Simplifying Norwegian Grammar for Beginners

Norwegian grammar is often considered one of the easier aspects of learning the language, especially for English speakers. But that doesn’t mean it’s entirely straightforward. Here’s a no-nonsense breakdown of the basics.

Word Order: The Basics

Norwegian follows a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structure, just like English. For example:

Questions flip the verb and subject:

Noun Genders

Norwegian nouns are divided into three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. While this might sound daunting, there’s a shortcut:

• Masculine: Often ends in -en (e.g., en bil – a car).
• Feminine: Sometimes ends in -a (e.g., ei bok – a book).
• Neuter: Ends in -et (e.g., et hus – a house).

Many dialects merge feminine and masculine into a common gender, so don’t stress if you mix them up.

Verb Conjugation

Norwegian verbs don’t change much. The infinitive ends in -e (e.g., å snakke – to speak). In present tense, just add -r:

Past tense usually adds -te or -de:

Definite and Indefinite Articles

Norwegian attaches the definite article to the end of the noun:

Adjective Agreement

Adjectives change based on the noun’s gender and number:

• Masculine/feminine singular: en stor bil (a big car).
• Neuter singular: et stort hus (a big house).
• Plural: store biler (big cars).

Pronouns

Norwegian pronouns are straightforward:

Common Pitfalls

Norwegian has two written standards: Bokmål and Nynorsk. Stick with Bokmål as a beginner - it’s more widely used. Also, watch out for compound words, which can look intimidating but follow logical rules.