegian	English	Du (1) må (2) støtte meg.	You must support me.
Hvis du vil hjelpe meg (1) , må (2) du støtte meg.	If you want to help me, you must support me.

This may sound jarring, but this rule of inversion becomes easy enough after some exposure.

Norwegian	English	Jeg (1) snakker (2) ikke norsk.	I do not speak Norwegian.
Selv om jeg er nordmann (1) , snakker(2) jeg ikke norsk.	Even though I am Norwegian, I do not speak Norwegian.

If you think this word order is weird, try German.

Adverbs Edit

In Norwegian, adverbs usually follow the verb.

Norwegian	English	Du snakker godt norsk!	You speak Norwegian well!

One exception is that adverbs of time often appear at the end of the sentence or clause.

Norwegian	English	Jeg har tid nå.	I have time now.

Another exception is related to the V-2 Rule in Germanic linguistics, which applies to all Germanic languages... besides English. You can see a rare instance of it in English in the expression here comes the bus. This rule states that all sentences that are statements, in other words not questions, must have a verb in the second position. This allows for some flexibility in the word order for emphasis, but don't get crazy.

Norwegian	English	Jeg har tid nå.	I have time now.
Jeg har nå tid.	I now have time.
Nå har jeg tid.	Now I have time.

The final example is a demonstration of the V-2 Rule. When the adverb moved to the front of the statement, the subject moved to the other side of the verb har. This is because Norwegian verbs refuse to move from the second position in statements.