Norwegian

## External Resources

https://www.reddit.com/r/duolingo/wiki/index#wiki\_norwegian

# UNIT 1

## INTRODUCTION

### A heartfelt welcome to the Norwegian course!

Norwegian is a language with simpler grammar than many other European languages, but it is still a gendered language with three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.

### Grammatical Gender

**All feminine gendered nouns can be classified as masculine gender as well.** In theory, one could treat all feminine nouns as masculine ones, but most Norwegians still use the feminine form, especially for certain words.

The choice really is up to you! Both **en kvinne** and **ei kvinne** are grammatically correct, and the tendency to use the feminine gender depends on geography and dialect.

We have decided to teach it where it is most natural to use it, with words such as **jente** meaning *girl*, for example, but in the first couple of skills we'll let you focus on the masculine and neuter noun patterns.

### Pronouns

Norwegian pronouns are very straightforward and correspond well to English ones:

 **det** | it

When referring to a neutral subject, **det** is used to mean *it* or *that*. However, when referring to a masculine or feminine subject, it becomes **den** instead.

### Verbs

Conjugation couldn't be simpler. All conjugated verbs have an -r stem in the present, and verbs don't change according to the subject! How easy is that?

 **du er** | you are
 **han, hun, det er** | he, she, it is

### Pronunciation

As a general rule, words are spelled as they're pronounced in Norwegian. One exception is words beginning with **hv**, such as **hvem**, meaning *who*. In this word, the **h** is silent.

In addition, there are several letters and letter combinations that are pronounced differently from English.

Norwegian also has three additional letters that English doesn't have!

 Å

## WHO? WHAT? WHERE?

Confused yet? We have just the word for you...

**Hva** is the word for *what*, and also happens to be just the right thing to exclaim when you feel like you've been hit in the head with one Norwegian grammar rule too many.

In this skill, you'll also come across another question word, but you'll have to go look for it yourself, because we're not sure exactly *where* it went.

#### Plural Pronouns

You're already familiar with the singular pronouns **jeg**, **du**, **han**, **hun** and **det**, and now we're adding the plural pronouns into the mix.

 **de** | they

Notice how Norwegian has two different pronouns for "you": **du** is the singular and **dere** is the plural version. An easy way to keep them apart, is to remember that the word representing more people has more letters in it.

#### Question Words

When you're just starting out learning a new language, few things are more useful than to be able to ask the questions that allow you to find what you need or further your learning. You've already learned one, **hvem**, and in this skill you'll learn two more of the most common question words.

 **hvor** | where

Isn't it neat how they all resemble their English counterparts? You've probably noticed by now that English and Norwegian have many things in common, both when it comes to grammar and vocabulary. This is because they're closely related Germanic languages.

However, we do need to differentiate ourselves somehow, and so we decided to add some extra letters to our alphabet - just to keep things interesting.

#### Knowing

The verb **å vite**, *to know*, is an irregular verb in Norwegian. Its present tense, which you will familiarize yourself with in this skill, is **vet**. See that vowel change from the infinitive to the present? Cheeky!

There are actually several verbs for knowing, and you'll get to know them all in due time, but this particular one deals with factual knowledge. Some examples of that is knowing what or where something is, or knowing something about something or someone.

> **Vet du hvor det er?**
>
>
> Do you know where it is?
>
>
> **Vet du hvem hun er?**
>
>
>
> Do you know who she is?
>
>

#### Three New Vowels

Norwegian has three extra vowels, **Æ**, **Ø** and **Å**.

 Ø
 Å

## ACTIONS

### Definite Forms

The definite form, *the man*, *the woman*, et cetera, is formed by attaching the indefinite article onto the end of the noun. This ending is called a postfix or a suffix.

Although the *t* is pronounced as such in the phrase **et barn**, it turns silent in the definite form, **barnet**, which is pronounced more like *barneh*. This is the case with all neuter nouns in the singular definite form. Be sure to drop the *t* sound, otherwise you might sound rather Swedish.

For feminine-classified nouns, there is one irregularity in the definite form:

Both **jenta** and **jenten** are appropriate translations for *the girl*. These same endings apply to all feminine nouns. Please consult the tips and notes section for the first lesson if you would like a review of the Norwegian grammatical genders.

### Present

The present tense is used to describe things that are happening or are true now:

> **Jeg leser nå.** I am reading now.
>
>

The present tense is also in general statements that are independent of time:

> **Jorda er rund.** The earth is round.
>
>

For things that repeat and that are still recurring:

> **Jeg sover hver natt.** I sleep every night.
>
>

The present tense can be used to talk about the future as well, especially when it is certain:

> **Jeg reiser i morgen.** I leave tomorrow.
>
>

As a rule of thumb, you can use the present tense where you would use either the present (*I leave tomorrow.*) or present progressive (*I am leaving tomorrow.*) tenses in English.

You do not have to worry about person or number when dealing with verbs in Norwegian, the verb stays the same. This is even simpler than English where you have to remember to add the *-s* in the third person singular in the present tense.

Forming the present is extremely easy, just add the suffix *-r* to the infinitive (the form you'll find in the dictionary).

The table below shows you how to do it:

 å drikke
 å se

## ANIMALS 1

Many animal names in Norwegian share etymological ties with English ones, but the meaning has drifted over time in one direction or another. Below are some examples.

**Beware these false friends!**

 **fugl** | bird
 **elg** | moose
 **dyr** | animal

\*In British English, "elg" and "elk" are actual cognates. In American English, "elk" refers to a different animal.

The following words are true friends, meaning that the words are similar in both spelling and meaning.

 **mus** | mouse

You know more Norwegian than you thought you did!

### Grammatical and Biological Gender

After being introduced to nouns such as **ei jente**, **en gutt**, and **et barn**, you'd be forgiven for thinking that there was a correlation between a word's grammatical gender and its biological gender, or sex.

However, this is not the case. Grammatical gender is a completely independent concept. While **en hund** is a *masculine* noun, that does not imply that the dog we're referring to is male, that's just the grammatical gender of the word itself.

## PHRASES

### Common Phrases

We've compiled a list of common phrases in the Norwegian language, for your reference.

Many of them are idiomatic, meaning that they don't translate word for word to English. You'll have to learn the entire phrase.

One example is "**Ha det bra!**", which literally means "Have it good!", but idiomatically translates to "Goodbye!"

 **Vi ses!** | See you later!

### Norwegian Characters

By now, you're probably getting used to seeing the Norwegian vowels **Æ**, **Ø** and **Å** around.

 **Å** | the *o* in *open* or *old* | [o] or [ɔ]

If you're doing your Duolingo lessons on the app, you may need to install a Norwegian or international keyboard to type these. However, before you do so, try holding down **A** or **O** and see if they appear as options.

If you're doing your lessons on the web, you can either install a Norwegian keyboard, or just click the special characters displayed below the input field when you type your response.

When you have no other option, you can use these replacement characters, but don't get into the habit of relying on them, as it will be a hard one to break.

 **Å** | AA

## FOOD 1

### Cooking

In this skill, you'll learn the verb **lager**, which translates to *make*. There's no separate verb for cooking, instead, we use **lager mat**, literally *make food*.

> **Han lager mat**.
> He is cooking.
>
>

### Measure Words

Remember that in Norwegian, the word for *of*, **av**, is omitted where one would normally use it in English to join a measure word with another noun.

Neat, huh?

## PEOPLE 1

### Object Pronouns

We were introduced to the Norwegian pronouns in the first skill. Let's have a look at them here:

 **du** | you (singular)
 **han**, **hun**, **den/det** | he, she, it

As in English, the pronouns above only pertain to subjects. The pronouns at the receiving end of a verb, in other words the *object pronouns*, are as follows:

 **deg** | you (singular)
 **ham**, **henne**, **det/den** | him, her, it

**Den** is used to mean *it* or *that* when referring back to a masculine or feminine subject.

**Det** is used to mean *it* or *that* when referring back to a neuter subject, and when introducing a brand new noun that has not yet been mentioned - regardless of the gender of that noun.

**Han** is an alternative form of **ham**, but in this course we will use "han" exclusively as a subject ("he"), and "ham" for the object form ("him").

 **den** (m/f)
 **det** (n)
 **dem** | them

## DEFINITES

### Definite Forms

The definite form ("the man", "the woman", et cetera) is formed by placing the indefinite article, "a/an", or in Norwegian, "en/et", at the end of the word instead of at the beginning. This is called a postfix or a suffix.

For feminine-classified nouns, there is one irregularity:

Both **jenta** and **jenten** are appropriate translations for *the girl*. These same endings apply to all feminine nouns.

It is also normal to use the masculine article "en" for indefinite forms, even when preferring a feminine suffix in definite. This is not considered an error!

## PLURALS

With few exceptions, most masculine or feminine nouns (most nouns) pluralize with **-er** or **-r**.

Single-syllable neuter nouns, such as **hus** *house* and **dyr** *animal*, often do not change spelling in the indefinite plural.

How then can you tell the difference between **hus** meaning *house* and **hus** meaning *houses*? That depends on context and adjective endings, which we will cover a bit later in the course.

One exception to these rules is the Norwegian word for "man" which pluralizes in an irregular way that's almost identical to English:

Here are some additional common irregular plurals, a couple of which are also irregular in English.

# UNIT 2

## DEFINITE PLURALS

With very few exceptions, all nouns can be converted to the definite plural form, i.e. *the books, the cows, the dogs...* by changing the **-er** ending on the plural form to an **-ene** ending:

Many neuter nouns do not have to follow this rule. Instead, they can become definite plurals by adding on an **-a** ending. The choice is yours, but the **-ene** ending is somewhat more common.

Keep in mind that the word "barn" meaning "child" almost always becomes "barna" in the definite plural, although "barnene" is grammatically correct as well.

## PRESENT

The present tense is used to describe things that are happening or are true now:

> **Jeg leser nå.** I am reading now.
>
>

The present tense is also in general statements that are independent of time:

> **Jorda er rund.** The earth is round.
>
>

For things that repeat and that are still recurring:

> **Jeg sover hver natt.** I sleep every night.
>
>

The present tense can be used to talk about the future as well, especially when it is certain:

> **Jeg reiser i morgen.** I leave tomorrow.
>
>

As a rule of thumb, you can use the present tense where you would use either the present (*I leave tomorrow.*) or present progressive (*I am leaving tomorrow.*) tenses in English.

You do not have to worry about person or number when dealing with verbs in Norwegian, the verb stays the same. This is even simpler than English where you have to remember to add the *-s* in the third person singular in the present tense.

Forming the present is extremely easy, just add the suffix *-r* to the infinitive (the form you'll find in the dictionary).

The table below shows you how to do it:

 2
 3

There are three groups of verbs with different patterns for forming tenses in Norwegian, but in the present case they all behave in the same way as you can see.

### The Swiss Army Knife of Prepositions

In this skill, we introduce the preposition **på** - arguably the most important word in the Norwegian language. **På** has as many uses and translations as there are types of *brunost* in Norway, but the one you'll learn right now deals with specifying languages.

### Specifying Language

**På** can be used to specify what language something is said or written in. When used in this meaning, it translates to *in* in English.

> **Hva betyr det på engelsk?**
>
>
> What does that mean in English?
>
>
> **Hva heter det på norsk?**
>
>
>
> What is that (called) in Norwegian?
>
>

### Plurals Ending in -E

With few exceptions, most masculine or feminine nouns (most nouns) pluralize with **-er** or **-r**.

However, words that end in **-er** already, add an extra **-e** to signify the plural.

## THE CAFE

### Getting Your Caffeine Fix

When ordering coffee at a cafe, you can simply say:

> **En kaffe, takk!**
> A coffee, thanks!
>
>

Replace **kaffe** with **espresso**, **americano**, **cappuccino** or **latte** to get your coffee of choice. Loanword heaven!

### Expressing Desire for Something

The verb for "want" is "vil" in Norwegian. When what you want is a noun, it needs to be accompanied by its friend "ha" ("have"). Where you in English could say either "I want [noun]" or "I want to have [noun]", it's always "Jeg vil ha [noun]".

> **Jeg vil ha et eple.**
> I want (to have) an apple.
>
>

Later in the course, you'll come across "vil" followed by a verb in the infinitive, in which case you do not need to add "ha".

> **Jeg vil spise et eple.**
> I want to eat an apple.
>
>

### The Swiss Army Knife of Prepositions

In this skill, we reintroduce the preposition **på** in a second meaning. **På** has as many uses and translations as there are types of *brunost* in Norway, but the one you'll learn right now deals with physical location.

### Describing Location

When used to describe location, **på** can translate to *on*, *at*, and sometimes even *in*, depending on the context. When translating, your best bet is opting for the preposition that sounds the most natural in English.

> **Vi sitter på kaféen.**
>
>
> We are sitting at the cafe.
>
>
> **Hun sitter på stolen.**
>
>
>
> She is sitting on the chair.
>
>

### Specifying Language

**På** can also be used to specify what language something is said or written in. When used in this meaning, it translates to *in* in English.

> **Hva betyr det på engelsk?**
>
>
> What does that mean in English?
>
>
> **Hva heter det på norsk?**
>
>
>
> What is that (called) in Norwegian?
>
>

So, if you order your coffee **på norsk**, you're ordering it *in Norwegian*.

## COUNTING

Welcome to Counting! Norwegian numbers are very easy for English speakers to learn in comparison to other languages. There is no tricky system or crazy multiplication weirdness. The numbers sound and work in a similar way as they do in English.

The most common word for *seven* is **sju**, but you may also hear the word **syv** used, which is decidedly less common. Be careful not to confuse it with the word **tjue**, which means *twenty*.

### One and One More

So far, you've seen the articles **en** (masculine) **ei** (feminine) and **et** (neuter) used to to mean *a* or *an*. These also do double duty as numbers, translating to *one*.

If you want more of something countable, you can use the adverb **til**. You then combine it with a number: **en til** becomes *one more* or *another*, **to til** becomes **two more**, and so on.

When specifying exactly what you want, by adding a noun, the number goes before the noun, while **til** goes after, like so: **en kopp til** (*one more cup*).

## CASUAL 1

### Til & Fra

This skill introduces two new prepositions, "til" and "fra". Not to worry, though, as these both act predictably in this context, corresponding to "to" and "from" respectively. These work both for describing direction in a geographical sense, and in other contexts such as when giving a gift, talking to someone, or expressing where someone or something is from.

"Snakker du **til** meg?"

*"Are you talking **to** me?"*

"Vi flyr **til** Norge."

*"We are flying **to** Norway."*

"Jeg er **fra** England."

*"I am **from** England."*

"Han gir en gave **til** jenta."

*"He gives a gift **to** the girl."*

## POSSESSIVE

### Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns change depending on the gender and number of the possessor and the possessed.

### My

#### The Definite Form

The above form takes the **definite** form of the noun and places the possessive pronoun after it. This is the more common form in colloquial Norwegian, and the one you will encounter most often.

* **Faren min er fargeblind.**
* *My father is colorblind.*

Another form is as follows:

#### The Indefinite Form

This form takes the possessive pronoun and places it before the **indefinite** form of the noun. This form is considered more formal and places special emphasis on the possessor.

* **Mitt barn er perfekt.**
* ***My*** *child is perfect.*

### Your (Singular)

 din far

* **Hvem er foreldrene dine?**
* *Who are your parents?*

### His

 hans far

* **Hunden hans er vennlig.**
* *His dog is friendly.*

### Her

 hennes far

* **Hva heter barnet hennes?**
* *What is her child's name?*

### Our

 vår far

* **Vi elsker døtrene våre.**
* *We love our daughters.*

### Your (Plural)

 deres far

* **Hvor kommer familien deres fra?**
* *Where does your family come from?*

### Their

 deres far

**Datamaskinen deres fungerer ikke.**

* *Their computer does not work.*

**Notice how** ***deres*** **can mean** ***your (pl.)*** **or** ***their***. You will be able to tell the difference through context.

## THAT/THOSE

### That and Those

We learned early on how to describe definite nouns with the appropriate gender- and number-specific suffixes.

In order to specify further with the word *that* or *those*, all we do is add one gender- and number-specific word to the mix: **den**, **det**, or **de**.

## FAMILY 1

Welcome to the family skill! Family words are some of the most common in Norwegian, but also some of the most irregular. Pay attention to how the following words pluralize.

 **verbs** | present

## LOCATION 1

To describe where something is, Norwegian often forgoes the verb *to be* in favor of *to stand* or *to lie*. Most often, upright objects with legs, such as beds, *stand*, while other objects, especially those on their side, tend to *lie*, just like in English.

 **Hunden ligger på gulvet.** | The dog [lies/is] on the floor.

## STYLE 1

### Clothing

This lesson introduces you to clothing as well as the Norwegian word **seg**. This word is the reflexive pronoun for all third-person nouns, *himself*, *herself*, *themselves*, etc. It is used in many verbs. In fact, the reflexive is far more common in Norwegian than in English.

For clothing, one uses **har på seg** to describe what someone is wearing. It literally means, *have on oneself* and is the equivalent of the English, *have on*.

* **Hun har på seg en hatt.**
* She has on (herself) a hat.
* She's wearing a hat.

## FOOD 2

### The Restaurant

Hungry already, are we? Nothing like a bit of language learning to work up an appetite.

#### Ordering

If you're visiting Norway as a tourist, ordering food at a restaurant is a good way to practice a little Norwegian.

After having a look at the menu and working up your courage, give the waiter your most charming smile, and say any of the following:

> **Jeg vil (gjerne) ha X.**
>
>
> I would like X.
>
>
> **Jeg har lyst på X.**
>
>
> I would like X.
>
>
> **X, takk.**
>
>
>
> X, please/thanks.
>
>

Remember, snapping your fingers or yelling to get a waiter's attention is rude. Try to make eye contact instead. If that fails, you can say **unnskyld** (*excuse me*), perhaps accompanied by a wave.

#### Courses & Drinks

If you want to order a standard three-course meal, you can look at the menu and locate these three headings:

 **dessert** | dessert

Water is usually free, but if you want anything else to drink you'll find the drinking menu either as the last section of the main menu or as a separate menu. The drinking age in Norway is 18 for beer and wine, but 21 for hard liquor, and it's strictly enforced.

#### Receiving Your Food

When your food is ready, it will likely be delivered to you with a **vær så god**, which is the Norwegian equivalent of *here you go* or *dig in*.

The appropriate response is either **takk**, **tusen takk**, or **takk skal du ha**.

Later, the waiter may stop by and ask you how your food was, but apart from that you shouldn't expect much small talk or attention. Norwegians like to be left alone to enjoy their food, so the waiter isn't ignoring you to be rude, they're just treating you like Norwegians tend to prefer being treated.

#### Tipping Culture

Both kitchen and waitstaff are paid decent wages in Norway, so you should never feel like you *have* to tip anyone. However, it's a nice gesture if you feel the meal or service was good and would like to show your appreciation. Norwegians will often round up to the nearest 100 or 50 kr, depending on how large the total was.

Tips are registered and taxed along with the rest of people's income, so whenever you tip someone you're actually also tipping the Norwegian welfare state, contributing to better healthcare, education, and infrastructure. Having dinner and saving lives - not bad for an evening's work!

## MOTION

### Direction and Motion

In Norwegian, adverbs of *place* that describe where something **is** change when they become adverbs of *motion* and describe where something **moves**. Below are some examples:

Be careful to use the proper adverb for each situation. For most of the words above, the endings fall off when in motion. Think of them like a pocket book on top of a car. The car moves, so the pocket book falls off.

The words **hit** and **dit** are related to the antiquated English words *hither* and *thither*, which used to describe *here* and *there* in motion. Note that it has to be motion *toward* a location - not *in* or *at* a location.

## PREPOSITIONS

As in English, all prepositions in Norwegian stand before the noun. Below is a reference sheet for the prepositions introduced in this chapter. "Av" and "for" are notoriously versatile prepositions, with several other definitions in addition to the ones mentioned.

 **for** | for, to
 **uten** | without
 **i stedet for** | instead of

Of course, you've already familiarized yourself with some key prepositions in earlier skills as well. Here comes a quick refresher:

 **på** | on, at, in
 **til** | to, for
 **med** | with

### Phrasal verbs

While we won't mix them into this skill, both separable verbs and phrasal verbs are important parts of the Norwegian language.

Often, they'll use prepositions in ways that are unfamiliar, so if you ever come across a preposition you don't understand the function of, it is worth considering whether it actually forms part of the verb.

## THIS AND THESE

We learned early on how to describe definite nouns with the appropriate gender- and number-specific suffixes.

And how to specify further with the word *that* or *those*.

Now, we're introducing how to say *this* and *these* in Norwegian.

## Adjectives

Norwegian adjectives change for gender, number, indefinite and definite forms. Let's take a look at adjectives join to nouns by the phrase *to be*, starting with the adjective stor, which means *big* or *great*.

### THE INDEFINITE FORM

So far, so good. There is no change to the adjective in either masculine or feminine form.

As you can see above, the neuter noun changes the spelling of stor to include a -tending, and the plural noun changes stor to include an -e ending. This pattern applies to most adjectives in the indefinite form, as shown below.

Many adjectives ending in -ig or -sk, like viktig and norsk, do not sound pleasant with a -t ending. This is why we do not add a -t to these specific adjectives in the neuter form.

We do still add the -e ending in the plural form, however!

## THE DEFINITE FORM

The simple thing about adjectives in the definite form is that the endings are almost all the same.

Most adjectives in the definite form end in -e.

In addition to the noun transitioning into the definite form, we place an additional word before the adjective in the definite form. This word changes depending on gender and number, as you see below.

#### Missing Endings in Old and Famous Names

As students of Danish may be aware, the postfixes after the nouns above are absent in Danish, and as a legacy of Danish colonialism, some Norwegian phrases lack the noun endings shown in the table above. These words are generally famous titles or institutions, such as *The White House* or *The French Academy*. See how they operate below.

Note that det hvite huset can also mean *the white house*, just not the one the US President lives inside.

## COMBINING POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS WITH ADJECTIVES

There are two ways to combine possessive pronouns with adjectives. The possessive pronoun can either follow the noun in the definite form or precede the adjective. Let's take a look at how this works.

In the second set of examples, notice how the adjective endings are all -e, just like in the *definite form*, but the nouns have no endings, just like in the *indefinite form*. In a sense, this second method of combining possessive pronouns and adjectives is a blending of grammar rules.

### LITEN

The adjective liten meaning *little* or *small* is the most highly irregular adjective in the Norwegian language. Take a look at how it declines. Commit this table to memory, because as in English, the word *small* is used *a lot*.

Pay special attention to context, and in time, these adjective endings become second nature.

## Colors as adjectives

Below is a reference chart for all of the most basic Norwegian colors.

Most colors change their endings for gender and number, like most other adjectives in Norwegian.

 en gul stol
 en grønn stol

Certain colors are irregular, however, in certain situations.

The words hvit, grå and blå have an extra -t in their neuter forms, and grå and blå also have the option of omitting the plural ending.

 en grå stol
 en blå stol

Unlike most adjectives, the words rosa, oransje, and lilla never change for gender or number. They always remain the same.

 en oransje stol
 en lilla stol

#### Colors as nouns

Colors can also be nouns. In that case they look a lot like the neuter form of the adjective:

## TIME

In order to ask what time it is, you may ask,

Hva er klokka?

or literally, *What is the clock?*

The response will be something like,

Klokka er to.

which means *the clock is two*, or in other words,

*It's two o'clock.*

Several Norwegian expressions of time use the preposition i in combination with a noun. These must be learned independently and treated as completely separate from the nouns they're used with. For example:

## Dates

Below are the days of the week. The reason they're so similar to English is because English gets most of the words for the days of the week from the names of Norse gods. Keep in mind that the days of the week, unlike English, are only capitalized at the beginning of the sentence. The *g* at the end of these words may or may not be pronounced.

These are the months of the year, also normally in lower-case. Keep in mind the RS sound in mars makes it sound like *marsh*. This RS letter combination creates an SH sound in the Norwegian language.

## Work

Unlike in English, Norwegian usually drops the indefinite article when describing someone's profession.

Be mindful that constructions such as jeg er en student are also grammatical, but they are far less common.

## INFINITIVES

To infinitives, and beyond!

Most infinitive verbs in Norwegian end in the stem -e. There are many, many exceptions, however. A few modal constructions exist that link to infinitive verbs directly, such as kanand vil.

 Hun vil finne katten.

Many infinitives link with other parts of the sentence with the word å, which translates to *to*, as in, å se or *to see*. This applies to all situations where an infinitive is present without a modal verb.

 Han liker å lage mat.

You may have noticed that in the final sentence above, the verb å lage mat could have easily translated to *cooking*, and you would be correct. Sometimes an infinitive beginning with an å can act like a gerund, which is nerd for a noun ending in -ing.

## QUESTIONS

### Yes-No Questions

All *yes-no questions* in Norwegian can be asked by simply switching the subject and the verb, much like with the English verb *to be*.

 Har du en hund?
 Ja, det har jeg.
 Nei, det har jeg ikke.

As shown above, you can answer such a such a question either in the affirmative ja or the negative nei. Often the verb from the question, here har, is repeated in the reply.

Jo exists as a way to negate an assertion implied in a negative question, as if to say, *on the contrary*.

 Jo, det har jeg.

#### Question Words

Below are words that begin questions as they do in English:

 Hva slags?
 Hvem?
 Hvor?
 Hvorfor?
 Når?
 Hvordan?
 Hvor mye?
 Hvor mange?

Just like in English, these question words send the subject to the other side of the verb.

 Hvem er du?

Keep in mind some constructions cannot be translated word-for-word.

 Hvorfor spiser du det?

### WHICH

The word *which* is used somewhat more often in Norwegian than it is in English. If the word *which* can be used in English, always use a form of hvilken for the Norwegian translation.

Below are all the forms of hvilken, meaning *which* (and sometimes *what*, as shown above).

 English

By now, you should be getting a feel for the patterns that dominate Norwegian grammar in reference to gender and number.

## CONJUNCTIONS

Below is a short list of some of the most common conjunctions in the Norwegian language.

 men
 eller
 at
 fordi
 om
 hvis

Norwegian conjunctions act very similarly to English ones, with a couple of special rules.

### Ikke

Keep in mind that in dependent clauses, the negation ikke gets pulled to a position in-between the subject and the main verb. This occurs with several other constructions as well. This is one weird quirk with Norwegian grammar, but it will sound natural after a while.

 Jeg vet at hun ikke er her.

Isn't that interesting?

### V-2 Word Order

The V-2 Rule is a linguistic law that applies to all Germanic languages... except English. You can see a rare instance of it in English in the expression *here comes the bus*. This rule states that all sentences that are statements, in other words not questions, *must have a verb in the second position*. This allows for some flexibility in the word order for emphasis. What it essentially means is that Norwegian verbs refuse to move from *the second position* in *statements*.

The V-2 Rule applies to dependent clauses that begin sentences. In this specific situation, the whole dependent clause is treated as being in the first position, so the verb in the independent clause comes immediately after it, in the second position, followed by the subject in the independent clause.

 Hvis du vil hjelpe meg (1) , må (2) du støtte meg.

This may sound jarring, but this rule of inversion becomes easy enough after some exposure.

 Selv om jeg er nordmann (1) , snakker(2) jeg ikke norsk.

If you think this word order is weird, try German.

## Adverbs

In Norwegian, adverbs usually follow the verb.

One exception is that adverbs of time often appear at the end of the sentence or clause.

Another exception is related to the V-2 Rule in Germanic linguistics, which applies to all Germanic languages... besides English. You can see a rare instance of it in English in the expression *here comes the bus*. This rule states that all sentences that are statements, in other words not questions, *must have a verb in the second position*. This allows for some flexibility in the word order for emphasis, but don't get crazy.

 Jeg har nå tid.
 Nå har jeg tid.

The final example is a demonstration of the V-2 Rule. When the adverb moved to the front of the statement, the subject moved to the other side of the verb har. This is because Norwegian verbs refuse to move from the second position in statements.