Copyright: Grammar ®1995-96 Translation Experts


Table of Contents

 Norwegian Grammar Reference Help Contents

©1995-1996 Translation Experts Ltd. All Rights Reserved

Verbs

Nouns

Articles

Adjectives

Adverbs

Pronouns

Prepositions

Conjunctions

Time & Numbers

Sentence Structure

Correspondence

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 Verbs

Key Verbs

Basic Form & Present Tense

Past Tense

Irregular Verbs

Auxiliary Verbs

Passive Verbs

Verbs Ending in -s

Verbs Used in Other Ways


Key Verbs

English	Norwegian
to be	å være
I am	jeg er
you are (familiar sing.)	du er
you are (polite sing.)	De er
he is	han er
she is	hun er
it is (common gender)	den er
it is (neuter gender)	det er
we are	vi er
you are (familiar pl.)	dere er
you are (polite pl.)	De er
they are	de er
English	Norwegian
to have	å ha
I have	jeg ha
you have (familiar sing.)	du har
you have (polite sing.)	De har
he has	han har
she has	hun har
it has (common gender)	den har
it has  (neuter gender)	det har
we have	vi  har
you have (familiar pl.)	dere har
you have (polite pl.)	De  har
they have	de har


Basic Form & Present Tense

Norwegian verbs do not change with the person (e.g. I hear = jeg hører or he hears = han hører). The majority of infinitive Norwegian verbs end with either an unstressed e or a stressed vowel. In both cases, the present tense is formed by adding an r, for example:

English	Norwegian
Infinitive	Infinitive	Present Tense
to speak	å snakke	snakker
to eat	å spise	spiser
to run	å løpe	løper
to use	å bruke	bruker
to see	å se	ser
to sew	å sy	syr

A few verbs form the present tenses differently, for example:

to do	å gjøre	gjør
to know	å vite	vet

Norwegian does not have the equivalent of the English -ing form. The Norwegian equivalent of the English -ing is expressed in the same manner as the simple present.


Past Tense

Some Norwegian verbs are regular, which means that there is no change of the stem vowel. Irregular Norwegian verbs change. Like English, Norwegian has a simple past tense (e.g. spoke), the perfect tense (e.g. have spoken) and a pluperfect tense (e.g. had spoken). All formed in a manner similar to English.

The perfect and the pluperfect tenses are comprised of the past participle (e.g. spoken) and the appropriate tense of have, for example:

	Infinite	Present	Past	Perfect	Pluperfect
English	have	have	had	have had	had had
Norwegian	ha	har	hadde	har hatt	hadde hatt
English	be	am	was	have been	had been
Norwegian	være	er	var	har vært	hadde vært

To create the simple past tense of most regular Norwegian verbs, add ede to the stem of the verb. If the infinitive of the verb has a double consonant before the final e, the past tense retains the double consonant.

To create the past participle, add et to the stem of the verb. Retain the double consonant of the infinitive if it has one, for example:

	Infinitive	Past	Perfect
English	to kiss	kissed	have kissed
Norwegian	å kysse	kysset	har kysset
English	to cough	coughed	have coughed
Norwegian	å hoste	hostet	har hostet

A small group of Norwegian verbs add te to the stem to form the past tense and t to form the past participle, for example:

	Infinitive	Past	Perfect
English	to eat	eated	have eaten
Norwegian	å spise	spiste	har spist


Irreguler Verbs

Irregular Verbs

English	Norwegian
	Infinitive	Past	Perfect
ask	spørre	spurte	har spurt
ask/pray	be	bad	har bedt
bring	bringe	brakte	har brakt
come	komme	kom	har/er kommet
count	telle	telte	har telt
do	gjøre	gjorde	har gjort
follow	følge	fulgte	har fulgt
get	få	fikk	har fått
give	gi	gav	har gitt
grease/butter	smøre	smurte	har smurt
lay	legge	la	har lagt
lie	ligge	lå	har ligget
put/set	sette	satte	har satt
say	si	sa	har sagt
see/look	se	så	har sett
sell	selge	solgte	har solgt
sit	sitte	satt	har sittet
stay/become	bli	ble	har blitt
take	ta	tok	har tatt
walk/leave	gå	gikk	har gått


Auxiliary Verbs

Shall, can, and will belong to the key group of verbs which are indispensable for use in conjunction with other verbs. Like English, these Norwegian verbs have no command form but, unlike their English counterparts (with the exception of  dare), they do have an infinitive.

English	Norwegian
	Infinitive	Present
can/is able to	å kunne	kan
shall/is to/must	å skulle	skal
will/wants to	å ville	vil
may/must	å måtte	må
ought to	å burde	bor
dare(s)	å tore	tør


Passive Verbs

When one uses a verb to describe an action one has accomplished, the verb is said to be "active." When a verb is used to describe something done to one or to something, the verb is said to be "passive." In Norwegian, the passive is created in one of two ways:

1 An s replaces the final r of the present tense or is added to the end of the past tense.

2 The copula bli + past participle also produces the passive voice.

Active	Passive
English	Norwegian	English	Norwegian
to treat	å behandle	to be treated	å behandles/å bli behandlet
we treat	we behandler	we are treated	vi behandles/vi blir behandlet
I treated	jeg behandlet	I was treated	jeg behandles/jeg blir behandlet


Verbs ending in -s

Some verbs can have a "sense of each other" when used with the pasive s:

English	Norwegian
they see each other often	de ses ofte
se you! (we will see each other)	vi ses!
they meet (each other)	de møtes
the boys are fighting (each other)	guttene slåss

Some verbs can have a special meaning with the passive s:

English	Norwegian
there are	det finnes
it seems	det synes
I think/I am of the opinion that	jeg synes


Verbs Used in Other Ways

Just as in English, some Norwegian verbs can be used to create an adjective. This can be accomplished in one of two ways. The past participle is often used as an adjective:

English	Norwgian
a cleaned floor	et renset gulv
a newly built farm	en nybygget gård
the painted wall	en malt vegg
all whitewashed houses	alle hvitkalkete hus

In English, the -ing form of a verb is often used as an adjective or adverb. The Norwegian equivalent: is created by adding -nde to the infinitive or -ende if the infinitive ends with a stressed vowel:

English	Norwegian
a dying man	en døende mann
a satisfying answer	et tilfredsstillende svar
She is a rising (coming) star	Hun er en kommende stjerne
the existing rule	den eksisterende regel
on my writing days	på mine skrivende dager
Is that a hardworking assistent?	Er det en hardtarbeidende assistent?


 Nouns

Nouns & Articles

Plural Nouns


Nouns & Articles

Norwegian nouns can be masculine (en), feminine (ei/en) or neuter (et). The feminine ei is mostly used in dialects. Most beings and occupations use the en (ei) form. Aside from this one generality, there is no hard and fast rule by which one can determine the gender of a specific noun.

In the infinitive (a) form, en/ei and et precede the noun (e.g. a dog = en hund, a cow = ei ku, a woman = en kvinne, a house = et hus). In the definitive (the) form, they are added to the end of the word (e.g. the dog = hunden, the cow = kua, the woman = kvinnen, the house = huset). Note that the feminine form can have either the a or (e)n ending.

	Norwegian	English
	"a" form	"the" form
Masculine	en hund	hunden	dog
	en mann	mannen	man
Feminine	ei jente	jenta	girl
	en kvinne	kvinnen	woman
Neuter	et tre	treet	tree
	et hus	huset	house

If the noun ends with an unstressed e, the definitive form only adds the n or the t:

Mas./Fem.	en kvinne	kvinnen	woman
Neuter	et teppe	teppet	carpet

Nouns which end with a stressed e (those having only one syllable or an accent on the e to show stress) take the full ending:

Mas./Fem.	en skje	skjeen	spoon
	en kafé	kaféen	café


Plural Nouns

In both English and Norwegian, the plural is sometimes formed by simply changing the vowel of the stem (man/men = mann/menn). The majority of Norwegian nouns add er for the indefinitive plural, or, if they already end in a unstressed e, just r. In the definitive form, the ending is ne and ene is used, for example:

	Singular	Indefinitive Plural	Definitive Plural
English	a flower	flowers	these flowers
Norwegian	en blomst	blomster	blomstene
English	a teacher	teachers	these teachers
Norwegian	en lærer	lærere	lærerne


 Adjectives

Adjective Endings

Comparison of Adjectives


Adjective Endings

In Norwegian, adjectives change with the gender of the noun as well as the definitive (the), indefinitive (a) and plural forms.

The "basic" form of a Norwegian adjective is unchaged when used with masculine or feminine nouns or singular nouns in their indefinitive (a) form:

English	Norwegian
a sweet cake	en søt kake
a good woman	en god kvinne
a large Welshman	en stor waliser
an amusing anecdote	en morsom anekdote
a red car	en rød bil

When adjectives are used to describe a singular neuter noun, they usually require the addition of a t:

English	Norwegian
a sweet smile	et søtt smil
a good heart	et godt hjerte
a large meal	et stort måltid
an amusing fairy tale	et morsomt eventyr
a red carpet	et rødt teppe

In the indefinitive plural, most adjectives end with an e:

English	Norwegian
sweet things	søte saker
good deeds	gode gjerninger
great events	store begivenheter

When an adjective is placed before a noun in the definite (the) form, the definite ending is added to the noun and the adjective is preceded by the definite article den (for masculine/feminine singular), det (for neuter singular) or de (for plural). The ending of the adjective, however, is the same for all three:'

English	Norwegian
the sweet pain	den søte smerten
the large meal	det store måltidet
the lovely experiences	de deilige opplevelsene


Comparison of Adjectives

Comparision of Adjectives

Comparative adjectives in Norwegian is somewhat similiar to English: short/shorter/shortest = kort/kortere/kortest. The comparative English ending er becomes ere in Norwegian and the English superlative est is also est in Norwegian.

The superlative form adds an e in the indefinitive plural and in all definitive forms (den søteste sangen/de søteste sangene = the sweetest song/the sweetest songs').

English	Norwegian
		Comparative	Superlative
soft	bløt	bløtere	bløtest
expensive	dyr	dyrere	dyrest
rich	rik	rikere	rikest
wise	klok	klokere	klokest
high	høy	høyere	høyest
low	lav	lavere	lavest
wide	bred	bredere	bredest

Adjectives ending in ig or som add only st in the superlative:

English	Norwegian
		Comparative	Superlative
lovely	deilig	deiligere	deiligst
cheap	billig	billigere	billigst
poor	fattig	fattigere	fattigst
happy	lykkelig	lykkeligere	lykkeligst
slow	langsom	langsommere	langsomst

If an adjective ends with el, en or er, the e is normmally dropped before adding the ere or est endings. In double consonant words, one consonant is dropped in the process:

English	Norwegian
		Comparative	Superlative
noble	edel	edlere	edlest
lazy	doven	dovnere	dovnest
cheerful	munter	muntrere	muntrest
delicious	lekker	lekrere	lekrest


 Adverbs

Common Adverbs

Adverbs of Place & Movement


Common Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs to which they are added. In Norwegian, adjectives in the neuter form are often used as adverbs (e.g. godt = well; langt = far). Sometimes adjectives remain unchanged when used as adverb (e.g. lett = lightly).

Some common adverbs:

English	Norwegian
never/all the same	aldri
anyway	allikevel
always	alltid
only	bare/kun
then/besides	da
furthermore	dessuten
unfortunately	desverre
yet/however	dog
otherwise	ellers
still/yet	endnu
too	for
quite/rather	ganske
willingly	gjerne
fortunately	heldigvis
not	ikke
especially	især
far	langt
(for a) long (time)	lenge
perhaps	muligens
perhaps	kanskje
of course	naturligvis
now	nå
almost	nesten
often	ofte
also	også
of course	selvfølgelig
sometimes	noen ganger
immediately	straks
then	så
occasionally	av og til


Adverbs of Place & Movement

English	Norwegian
	Movement	Place
went away	gikk bort	----
was away/gone	----	var borte
went/walked home	gikk hjem	----
stayed at home	----	ble hjemme
walk forward	gå frem	----
we have got there	----	vi er fremme
come in!	kom inn!	----
we are locked in	----	vi er lukket inne
out you go	ut med deg	----
we are out		vi er ute
up(wards)	opp	oppe


 Pronouns

Subject Pronouns

Object Pronouns

Relative Pronouns


Subject Pronouns

English	Norwegian
I	jeg
you	du
he	ha
she	hun
it	den
we	vi
you	dere
they	de


Object Pronouns

English	Norwegian
me	meg
you (familiar sing.)	deg
you (polite sing.)	Dem
him	han/ham
her	henne
it	den/det
us	oss
you (familiar pl.)	dere
you (polite pl.)	Dem
them	dem


Relative Pronouns

The single Norwegian word som can be used for the English who, that and which.


 Prepositions

English	Norwegian
along	bortover
of	av
behind	bak
among	blant
after	etter
for	for
before	foran
past	forbi
before	før
from/off	fra
through	gjennom
with/at	hos
along	langs (med)
with	med
among/between	mellom
towards/against	mot
near	nær
about/on	om
around	omkring
over/above	over
opposite	overfor
on	på
to	til
without	uten


 Conjunctions

English	Norwegian
and	og
or	eller
but	men
plus	samt
as well as	så vel som
for/because	for
so	så


 Time & Numbers

Days & Months

Hours of the Day

Numbers


Days & Months

 Days

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

 Months

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


Hours of the Day

The 24-hour clock is used in Norway. The English a.m. or p.m. designations are not known.

Time	Norwegian
6-9	morgen
9-12 (15)	formiddag
12 (15)-18	ettermiddag
18-24	kveld
24-6	natt


Numbers

Number	Norwegian
0	null
1	en/ett
2	to
3	tre
4	fire
5	fem
6	seks
7	syv
8	åtte
9	ni
10	ti
11	elleve
12	tolv
13	tretten
14	fjorten
15	femten
16	seksten
17
18	atten
19	nitten
20	tjue
21	tjueen
22	tjueto
30	tretti
40	førti
50	femti
60	seksti
70	sytti
80	åtti
90	nitti
100	hundre
101	hundreogen
113	hundreogtretten
231	tohundreogtrettien
8,010	åttetusenogti
100,000	(ett)hundretusen
2,000,000	to millioner


 Sentence Structure

Norwegian word order is often the same as English but there are some very important differences. In Norwegian sentences, the verb changes place if the sentence starts with an adverb or a subordinate clause precedes the the main clause:

English	Norwegian
I am buying a car today	Jeg kjøper en bil i dag
Today I am buying a car	I dag kjøper jeg en bil
I take the car if it rains	Jeg tar bilen hvis det regner
If it rains, I take the car	Hvis det regner, tar jeg bilen


 Correspondence

 The Date

In Norwegian, the date is written with the date preceding the month, for example: 8. mai (May 8) or 25. desember (December 25).

 Letter Opening

In Norwegian there is no equivalent to the English opening: "Dear Sir(s)." When writing to a company, for example, one should proceed straight into the text unless the addressee is known by their title and name.

 Letter Closings

	English	Norwegian
Business	Yours faithfully	Vennlig hilsen
	Yours sincerely	Med vennlig hilsen
Friends	Kind regards	Vennlig hilsen
	devoted	Mange venlige hils(e)ner or
		Deres/din hengivne