Norwegian
Norwegian is a North Germanic Language spoken in Norway. It is a decedent of Old West Norse.
| Norwegian Norsk | |
| Spoken in: | Norway (Norge /(Nynosrk) Noreg) |
| Conworld: | Real world |
| Total speakers: | 4.8 million native. |
| Genealogical classification: | Indo-European
|
| Basic word order: | SVO, OVS/V2 |
| Morphological type: | Isolating (mostly) |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | nominative-accusative |
| Writing system: | |
| Created by: | |
| unknown | 1525 C.E. |
Norway
The primary location where Norwegian is spoken is in Norway. The name Norway in English comes from the Anglo-Saxon name Norðweg meaning North-way. This is also seen in Old Norse in the word Norðmaðr which means both North-man and Norwegian (in that sense they might be one in the same).
Norwegian has two standards, Nynorsk and the more popular written variation Bokmål. Norwegian Orthography is very close to that of Danish, because for a long time the Danish had control over Norway. However, the spoken language is closer to Swedish. This means Swedish and Norwegian people would more easily understand each other in conversation, while Danish and Norwegian people would better understand each other's written languages. Danish speakers can understand Norwegian better than the reverse, due to Norwegian having a different phonetic structure to orthographic spellings. This makes Norwegian as a language dead center between Swedish and Danish.
Phonetics and Phonology
Consonants
| Consonants | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Labiod. | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɳ | ŋ | ||||||||||||
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | ʈ | ɖ | k | g | ||||||||
| Fricative | f | v | s | ʃ | ʂ | ç | h | |||||||||
| Affricate | ʦ | (ʧ) | ||||||||||||||
| Approximants | j | |||||||||||||||
| Trill | r | (ɽ) | (ʀ) | |||||||||||||
| Lateral Approximant | l | ɭ | ||||||||||||||
- Most of the letters are identical with their IPA equivalents, such as: b, p, t, d, f, v, j, h, s, l, r, m, and n.
- When an r is in front of another consonant, it can make it retroflex these include rs /ʂ/, rt /ʈ/, rd /ɖ/, rl /ɭ/, and rn /ɳ/. This also differs by dialect, and can result in /ʀs/ /ʀt/, /ʀd/, /ʀl/, and /ʀn/ are used.
- The orthographic k is pronounced /k/ except when in front of a i /i/, y /y/ or j /j/, where it becomes a /ç/. tj is also pronounced /ç/.
- w is pronounced /v/.
- sk is pronounced /sk/ except when in front of i /i/, y /y/, or j /j/, where it becomes /ʃ/ (except in some dialects). sj is also pronounced /ʃ/.
- g is pronounced /g/ except when in front of i /i/, y /y/, or j /j/, where it becomes /j/. At the end of a word, g is often either not pronounced or becomes a /j/ sound.
- In some dialects /v/ is pronounced /ʋ/ instead.
Vowels
| Vowels | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||||
| Unround | Rounded | Unrounded | Rounded | |||||||
| High | iː - i | yː - y | ʉː - ʉ | uː | ||||||
| Mid | eː - e/ɛ | øː - ø | ə | oː - o /ɔː - ɔ | ||||||
| Low | æː - æ | aː - a | ||||||||
| All entries are: Long - Short | ||||||||||
In Norwegian there is a separation between Long and Short vowels. There are minimal pairs such as tak /taːk/ roof, verse takk /tak/ thanks.
- y is /yː/ and /y/.
- ø is /øː/ and /ø/.
- e is /eː/, /e/, /ɛ/, or /ə/.
- i is /iː/ and /i/.
- u is /ʉː/ and /u/.
- o is /uː/, /oː/ and occasionally /ɔ/.
- a is /ɑː/ and /ɑ/.
- æ is /æː/ and /æ/.
- å is /ɔː/ and /ɔ/.
Grammar
Nouns
Gender
Norwegian originally had three genders, Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter. However, in many of the later stages and most of the modern dialects, the Masculine and Feminine genders have merged into a Common gender. However, even in Bokmål the feminine gender does occasionally exist. Because around 75% of nouns were once Masculine or Feminine, that is the amount which is Common, leaving 25% for the Neuter gender. The feminine gender does in
Number
There are two numbers in Norwegian: Singular and Plural. Singular is the usual state of the noun, and the form found in the dictionary. The Plural is formed by adding -er to the end of the noun. In neuter nouns with one syllable, the plural can be identical to the singular.
Articles
There are two types of articles for English, Indefinite and Definite. The number also comes into play, the indefinite plural is mentioned above. The definite articles in Norwegian are attached to the end of the noun. The indefinite article would go before the noun. The Common form is en, and et for the Neuter form. So to say a dog it is en hund, and the dog is hunden. And to say a hotel it is et hotell, and the hotel is hotellet. In the plural, the informal ending is -er and the formal ending is -ene. So to say dogs it is hunder, and the dogs is hundene. And to say hotels it is hoteller, and the hotels is hotellene. In monosyllabic neuter nouns, the indefinite plural ending -er is not present, though all other forms are. So the singular form in the indefinite of a house is et hus and the plural indefinite form of house is just hus, with the definite being huset and husene in the plural. Quite a few Norwegian nouns have a irregular forms.
Genitive
Old Norse, like its (sometimes distant) relatives Old English, Icelandic, and High German, had a complex series of cases that would be used for every noun. All of them had around four (Old English had the remnants of a 5th, which later died away) and were as follows: Nominative (subject), Accusative (direct object), Dative (indirect object), and Genitive (possessives). However, in modern Norwegian, like Danish and Swedish, the first three cases were merged into one, and the Genitive somehow survived (like in Modern English). The ending, similar to English, is -s.
Noun Paradigm
| Indef. sing. | Def. sing. | Indef. pl. | Def. pl. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | en hund | hunden | hunder | hundene |
| Neuter polysyllabic | et hotell | hotellet | hoteller | hotellene |
| Nt. Monosyllabic | et hus | huset | hus | husene |
Adjectives
Adjectives agree with nouns according to gender, definiteness, and number. There is a Common indefinite, Neuter indefinite, and everything else (which all have the same form). The common indefinite form is usually the root of the adjective. The Neuter indefinite article often has an ending of -t. For everything else, such as indefinite plural, definite plural, definite common, and definite neuter, the ending -e is the regular ending. There are several forms which do not take the proper endings, such as forms which end with -ig or in most cases, -sk which don't have a neuter indefinite form, but does have the -e in the plural. There are also those which add -tt in the neuter indefinite, especially if its stem ends in a vowel and the vowel length must be preserved. Some have to convert the last consonant in words ending with two consonants, into a t. An example might be sunn to sunt.
Adjectives with articles
In the cases of the indefinite article, the normal article is added before the adjective, such as en god hund, et godt hotell, or gode hunder . However, in the definite cases, something new is added. In these cases, a definite article is used before the adjective. The normal definite article is added to the end, as well as this additional article. So the examples above become de gode hunden, det gode hotellet or de gode hundene.
Adjective Paradigm
Using god "good".
| Indef. sing. | Def. sing. | Indef. pl. | Def. pl. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | en god hund | den gode hunden | gode hunder | de gode hundene |
| Neuter polysyllabic | et godt hotell | det gode hotellet | gode hoteller | de gode hotellene |
| Nt. Monosyllabic | et godt hus | det gode huset | gode hus | de gode husene |
Adverbs
Most adverbs that are formed from Adjectives use the neuter form, so god good, becomes godt well.
Pronouns
Subject Pronouns
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First | jeg | vi |
| Second | du | dere |
| Third Masculine | han | de |
| Third Feminine | hun | de |
| Third Common/Neuter | den/det | de |
Object Pronouns
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First | meg | oss |
| Second | deg | dere |
| Third Masculine | ham | dem |
| Third Feminine | henne | dem |
| Third Common/Neuter | den/det | dem |
Reflexive Pronouns
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First | meg | oss |
| Second | deg | dere |
| Third | seg | seg |
Preposition
The following is a list of prepositions:
av - of, from, by
blant - among, belong to
etter - after,
for - for,
fra - from
før - before
hos - at, with
i - in
med - with
mellom - between
mot - against, towards
om - about, around, concerning
over - over
på - on, in
til - until
under - under, during
ved - at, with by
Conjunctions
Coordinating Conjunctions
og - and
men - but
eller - or
for - for, because
samt- as well as
både...og - both...and
enten...eller - either...or
hverken...eller - neither...nor
Subordinating Conjunctions
at - that
da - as, when
fordi - because
siden - since
ettersom -since
dersom - in the case that
hvis - if
med mindre - unless
om - if, whether
skjønt - although
enskjønt - although
selv om - even if, even though,
når - when(ever)
etter at - after
før - before
innen - before, until
mens - while
fra - from, forth
så lenge som - as long as
for at - so that
så - so that, so
så at - so that
silk at - such that
enn - than
jo...jo/jo...desto - the...the
Likesom - like
som - as, like
som om - as if
så...som - as...as
Verbs
The infinitive in most Norwegian verbs is formed by the root and å before it (similar to English to) and by adding -e unless the word has one syllable, i.e. å kjøpe to buy, å skrive to write, å like to like, and å prøve to try. There are quite a few exceptions to this rule, such as if the root of the verb is different than the infinitive form (irregular), such as å være (to be, whose present form is er). For monosyllabic verbs, the root is the form given, and since almost all Norwegian verbs end with a vowel, these usually don't need the -e suffix. Examples include å se to see, å bo to live.
Four Classes
- The first form, or class I, is a large class of verb and includes most verbs with the stem having a double consonant (gemminated or not) at the end.
- Another large class is class II, which has a long vowel and a single consonant in the stem. Many in this category can end with ll, mm, nn, ld, or nd. The gemminated ones often drop the second one in the past tense.
- Class III ends with a diphthong or -g or -v.
- Class IV ends with a stressed vowel.
Present
Norwegian verbs are not distinctive according to person and number in the subject. This means that the subject is required in order for the sentence to be understood. The verbs å være to be and å ha to have are important verbs that also do not make a distinction according to person and number. A few verbs have irregular forms in the present tense. Here are some examples, one from each of the four classes, with pronouns included:
| Present tense | ||||||||
| Infinitive | å snakke To speak | å like to live | å prøve to try | å bo to live | ||||
| sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | |
| 1st person | jeg snakker | vi snakker | jeg liker | vi liker | jeg prøver | vi prøver | jeg bor | vi bor |
| 2nd person | du snakker | dere snakker | du liker | dere liker | du prøver | dere prøver | du bor | dere bor |
| 3rd person | han/hun snakker | de snakker | han/hun liker | de liker | han/hun prøver | de prøver | han/hun bor | de bor |
Future
The future tense is formed in Norwegian in a similar way to the way it is formed in English. It uses modal verbs, specially vil and skal, which are related to English will and shall. The former, vil which is related to German wollen as well, means more along the lines of want in the future tense, and shall is more like apathetic in nature. The expression kommer til å is another one used to express the future tense, which is equivalent to English to be going to. Here are the samples using the same verbs above.
| Present tense | ||||||||
| Infinitive | å snakke To speak | å like to live | å prøve to try | å bo to live | ||||
| sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | |
| 1st person | jeg skal snakke | vi skal snakke | jeg skal like | vi skal like | jeg skal prøve | vi skal prøve | jeg skal bo | vi skal bo |
| 2nd person | du skal snakke | dere skal snakke | du skal like | dere skal like | du skal prøve | dere skal prøve | du skal bo | dere skal bo |
| 3rd person | han/hun skal snakke | de skal snakke | han/hun skal like | de skal like | han/hun skal prøve | de skal prøve | han/hun skal bo | de skal bo |
Simple Past
This is used in a way similar to English
| Present tense | ||||||||
| Infinitive | å snakke To speak | å like to live | å prøve to try | å bo to live | ||||
| sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | |
| 1st person | jeg snakket† | vi snakket | jeg likte | vi likte | jeg prøvde | vi prøvde | jeg bodde | vi bodde |
| 2nd person | du snakket | dere snakket | du likte | dere likte | du prøvde | dere prøvde | du bodde | dere bodde |
| 3rd person | han/hun snakket | de snakket | han/hun likte | de likte | han/hun prøvde | de prøvde | han/hun bodde | de bodde |
†And alternate ending is -a instead of -et.
Present Perfect
The perfect tense is used with the verb ha + verb form.
| Present tense | ||||||||
| Infinitive | å snakke To speak | å like to live | å prøve to try | å bo to live | ||||
| sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | |
| 1st person | jeg har snakket | vi har snakket | jeg har likt | vi har likt | jeg har prøvd | vi har prøvd | jeg har bodd | vi har bodd |
| 2nd person | dere har snakket | du har likt | dere har likt | du har prøvd | dere har prøvd | du har bodd | dere har bodd | |
| 3rd person | han/hun har snakket | de har snakket | han/hun har likt | de har likt | han/hun har prøvd | de har prøvd | han/hun har bodd | de har bodd |
Passive Voice
The passive voice is formed two different ways in Norwegian. The first involves an auxiliary verb, å bli, meaning become or remain, and the past participle of the verb. The other way involves adding -s to the end of the verb.
With å bli:
| Present tense | ||||||||
| Infinitive | å snakke To speak | å like to live | å prøve to try | å bo to live | ||||
| sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | |
| 1st person | jeg blir snakket | vi blir snakket | jeg blir likt | vi blir likt | jeg blir prøvd | vi blir prøvd | jeg blir bodd | vi blir bodd |
| 2nd person | du blir snakket | dere blir snakket | du blir likt | dere blir likt | du blir prøvd | dere blir prøvd | du blir bodd | dere blir bodd |
| 3rd person | han/hun blir snakket | de blir snakket | han/hun blir likt | de blir likt | han/hun blir prøvd | de blir prøvd | han/hun blir bodd | de blir bodd |
With -s:
| Present tense | ||||||||
| Infinitive | å snakke To speak | å like to live | å prøve to try | å bo to live | ||||
| sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | |
| 1st person | jeg snakkes | vi snakkes | jeg likes | vi likes | jeg prøves | vi prøves | jeg bos | vi bos |
| 2nd person | du snakkes | dere snakkes | du likes | dere likes | du prøves | dere prøves | du bos | dere bos |
| 3rd person | han/hun snakkes | de snakkes | han/hun likes | de likes | han/hun prøves | de prøves | han/hun bos | de bos |
Modals and Auxiliaries
The Modal verbs and Auxiliaries have few forms, but they do including infinitives and past tenses. The Auxiliaries are necessary for a lot of things such as the perfect and passive formations They are as follows:
| English | Infinitive | Present | Past | Perfect |
| Modals | ||||
| to ought to, should | å burde | bør | burde | å ha burdet |
| to need to | å få | får | fikk | å ha fått |
| To be able, can | å kunne | kan | kunne | å ha hunnet |
| to have to, must | å måtte | må | måtte | å ha måttet |
| shall, will, should | å skulle | skal | skulle | å ha skullet |
| to dare to | å tore | tør | torde | å ha tort |
| to want, will | å ville | vil | ville | å ha villet |
| Auxiliaries | ||||
| to have | å ha | har | hadde | å ha hatt |
| to be | å være | er | var | å ha vært |
| to become | å bli | blir | ble | å ha blitt |
Word Order
Sources and Links
Janus, Louis. Norwegian: Verbs & Essentials of Grammar 1999. McGraw-hill.
This page is by Timothy Patrick Snyder
