Starting Up

Okay, don't panic.

The Norwegian alphabet is super simple. It has all same characters that appear in the English alphabet, from A to Z, with three extra characters : Å/å, Ø/ø and Æ/æ. This means that rather than having 26 characters, like the English alphabet, the Norwegian alphabet has 29 characters. Simple, right?

Here's a guide of the Norwegian alphabet for you, it contains very simple pronunciation on the right and the characters themselves on the left:

A/a - ah

B/b - beh

C/c - seh

D/d - deh

E/e - eh

F/f - ef

G/g - geh

H/h - haw

I/i - ee

J/j - yawd

K/k - kaw

L/l - ell

M/m - em

N/n - en

O/o - oh

P/p - peh

Q/q - kuu

R/r - arr (similar to a pirate)

S/s - ess

T/t - teh

U/u - oo

V/v - feh

W/w - dobbelt-feh (I know it's strange, but this one is hard to put into writing)

X/x - eks (similar to regular pronunciation)

Y/y - ei (like the pronunciation of "i" but shorter)

Z/z - sed

Æ/æ - ehh

Ø/ø - oow

Å/å - aaw (like the word "awe")

Once you've acquainted yourself with these characters, you can start working on your pronunciation. Here's a video we found very helpful https://youtu.be/z_2SS4mp3zk (Credit: Learn Norwegian Naturally).

Now that you're well acquainted with the pronunciation of stand-alone characters, you can begin building a basic vocabulary of essential words. Below, you will find a list of very common words which can be used on a day to day basis:

Part 2, Section 1; Articles:

There are three articles in the English language - A, An and The. In Norwegian, the article "the" doesn't appear as a standalone word in most (99% of) instances. However, due to gendered nouns, there are still three articles in the Norwegian language - "En" for male nouns, "Et" for neutral (neuter) nouns and "Ei" for female nouns - all of which translate to "A" and/or "An."

En - A/An

Et -A/An

Ei - A/An

Part 2, Section 2; Pronouns:

Jeg - I

Du - You (Singular)

Dere - You (Plural)

Vi - We

Oss - Us

Han - He

Hun - She

De - They

Det - That/It

Part 2, Section 3; Verbs:

These are action words. On the left you will find the Norwegian words, and on the right you will find the English translation. The left side is divided into two sections ~ Infinitive (the first word) and Present(the second word):

Spise/Spiser - Eat/Eats (Spiser can mean Eats or Eating)

Drikke/Drikker - Drink/Drinks (Drikker can mean Drinks or Drinking)

Skrive/Skriver - Write/Writes (Skriver can mean Writes or Writing)

Lese/Leser - Read/Reads (Leser can mean Reads or Reading)

Jobbe/Jobber - Work/Works (Jobber can mean Works or Working)

Sove/Sover - Sleep/Sleeps ( Sover can mean Sleeps or Sleeping)

Komme/Kommer - Come/Comes (Kommer can mean Comes or Coming)

Gå/Går - Go/Goes (Går can mean Goes or Going)

Gjøre/Gjør - Do/Does (Gjør can mean Does or Doing)

Ha/Har - Have/Has (Har can mean Has or Having)

Gi/Gir - Give/Gives (Gir can mean Gives or Giving)

Ta/Tar - Take/Takes (Tar can mean Takes or Taking)

Part 2, Section 4; Nouns:

Here are some nouns (words to describe people, places and/or objects) to help you form simple sentences. The words on the left are words that do not contain definite articles (the word "the"), while the words on the right are words that do contain definite articles (the word "the").

Et hus/Huset- A House/The House

Et kjøkken/Kjøkkenet - A Kitchen/The Kitchen

Et familierom/Familierommet - A Family Room /The Family Room

Et soverom - A Bedroom/The Bedroom

En hage/Hagen - A Garden/The Garden

Ei mor/Mora- A Mother/The mother

En far/Faren- A Father/ The father

Ei søster/Søstera - A Sister/ The sister

En bror/Broren- A Brother/ The brother

En katt/Katten - A Cat/The Cat

En hund/Hunden - A Dog/The Dog

En bil/Bilen - A Car/The Car

Mat/Maten - Food/The Food

Klær/Klærne - Clothes/The Clothes

Part 2, Section 5; Conjunctions:

You can use this to bind sentences (or ideas/points) in Norwegian:

Og - And

Men - But

For - Because

Eller - Or

Part 2, Section 6; Student Essentials (optional):

If you are a student, you may find these words useful and relevant. Notice the different indefinite articles (the words "a" or "an") that appear before each noun:

En skole/Skolen - School/The School

En høyskole/Høyskolen - College/The College

Et universitet/Universitetet - University/The University

En klasse/Klassen - Class/The Class

En lærer/Læreren - Teacher/The Teacher

En student/Studenten - Student/The Student

Hjemmelekser/Lekseren - Homework/The Homework

Et friminutt - Recess (break time)

En enn/Pennen - Pen/The Pen

En blyant/Blyanten - Pencil/The Pencil

Ei datamaskin/Datamaskinen - Computer/The Computer

Studere/Studerer - Study/Studying (Studerer can mean Studying or Studies)

Once you're well acquainted with these words, I suggest you do the following:

• Start by learning the most common words in norwegian. Not all of them, but we suggest learning around 10 words a day from https://1000mostcommonwords.com/1000-most-common-norwegian-words/ (credit: 1000mostcommonwords.com) as this will help you get to conversational fluency later on).

• Next you should read, watch and listen to norwegian as much as you can. This will also help expand your vocabulary whilst helping you work on your pronunciation. Check our source list out for inspiration.

• Lastly, you should actively search for words (Norwegian words) that you can use in your personal day to day life. For example, if you're a plumber, you should be learning words that pertain to that career such as "Plunger" and "Pump."

These are words that will give your vocabulary more variety and depth. It is not necessary to learn them all, but you should definitely learn a bunch of them. Go through one section at a time and do not over do it.

Part 3, Section 1; Nouns:

These are general nouns (words for people, places and/or objects) you may use everyday. On the left are words that do not contain definite articles (the word "the"), while the words on the right are words that do contain definite articles (the word "the").

En kopp/Koppen - A Cup/The Cup

En tallerken/Fatet - A Plate/The Plate

En bolle/Bollen - A Bowl/The Bowl

En knive/Kniven - A Knife/The Knife

En skje/Skjeen - A Spoon/The Spoon

En gaffel/Gaffelen - A Fork/The Fork

Te - Tea

Kaffe - Coffee

Et bord/Bordet- A Table/The Table

En stol/Stolet - A Chair/The Chair

Dør/Døren - A Door/The Door

Et Vindu/Vinduet - A Window/The Window

Et Gulv/Gulvet - A Floor/The Floor

En Buss/Bussen - A Bus/The Bus

En sykkel/Sykkelen - A Bicycle/The Bicycle

En Park/Parken - A Park/The Park

Et tre/Treet - A Tree/The Tree

En Blomst/The Blomsten - A Flower/The Flower

En Fugl/Fuglen - A Bird/The Bird

En By/Byen - A City/The City

Part 3, Section 2; Verbs:

These are action words. On the left you will find the Norwegian words, and on the right you will find the English translation. The left side is divided into two sections ~ Infinitive (the first word) and Present(the second word):

Gå/Går - Walk/Walks (Går can mean Walks or Walking)

Løpe/Løper (Løper can mean Runs or Running)

Kjøre/Kjører - Drive/Drives (Kjører can mean Drives or Driving)

Fly/Flyr - Fly/Flying (Flyr can mean Flies (not animal) or Flying)

Spille/Spiller - Play/Plays (Spiller can mean Plays or Playing)

Rengjøre/Rengjøring - Clean/Cleans (Rengjøring can mean cleans or cleaning)

Trenge/Trenger - Need/Needs

Ønske/Ønsker - Want/Wants

Sitte/Sitter - Sit/Sits (Sitter can mean Sits or Sitting)

Tegne/Tegner - Draw/Draws (Tengner can mean Draws or Drawing (not the noun))

Lytte/Lytter -Listen/Listens (Lytter can mean Listens or Listening)

Høre/Hører - Hear/Hears (Hører can mean Hears or Hearing)

Bære/Bærer - Carry/Carries (Bærer can mean Carries or Carrying)

Slippe/Slipper - Drop/Drops (Slipper can mean Drops or Dropping)

Holde/Holder - Hold/Holds (Holder can mean Holds or Holding)

Sparke/Sparker - Kick/Kicks (Sparker can mean Kick or Kicks)

Kaste/Kaster - Throw/Throws (Kaster can mean Throws or Throwing)

Bade/Bader - Bath/Baths (Bader can mean Baths or Bathing)

Vaske/Vasker - Wash/Washes (Vasker can mean Washes or Washing)

Part 3, Section 3; Prepositions:

Technically these are essential words, but we decided to add them here as they may not come up in everyday conversation as much as the words in the "Basic Vocabulary" section. Use these words to describe the general position of a subject (noun).

i - in

ut - out

på - on/at

ved siden - beside

ovenfor - above

nedenfor - below

bak - behind

foran - in front of

rundt - around

innsiden - inside

utenfor - outside

blant - among

Part 3, Section 4; Adjectives:

These words will help give your phrases more context and volume. They are used to describe the subject (noun). We have divided this list into multiple sections, each word is labeled and colour-coded to substantiated this format.

Adjectives describing Possession

Adjectives describing Manner

Adjectives describing Senses (taste, smell, etc.)

Adjectives describing Colour

To help those of you who may have some difficulty differentiating between different colours, we have added handy tags such as "(Possession)" "(Manner)" "(Sense)" "(Colour)" next to each word.