Overview of the Norwegian Language

Norwegian consists of two distinct dialects, bokmål and nynorsk. Both are part of the Scandinavian language family of the Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, and both have equal status in Norway. Bokmål (literally "book language") is used primarily in the cities. Most newspapers and television and radio broadcasts are in bokmål, which is closely related to Danish. Nynorsk is a dialect that was formed in the mid-1800s from the rural dialects of Norwegian, in a conscious effort to separate the Norwegian language from Danish.

Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish are linguistically very closely related and are generally mutually intelligible. This is due to the way the national boundaries have been in flux throughout Scandinavian history. Norway and Denmark were a single country for four centuries, until 1814. And after they split apart, Norway was under the rule of the Swedish crown until 1905. The movement for the recognition of a Norwegian language separate from Danish and Swedish led to the consequent formation of nynorsk.

Norwegian Vocabulary

English words of Norwegian origin include fjord, nook, krill, scrawny, trash, slump, dollop, and rig.

There are some false cognates in Norwegian, however. The following words may look like English, but watch out! If you ask for hake at a restaurant, they will bring you a "chin"! If you say you would like to swim in the lake, you are asking to take a dip in "brine"! Here are some more words to be careful of: odd means "point"; padde means "toad"; and rugg means "heavy."

Formal and Informal Address in the Norwegian Language

In Norwegian, there are two ways to address someone, depending on your relationship. The personal pronoun du (never capitalized) is used when addressing people you know well, like family members and good friends. De (always spelled with a capital "D") is reserved for people of high status, elders, and people you are meeting for the first time. Although the De form has fallen into disuse in Norway, there has been a recent revival of formal address and it is slowly becoming more common.

Norwegian Grammar

The definite article in Norwegian is expressed with a suffix. For example, språk means "language," while språket means "the language."

Verbs are not marked by person or number; instead, a suffix is added to the verb to mark the tense or mood. For example, the common suffix -(e)r is added to regular verbs in the present tense. Reise means "to travel," while reiser means "I travel," "you travel," "he/she/it travels," "we travel," and "they travel."

Nouns in Norwegian are categorized by gender. This can prove difficult for English-speakers learning the language, since gender is not a part of English grammar. The three categories of Norwegian gender are masculine, feminine, and neuter. For example, gutt (boy) is masculine, jente (girl) is feminine, and barn (child) is neuter. But don't be tricked-- the meaning of the word is not always an indicator of its gender. Many types of flowers and plants are masculine, the parts of the body are feminine, and the names of materials and substances (iron, steel) are neuter.

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