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Grammar
Note: Before heading to the tutorial I would Strictly recommend to download any
online dictionary which could easily translate the difficult Norwegian words
provided below so that you can understand them easily and learn quickly, if
you have one so that’s good if not then I’ll personally prefer BabelFish
dictionary which is free so you don’t need to buy it. The download link is
provided below:
There are two types of written Norwegian, Bokmål and Nynorsk. This tutorial includes
Bokmål only. Thanks to Dan for helping with this tutorial!
1. Basic Phrases
Hvor bor du? Jeg bor i... Jeg vil gjerne ha... / Jeg skulle
Where do you live? I live in... gjerne hatt...
I would like...
2. Pronunciation
3. Alphabet
Nouns in Norwegian (Bokmål) have two genders, masculine and neuter, which adjectives
must agree with when modifying nouns. Technically there is a third gender, feminine
(which Nynorsk retains), but since feminine nouns can be written as masculine nouns, I'm
including feminine nouns in the masculine category. There are two indefinite articles that
correspond with these genders: en for masculine nouns and et for neuter nouns. In the
vocabulary lists, a noun followed by (n) means that it is a neuter noun and it takes the
indefinite article et. The majority of nouns in Norwegian are masculine, so they take the
indefinite article en.
The only case of nouns that is used in Norwegian is the genitive (showing possession), and
it is easily formed by adding an -s to the noun. This is comparable to adding -'s in English
to show possession. However, if the noun already ends in -s, then you add nothing (unlike
English where we add -' or -'s). Olavs hus = Olav's house
There are two indefinite articles (corresponding to a and an): en and et. En is used with
most of the nouns (words denoting people almost always use en), but you will just have to
learn which article goes with which noun. The definite article (the) is not a separate word
like in most other languages. It is simply a form of the indefinite article attached to the
end of the noun. Note that en words ending in a vowel retain that vowel and add an -n
instead of adding -en. And et words ending in -e just add -t. Furthermore, the t of et as an
indefinite article is pronounced; however, the t is silent in the definite article -et attached to
the noun. (For feminine nouns, the indefinite article is ei and the definite article that is
attached to the noun is -a. In theory, this gender does still exist in Bokmål, but in practice,
it is rarely used and the feminine nouns are inflected like masculine nouns, i.e. add -en
instead of -a for the definite form.)
Articles
Demonstrative Adjectives
denne den
masculine this suit that suit
dressen dressen
dette det
neuter this scarf that scarf
skjerfet skjerfet
disse these those
plural de skoene
skoene shoes shoes
Notice that the noun that follows a demonstrative adjective must have the definite article
attached to it.
(The feminine form of demonstratives is identical to the masculine; denne and den.)
6. Subject & Object Pronouns
7. To Be & to Have
The present and past tenses of verbs in Norwegian are very simple to conjugate. All the
forms are the same for each personal pronoun. The infinitive of the verb to be in
Norwegian is være, and the conjugated present tense form is er and the past tense is var.
The infinitive of the verb to have is ha, and the conjugated present tense form is har and
the past tense is hadde.
være - to be ha - to have
I am jeg er I was jeg var I have jeg har I had jeg hadde
you are du er you were du var you have du har you had du hadde
he is han er he was han var he has han har he had han hadde
she is hun er she was hun var she has hun har she had hun hadde
it is den er it was den var it has den har it had den hadde
it is det er it was det var it has det har it had det hadde
man man man
one is man er one was one has one had
var har hadde
we are vi er we were vi var we have vi har we had vi hadde
dere dere dere
you are dere er you were you have you had
var har hadde
they
they are de er they were de var they have de har de hadde
had
To form the future tense of verbs, just add skal before the infinitive. Jeg skal være = I will
be; hun skal ha = she will have; etc.
8. Useful Words
noen granger / av og
sometimes already allerede
til
always alltid perhaps kanskje
never aldri both begge
often ofte some noe(n)
usually vanligvis again igjen
now nå between mellom
and og a lot, many mye / mange
but men of course selvfølgelig / såklart
or eller a little litt
ikke i det hele tatt / slettes ikke /
very veldig / svært not at all
overhodet ikke
here her almost nesten
there der really? virkelig?
with med it is det er
each other hverandre there is/are det finnes
9. Question Words
Hvilken is used with masculine nouns, hvilket is used with neuter nouns, and hvilke is used
with plural nouns.
0 null
1 en, ett 1st første
2 to 2nd annen, andre
3 tre 3rd tredje
4 fire 4th fjerde
5 fem 5th femte
6 seks 6th sjette
7 sju 7th sjuende
8 åtte 8th åttende
9 ni 9th niende
10 ti 10th tiende
11 elleve 11th ellevte
12 tolv 12th tolvte
13 tretten 13th trettende
14 fjorten 14th fjortende
15 femten 15th femtende
16 seksten 16th sekstende
17 sytten 17th syttende
18 atten 18th attende
19 nitten 19th nittende
20 tjue 20th tjuende
21 tjueen, tjueett 21st tjueførste
22 tjueto 22nd tjueandre
30 tretti 30th trettiende
40 førti 40th førtiende
50 femti 50th femtiende
60 seksti 60th sekstiende
70 sytti 70th syttiende
80 åtti 80th åttiende
90 nitti 90th nittiende
100 hundre 100th hundrede
1,000 tusen 1,000th tusende
million million
billion milliard
trillion billion
"Sju" can also be written "syv" (slightly more formal), and "sjuende" as "syvende"
Similarly "tjue" can be "tyve", but this does seem less common and more formal.
January januar
February februar
March mars
April april
May mai
June juni
July juli
August august
September september
October oktober
November november
December desember
month måned
last month forrige måned
monthly månedlig
year år (n)
this year i år
last year i fjor
yearly årlig
13. Seasons
14. Directions
15. Colors
orange oransje
pink rosa
purple lilla
blue blå, blått, blå
yellow gul, gult, gule
red rød, rødt, røde
black svart, svart, svarte
brown brun, brunt, brune
gray grå, grått, grå
white hvit, hvitt, hvite
green grønn, grønt, grønne
The first three colors do not change according to gender or number to agree with the noun
they modify. The rest of the colors must agree, however, and they are listed in masculine,
neuter and plural forms: en grønn kjole - a green dress; et blått hus - a blue house; svarte
sokker - black socks
16. Time
17. Weather
How's the weather? Hvordan er været? What temperature is it? Hvor mange grader er det?
It's cold Det er kaldt It's foggy Det er tåke
It's warm Det er varmt The fog is lifting Tåken letner
It's beautiful Det er pent It's snowing Det snør
It's bad Det er dårlig It's raining Det regner
It's clearing Det lysner It's going to storm Det bli storm
It's icy Det er isete There's thunder Det tordner
It's windy Det blåser There's lightning Det lyner
It's cloudy Det er overskyet It's freezing (cold as ice) Det er iskaldt
It's humid/muggy Det er fuktig It's hailing Det hagler
18. Family
Some family words have irregular indefinite plurals: mødre (mothers), fedre (fathers),
sønner (sons), døtre (daughters), brødre (brothers), and søstre (sisters)
Masculine nouns generally add -er or -r to the indefinite singular noun to form the
indefinite plural, and -ene or -ne to form the definite plural. The names of jobs ending in
-er only add -e and -ne in these cases. Neuter nouns that are more than one syllable form
plural nouns the same way as masculine nouns. Neuter nouns that are only one syllable,
however, add nothing to form the indefinite plural and either -ene or -a to form the definite
plural.