Language/Norwegian-bokmal/Grammar/Nouns

Norwegian Bokmål Grammar - Nouns

Hi Norwegian Bokmål learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will dive into the world of Norwegian Bokmål grammar and focus on one of its most important elements: nouns.

Nouns, or substantiv in Norwegian, are words that name people, animals, things, places, or concepts. They can function as subjects, objects, or possessives in a sentence. Nouns can also be modified by adjectives, determiners, and pronouns.

Take a moment to explore these relevant pages as you conclude this lesson: Norwegian Bokmål Grammar Lesson: Common Prepositions, Norwegian Bokmål Grammar Questions and Negation Question Words, How to Use Be & Plurals.

Gender

In Norwegian Bokmål, all nouns are either masculine, feminine or neuter. This does not indicate the gender of the person or thing named, but rather is a grammatical feature of the language.

For example, the word for "car", bil, is masculine, while the word for "house", hus, is neuter. There is no specific rule to determine which gender a noun has, but there are some tendencies based on the ending of the word. For example, most words that end in -and, -e, -ing, -het, -else, and -eri are feminine.

A noun's gender affects the articles and adjectives that are used with it. In Norwegian Bokmål, there are two definite articles, den and det, which correspond to masculine/feminine and neuter nouns, respectively. The indefinite article is en for masculine/feminine nouns and et for neuter nouns.

Here are some examples:

Norwegian Bokmål	Pronunciation	English
en bil	ehn bil	a car (masculine)
et hus	eht hoos	a house (neuter)
den boken	dehn booken	the book (feminine/masculine)
det eplet	deht ehp-leht	the apple (neuter)

Number

Like in English, nouns in Norwegian Bokmål can be either singular or plural. The plural is formed in different ways depending on the noun's gender and whether it is a strong or weak noun.

Strong masculine nouns usually add -er to the singular form to become plural, while strong feminine and neuter nouns usually add -r. Weak nouns, on the other hand, add -er regardless of their gender.

Here are some examples:

Norwegian Bokmål	Pronunciation	English
en katt (sing.)	ehn kaht	a cat	katter (pl.)	kaht-tehr	cats (strong masculine)
ei bok (sing.)	ay bohk	a book	bøker (pl.)	bu-kehr	books (strong feminine)
et eple (sing.)	eht ehp-leh	an apple	epler (pl.)	eh-pluhr	apples (strong neuter)
en bil (sing.)	ehn bil	a car	biler (pl.)	bi-lehr	cars (weak masculine/feminine/neuter)

Case

Nouns in Norwegian Bokmål can also have different forms depending on their grammatical case. There are two cases in Norwegian Bokmål: the nominative case (subject of a sentence) and the genitive case (possessive form).

The genitive case is formed by adding -s to the end of the noun, regardless of its gender. Here are some examples:

Norwegian Bokmål	Pronunciation	English
bilen	bil-euhn	the car (nominative)	bilens	bil-ehns	the car's (genitive)
huset	hu-set	the house (nominative)	husets	hu-sehts	the house's (genitive)

Irregular nouns

As with any language, there are some irregular nouns in Norwegian Bokmål that do not follow the usual patterns. Here are some examples:

Norwegian Bokmål	Pronunciation	English
en fot	ehn foht	a foot	føtter	fœ-tehr	feet
ei øy	ay œyh	an island	øyer	œy-ehr	islands
et egg	eht egg	an egg	egg	egg	eggs

Dialogue

To illustrate how nouns are used in context, here is a dialogue between two people:

• Person 1: Hei, kan jeg få en kopp kaffe? (Hi, can I have a cup of coffee?)
• Person 2: Ja, selvfølgelig. Vil du ha sukker i kaffen? (Yes, of course. Do you want sugar in your coffee?)
• Person 1: Ja, gjerne. Hvor er sukkerbøtta? (Yes, please. Where is the sugar bowl?)
• Person 2: Den står på bordet der borte. (It's on the table over there.)

In this dialogue, the following nouns were used: kopp (cup), kaffe (coffee), sukker (sugar), sukkerbøtte (sugar bowl), and bord (table).

Cultural context

Norwegian Bokmål is spoken in Norway, a country known for its stunning natural landscapes, fjords, and northern lights. Norway is also famous for its seafood, such as salmon, cod, and herring. The country has a rich Viking history, and many ancient artifacts can be found in museums throughout Norway. The Nobel Peace Prize is also awarded in Norway every year.

Practice, practice, practice!

To improve your skills in Norwegian Bokmål nouns and grammar, you can practice with exercises, read books or articles in the language, and watch Norwegian TV shows and movies.

To find native speakers to practice with, you can use the Polyglot Club website. Feel free to ask them any questions! You can also find more grammar resources in our Grammar section.

Sources

• Norwegian language - Wikipedia
• Norway - Wikipedia
• Viking Age - Wikipedia
• Nobel Peace Prize - Wikipedia

Other Lessons

• Plurals
• How to Use Be
• Future Tense
• Adjectives
• Gender
• How to Use Have
• Negation
• Pronouns
• Conditional Mood