Norwegian Tutorial: Basic Phrases, Vocabulary and

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:

Download BabelFish Translator

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

God morgen Hallo / God dag God kveld

Good Morning Hello / Good Day Good Evening

God natt Ha det bra Hei / Ha det

Good Night Goodbye Hi / Bye

Ingen årsak / Vær så god

Vær så snill (Tusen) Takk
Don't mention it / You're
Please Thank you (very much)
welcome

Ja / Nei Herr / Fru / Frøken Velkommen!

Yes / No Mister / Misses Welcome!

Hvordan har du det? Hvordan går det? Bra / Dårlig

How are you? How it's going? Good / Bad

Jeg heter...
Hva heter du? Hyggelig å treffe deg!
My name is... (I am
What's your name? Pleased to meet you!
called...)

Hvor kommer du fra? Jeg er fra... Unnskyld

Where are you from? I'm from... Excuse me / Sorry

Hvor bor du? Jeg bor i... Jeg vil gjerne ha... / Jeg skulle
 gjerne hatt...
Where do you live? I live in...
I would like...

Hvor gammel er du? Jeg er ____ år (gammel). Jeg vet [ikke.]

How old are you? I am ____ years (old). I [don't] know.

Snakker du norsk?
Jeg snakker engelsk. Snakk langsomt
Do you speak
I speak English. Speak slowly
Norwegian?

svensk, dansk, fransk, italiensk, spansk, tysk,

Hva heter ... på norsk?
holländsk, rysk, japansk
How do you say ... in
Swedish, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish, German,
Norwegian?
Dutch, Russian, Japanese

Vær så snill å gjenta /

Forstår du? Jeg forstår [ikke.]
Vennligst gjenta
Do you understand? I [don't] understand.
Please repeat

Hva er dette? Hvor er ... ? Hvor mye koster dette?

What is this? Where is ... ? How much does this cost?

Jeg er sulten Jeg er tørst Jeg er trett

I'm hungry I'm thirsty I'm tired

Jeg er syk Jeg tror [ikke] det Kom inn / hit

I'm sick I [don't] think so Come in / here

Ta plass Stans! / Stopp! Straks!

Have a seat. Stop! Immediately! / Soon!

Jeg har gått meg bort Hjelp! Fare!

I'm lost Help! Danger!

Pass på! Vent litt! Hvor langt er det?

Watch out! Wait a minute! How far is it?

Det var synd. Velbekomme! Skål!

That's too bad! Have a good meal! Cheers! (toast)

Lykke til! Jeg elsker deg. Jeg savner deg.

Good luck! I love you. I miss you.

2. Pronunciation

Norwegian letter(s) English sound

 d silent at end of word; and in -ld, -nd, -rd
ig ee
eg ay
h silent before consonants, such as in hv-
j, gj, hj yuh, as in yes
kj, tj sh, but softer and more palatalized (as in German)
sj, skj sh
sl shl
ki, ky, kei, køy sh, but softer and more palatalized (as in German)
ski, sky, skei, skøy sh
gi, gy, gei, gøy yuh
g + other vowels guh
sk + other vowels sk
-egn, -egl, -øgn g is silent
ng nasalized, as in singer and not finger
æ ah as in cat
ø ay, but with lips rounded
å aw as in saw

3. Alphabet

a ahh k kaw u ooh

b bay l el v vay
c say m em w dobbel-veh
d day n en x eks
e ay o ooh y ew (lips rounded)
f ef p pay z set
g gay q koo æ ah (as in cat)
h haw r air ø ay (lips rounded)
i ee s ess å aw
j yod t tay

4. Nouns & Cases

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

5. Articles & Demonstratives

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

En words (masculine) Et words (neuter)

Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
et a
en fisk a fish fisken the fish vinduet the window
vindu window
en
a baker bakeren the baker et barn a child barnet the child
baker
the
en hage a garden hagen et hus a house huset the house
garden

Demonstrative Adjectives

denne den
masculine this suit that suit
dressen dressen
 dette det
neuter this scarf that scarf
skjerfet skjerfet
disse these de those
plural
skoene shoes skoene 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

Subject & Object Pronouns

jeg   I meg   me
du   you (singular) deg   you
han   he ham   him
hun   she henne   her
den   it (masc.) den   it
det   it (neut.) det   it
man   one man   one
vi   we oss   us
dere   you (plural) dere   you
de   they dem   them

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
you are du er you were du var you have du har du hadde
had
han
he is han er he was han var he has han har he had
hadde
she is hun er she was hun var she has hun har she had hun
 hadde
den
it is den er it was den var it has den har it had
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 you dere
you are dere er you were you have
var har had hadde
they they
they are de er they were de var de har de hadde
have 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

Who hvem How hvordan

What hva How much hvor mye
Why hvorfor How many hvor mange
When når How long hvor lenge
 Where hvor Where from hvorfra
Which hvilken, hvilket, hvilke What kind of hva slags

Hvilken is used with masculine nouns, hvilket is used with neuter nouns, and hvilke is
used with plural nouns.

10. Cardinal & Ordinal Numbers

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.

11. Days of the Week

Monday mandag this morning i dag morges

Tuesday tirsdag tomorrow morning i morgen tidlig
Wednesday onsdag tomorrow afternoon i morgen formiddag
Thursday torsdag tomorrow night i morgen kveld
Friday fredag day after tomorrow i overmorgen
Saturday lørdag tonight i kveld
Sunday søndag last night i går kveld
day dag yesterday i går
morning morgen day before yesterday i forgårs
afternoon ettermiddag week uke
evening kveld next week nest uke
night natt weekend helg
today i dag daily daglig
tomorrow i morgen weekly ukentlig

12. Months of the Year

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

Winter vinter in (the) winter om vinteren

Spring vår in (the) spring om våren
Summer sommer in (the) summer om sommeren
Fall høst in (the) fall om høsten

14. Directions

North nord Northeast nordøst

South syd Northwest nordvest
East øst
Southeast sydøst
West vest Southwest sydvest

to the right til høyre

to the left til venstre
straight rett fram /
ahead frem

Frem is slightly more formal than fram.

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

What time is it? Hva er klokken? now nå

It is 2. Klokken er to. early tidlig
6:20 tjue over seks earlier tidligere
half past 3 halv fire soon snart
quarter past 4 kvart over fire late sent
quarter to 5 kvart på fem later senere
10 past 11 ti over elleve in 10 minutes om ti minutter
20 to 7 tjue på sju in 15 minutes om et kvarter
noon middag in a half hour om en halvtime
midnight midnatt in an hour om en time
in the morning om morgenen right now akkurat nå
in the evening om kvelden at once med en gang
It's exactly... Den er nøyaktig... immediately straks
About/around 8. omtrent åtte At 8. klokken åtte

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

Parents foreldre Niece niese

Mother mor Nephew nevø
Father far Uncle onkel
Son sønn Aunt tante
Daughter datter Boy gutt
Brother bror Girl jente, pike
Sister søster Child / Baby barn
Grandfather bestefar Adult voksen
Grandmother bestemor Man mann
Grandson barnebarn Woman kvinne
Granddaughter barnebarn Friend (male) venn
Cousin (male) fetter Friend female) venninne
Cousin (female) kusine    

Some family words have irregular indefinite plurals: mødre (mothers), fedre (fathers),
sønner (sons), døtre (daughters), brødre (brothers), and søstre (sisters)

19. To Know People & Facts

kjenne - to vite - to
know people know facts
present kjenner vet
past kjente visste
future skal kjenne skal vite
20. Formation of Plural Nouns

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.

Singular Indefinite Plural Definite Plural

en fisk fisker some fish fiskene the fishes
some the
en hage hager hagene
gardens gardens
en some the
bakere bakerne
baker bakers bakers
some the
et vindu vinduer vinduene
windows windows
some the
et hus hus husene
houses houses
some the
et barn barn barna
children children

Irregular plural nouns in Norwegian:

Irregular Indefinite
Singular Singular = Indefinite Plural
Plural
and ender duck(s) angrep (n) attack(s)
bok bøker book(s) besok (n) visit(s)
bonde bønder peasant(s) eventyr (n) tale(s), story(ies)
error(s),
fot føtter foot(feet) feil
mistake(s)
hånd hender hand(s) forhold circumstance(s)
hand
håndkle håndklær høve (n) opportunity(ies)
towel(s)
kne (n) knær knee(s) kreps crawfish(es)
kraft krefter strength mus mouse(s)
ku kyr cow(s) mygg mosquito(es)
natt netter night(s) sild herring(s)
mann menn man(men) sko shoe(s)
rand render edge(s) spiker nail(s)
rot røtter root(s) ting thing(s)
sted (n) steder place(s) våpen weapon(s)
stang stenger bar(s)    
strand strender beach(es)    
tang tenger pincher(s)    
tann tenner tooth(teeth)    
tre trær tree(s)    
tå tær toe(s)    
øye øyne eye(s)