18.08.

2015

Duolingo:Basics

Tipsandnotes
AHEARTFELTWELCOMETOTHENORWEGIANCOURSE!
NorwegianisalanguagewithsimplergrammarthanmanyotherEuropeanlanguages,butitisstilla
genderedlanguagewiththreegrammaticalgenders:masculine,feminineandneuter.

GrammaticalGender
Masculine
enmann

Feminine
eiORenkvinne

Neuter
etbarn

aman

awoman

achild

Allfemininegenderednounscanbeclassifiedasmasculinegenderaswell.
Intheory,onecouldtreatallfemininenounsasmasculineones,butmost
Norwegiansstillusethefeminineform,especiallyforcertainwords.
Thechoicereallyisuptoyou!Bothenkvinneandeikvinnearegrammaticallycorrect,andthe
tendencytousethefemininegenderdependsongeographyanddialect.Wehavedecidedtoteachit
whereitismostnaturaltouseit,withwordssuchasjentemeaninggirl,forexample.

Pronouns
NorwegianpronounsareverystraightforwardandcorrespondwelltoEnglishones:
Singular
jeg

Plural
vi

we

du

you

dere

you(plural)

han/hun/det

he/she/it

de

they

Verbs
Conjugationcouldn'tbesimpler.Allconjugatedverbshaveanrsteminthepresent,andverbsdon't
changeaccordingtothesubject!Howeasyisthat?
Singular
jeger

Iam

Plural
vier

weare

duer

youare

dereer

you(plural)are

han/hun/deter

he/she/itis

deer

theyare

Althoughnotascommonasdet,denisusedtomeanitorthatwhenreferringtoamasculineor
femininesubject,andnotaneuterone.

Pronunciation
Asageneralrule,wordsarespelledasthey'repronouncedinNorwegian.Oneexceptioniswords
beginningwithhv,suchashva,meaningwhat.Inthisword,thehissilent.
Inaddition,thereareseverallettersandlettercombinationsthatarepronounceddifferentlyfrom
English.
Norweg.
A

IPA,Notes
[],veryopen

[b]

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Duolingo:Basics

[s]or[k]dependingonword,veryrare

[d],silentinconsonantclusters

[e]or[],[]beforer,[i]inde

[f]

[g],[j]beforeanisilentbeforeajsilentafteraniandsometimesanaoro

[h],silentbeforev

[i]liketheeinemailorebook,[]beforetwoconsonants

[j],liketheyinyesoryellow

[k]

kj,ki,ky

[],likethesharphinhuman

skj,ski,sky, [],liketheshinshiporshell
sl
L

[l]

[m]

[n]

[u]liketheooinsoon,butlonger,[]beforetwoconsonants

[p]

[],tap,likethettinNorthAmericanbuttersomeinNorwayuse[],theso
calledFrenchR

rs

[],r+scombinationsproduceshsound,evenbetweenwords

[s]

[t],silentafteranesometimes,ex.det

[],liketheewinnew,butmoreclosed

[v]

[y]or[],liketheeinemail,butmoreclosed

Norwegianalsohasthreespecialvowels,,and.
Letter SimilarTo

theainaddorapple

IPA
[]

norealequivalent,butnotfarfromthevowelsoundsinbirdorearth

[]or[]

theoinopenorold

[o]or[]

SpecialNotesonCommonWords
Norweg.
jeg

Meaning
I

Pronunciation
yai,rhymeswithEnglishguy

er

am,is,are

r,similartoEnglisharebutwithtappedr

det

it,that

deh,silentt

de

they

dee

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