Norwegian Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Norwegian grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Norwegian and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Norwegian and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Norwegian.

Prepositions - Norwegian
and og
above ovenfor
under under
before før
after etter
in front of foran
behind bak
far from langt fra
near i nærheten
in i
inside inne
outside utenfor
with med
without uten
about om
between mellom
but men
for for
from fra
to til

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Norwegian
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] jeg spiser uten kniv
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] hun bor i nærheten av kirken
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] han er høyere enn henne
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] han kom med sin lille hund
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] kan du bli med meg?

Negation in Norwegian

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Norwegian
I understand you [affirmative form] jeg forstår deg
I don't understand you [negation + verb] jeg forstår deg ikke
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] dette er ikke det riktige ordet
don't leave me [imperative negation] ikke gå fra meg
no problem [negation + noun] ikke noe problem

Negative Sentences - Norwegian
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] jeg snakker ikke fransk
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] hun besøkte ikke Tyskland
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] han kan ikke se oss
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] kan hun ikke spille sjakk?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] vi vil ikke komme sent

Questions in Norwegian

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Norwegian
how? hvordan?
what? hva?
who? hvem?
why? hvorfor?
where? hvor?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Norwegian
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] hvor bor du?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] snakker hun kinesisk?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] hvor mye er dette?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] kan jeg hjelpe deg?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] hva heter du?

Adverbs in Norwegian

It's time to learn the adverbs in Norwegian. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Norwegian
now nå
yesterday i går
today i dag
tonight i kveld
tomorrow i morgen
soon snart
quickly raskt
slowly sakte
together sammen
very veldig
almost nesten
always alltid
usually vanligvis
sometimes noen ganger
rarely sjelden
never aldri

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Norwegian
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] forstår du meg nå?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] jeg trenger hjelp umiddelbart
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] hun er svært intelligent
I will always love you [verb + adverb] jeg vil alltid elske deg
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] kan vi lære tysk sammen?

Pronouns in Norwegian

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Norwegian. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Norwegian
I jeg
you du
he han
she hun
we vi
they de

Object Pronouns - Norwegian
me meg
you deg
him ham
her henne
us oss
them dem

Possessive Pronouns - Norwegian
my min
your din
his hans
her hennes
our vår
their deres

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Norwegian
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] jeg er din venn
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] du snakker veldig fort
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] han har tre hunder
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] hun snakker tysk
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] vi vil ikke komme sent
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] de kjøpte melk og brød

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Norwegian
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] kan du fortelle meg navnet ditt?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] jeg vil gi deg penger
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] hun skrev et brev til ham
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] de besøkte henne i går
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] kan hun hjelpe oss?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] han ga dem mat

Possessive Pronouns - Norwegian
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] jeg heter Maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] broren din bor her
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] moren hennes lager mat til oss
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] hobbyen hans er å lese bøker
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] drømmen vår er å besøke Paris
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] huset deres er ikke langt unna

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Norwegian
this is my house dette er huset mitt
that restaurant is far den restauranten ligger langt unna
these apples are delicious disse eplene er deilige
those stars are shiny de stjernene skinner klart

I hope you learned a lot about the Norwegian grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!