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Norwegian Classroom: Essential Phrases

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Speak NorwegianEssential Phrases in Norwegian

God morgen Good Morning Hallo / God dag Hello / Good Day
God kveld Good Evening God natt Good Night
Ha det bra Goodbye Hei / Ha det Hi / Bye
Vær så snill Please (Tusen) Takk Thank you (very much)
Ingen årsak / Vær så god Don’t mention it / You’re welcome Ja / Nei Yes / No
Herr / Fru / Frøken Mister / Misses Velkommen! Welcome!
Hvordan har du det? How are you? Hvordan går det? How it’s going?
Bra / Dårlig Good / Bad Hva heter du? What’s your name?
Jeg heter… My name is… (I am called…) Hyggelig å treffe deg! Pleased to meet you!
Hvor kommer du fra? Where are you from? Jeg er fra… I’m from…
Unnskyld Excuse me / Sorry Hvor bor du? Where do you live?
Jeg bor i… I live in… Jeg vil gjerne ha… / Jeg skulle gjerne hatt… I would like…
Hvor gammel er du? How old are you? Jeg er ____ år (gammel). I am ____ years (old).
Jeg vet [ikke.] I [don’t] know. Snakker du norsk? Do you speak Norwegian?
Jeg snakker engelsk. I speak English. Snakk langsomt Speak slowly
svensk, dansk, fransk, italiensk, spansk, tysk, nederlandsk, russisk, japansk Swedish, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Russian, Japanese
Hva heter … på norsk? How do you say … in Norwegian? Forstår du? Do you understand?
Jeg forstår [ikke.] I [don’t] understand. Vær så snill å gjenta / Vennligst gjenta Please repeat
Hva er dette? What is this? Hvor er … ? Where is … ?
Hvor mye koster dette? How much does this cost? Jeg er sulten I’m hungry
Jeg er tørst I’m thirsty Jeg er trett I’m tired
Jeg er syk I’m sick Jeg tror [ikke] det I [don’t] think so
Kom inn / hit Come in / here Ta plass Have a seat.
Stans! / Stopp! Stop! Straks! Immediately! / Soon!
Jeg har gått meg bort I’m lost Hjelp! Help!
Fare! Danger! Pass på! Watch out!
Vent litt! Wait a minute! Hvor langt er det? How far is it?
Det var synd. That’s too bad! Velbekomme! Have a good meal!
Skål! Cheers! (toast) Lykke til! Good luck!
Jeg elsker deg. I love you. Jeg savner deg. I miss you.
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Norwegian Classroom:Articles and Demonstratives

Classroom - Norwegian, Learn Norwegian / By

Learn Norwegian

Norwegian Articles and 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)
Indefinite
Definite
en fisk a fish fisken the fish
en baker a baker bakeren the baker
en hage a garden hagen the garden
Et words (neuter)
Indefinite
Definite
et vindu a window vinduet the window
et barn a child barnet the child
et hus a house huset the house

Demonstrative Adjectives

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

Take a look at some Norwegian nouns:

Singular Indefinite Singular Definite Plural Indefinite Plural Definite
masculine en gutt a boy gutten the boy gutter boys guttene the boys
feminine ei jente a girl jenta the girl jenter girls jentene the girls
neuter et hus a house huset the house hus houses husene the houses
From the table we can figure out the following rules:
  • The indefinite articles in Norwegian are en, ei, and et.

  • A big difference from English is that the definite article is added in the end of the word as a suffix. The singular suffixes are -en, -a, and -et. If the nouns originally ends with a vowel, you remove it before adding the suffix.

  • To make the indefinite plural in Norwegian you add the suffix -er, except for most one-syllabled neuter nouns, which often don’t get any suffix at all.

    Everything can be illustrated clearly with a table:
     
    Gender Singular Indefinite Singular Definite Plural Indefinite Plural Definite
    masculine en – -en -er -ene
    feminine ei – -a -er -ene
    neuter et – -et -(er) -ene
     
    As you can see, this is not difficult if you know the noun’s gender. Try to memorize this, and write it down if you have a notebook.
Irregular nouns
Some nouns are irregular, which means that they don’t follow the rules in table we made earlier in this lesson. This is a well known problem also in English, for example “men“ and “women“. In both of them the vowel changes in plural, and they don’t get any -s in the end. These are the most important irregular ones in Norwegian:
man en mann mannen menn mennene
tree et tre treet trær trærne
brother en bror broren brødre brødrene
sister ei søster søstera søstre søstrene
These should just be memorized, but if you don’t bother doing that right now, you can write them down and take a look them when you need them.
Many nouns end with -er in Norwegian. These are always masculine (except “sister“, of course), and their conjugation is slightly different in plural:
player en spiller spilleren spillere spillerne
 
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Norwegian Classroom:Survival Norwegian

Classroom - Norwegian, Learn Norwegian / By

Survival Norwegian (norsk)

Norwegian is a North Germanic language with around 5 million speakers mainly in Norway. There are also some speakers of Norwegian in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the UK, Spain, Canada and the US.

 Greetings in Norwegian
English Norwegian
Hello Hei!
Good evening God kveld
Goodbye Ha det
See you later Vi ses senere
Yes Ja
No Nei
Excuse me! Unnskyld meg!
Thanks Takk!
Thanks a lot Tusen takk!
Thank you for your help Takk for hjelpen
Don’t mention it Vær så god
Ok OK
How much is it? Hva koster det?
Sorry! Unnskyld!
I don’t understand Jeg forstår ikke
I get it Jeg har forstått
I don’t know Jeg vet ikke
Forbidden Forbudt
Excuse me, where are the toilets? Unnskyld, hvor er toalettet?
Happy New Year! Godt nyttår!
Happy birthday! Gratulerer med dagen!
Happy holiday! God Jul – God påske
Congratulations! Gratulerer!
Norwegian Greetings This is a list of greetings in Norwegian. Helpful when trying to check how others are doing or feeling during different times of the day.
Hi! Hei! Good morning! God morgen!
Good afternoon! God ettermiddag! Good evening! God kveld!
Welcome! Velkommen! How are you? (friendly) Hvordan har du det?
How are you? (polite) Hvordan har du det? What’s up? (colloquial)  Hva skjer?
I’m fine, thank you! Jeg har det bra, takk! And you? (friendly) Og du?
And you? (polite) Hva med deg? Good Bra
Bad Dårlig Happy glad / lykkelig
Sad trist Thank you! Takk!
Thank you very much! Tusen takk! You’re welcome! Ingen årsak / bare hyggelig
Have a nice day! Ha en fin dag! Good night! God natt!
See you later! Ser deg senere! Have a good trip! God tur!
It was nice talking to you! Det var hyggelig å snakke med deg!
                     Some more Greetings in Norwegian
English Norwegian
Hello Hei!
Good evening God kveld
Goodbye Ha det
See you later Vi ses senere
Yes Ja
No Nei
Excuse me! Unnskyld meg!
Thanks Takk!
Thanks a lot Tusen takk!
Thank you for your help Takk for hjelpen
Don’t mention it Vær så god
Ok OK
How much is it? Hva koster det?
Sorry! Unnskyld!
I don’t understand Jeg forstår ikke
I get it Jeg har forstått
I don’t know Jeg vet ikke
Forbidden Forbudt
Excuse me, where are the toilets? Unnskyld, hvor er toalettet?
Happy New Year! Godt nyttår!
Happy birthday! Gratulerer med dagen!
Happy holiday! God Jul – God påske
Congratulations! Gratulerer!

Norwegian Colors

This is a list of colors in Norwegian. This will help you find ways to describe the colors of clothes, objects and much more.
Black svart Blue blå Brown brun Gray grå
Green grønn Orange oransje Red rød White hvit
Yellow gul Dark color mørk farge Light color lys farge Colors farger
These examples show how colors are used in Norwegian. This is a good way to demonstrate how adjectives (colors) are used with nouns and verbs.
The sky is blue himmelen er blå Your cat is white katten din er hvit
Black is his favorite color svart er favorittfargen hans Red is not his favorite color rødt er ikke favorittfargen hans
She drives a yellow car hun kjører en gul bil I have black hair jeg har svart hår

Norwegian Family

This is a list of words about family in Norwegian. You can name people such as your relatives as well as extended family this way.
Daughter datter Son sønn Sister søster Brother bror
Baby baby Child (m) barn (gutt) Child (f) barn (jente) Father far
Mother mor Husband ektemann Wife kone Cousin (m) fetter
Cousin (f) kusine Aunt tante Uncle onkel Grandfather bestefar
Grandmother bestemor Nephew nevø Niece niese Man mann
Woman kvinne Boy gutt Girl jente People folk
These examples show how family words are used in a Norwegian sentence. Very useful when socializing with other people. This can also show you how to ask questions.
What’s your brother called? hva heter broren din? How old is your sister? hvor gammel er din søster?
Where does your father work? hvor jobber din far? Your daughter is very cute din datter er veldig søt
I love my husband jeg elsker min mann This is my wife dette er min kone

Norwegian Body Parts

This is a list of body parts in Norwegian. This can enable you describe parts of the human body with ease. We focused on the main used ones.
Mouth munn Nose nese Tongue tunge Teeth tenner
Ear øre Eye øye Face ansikt Head hode
Neck nakke Arm arm Shoulder skulder Chest brystkasse / bryst
Back rygg Fingers fingre Feet føtter Hair hår
Hand hånd Heart hjerte Leg bein / fot Stomach mage
These samples show how body parts are used in Norwegian. You will learn how to use nouns (parts of the body) with adjectives and prepositions (such as the preposition “with”).
She has beautiful eyes hun har vakre øyne You hear with your ears du hører med ørene
We see with our eyes vi ser med øynene I smell with my nose jeg lukter med nesen
He feels with his hand han føler med hånden She tastes with her tongue hun smaker med tungen
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