Optional forms in Bokmål: boka or boken
Bokmål has many optional forms: you can write boka or boken, kastet or kasta. Here you learn which forms are allowed, what radical and conservative Bokmål mean, what happened in 2005 and why you should be consistent.
We teach Bokmål, the written standard most people in Norway use.
In short: Bokmål has many optional forms, and all of them are correct: boka and boken (the book), kastet and kasta (threw), fram and frem (forward). Pick one form for each word and stick to it in the whole text.
What is this about?
Most languages have one correct spelling for a word, give or take a few exceptions. Bokmål is unusual: many words have two or even three correct forms, and you get to choose. «Boka» and «boken» both mean the book, and both are right.
The main choices fall into a few groups. Feminine nouns can end in -a or -en: «boka» or «boken», «hytta» or «hytten» (the cabin). Many past tenses can end in -et or -a: «kastet» or «kasta» (threw). And some words simply have twin forms: «fram» or «frem» (forward), «hjem» or «heim» (home), «sju» or «syv» (seven). Since 2005 all allowed forms have been equally correct, in schoolbooks and official texts too.
English has a mini version of this in colour and color, and the rule is the same: pick one form and stick to it. Writing «boka» in one paragraph and «boken» in the next looks as odd as mixing British and American spelling in one email. You'll meet all these forms in newspapers, NAV letters and your children's homework, so learn to recognise them. When you write yourself, in a job application or at Norskprøven, any allowed form is fine as long as you're consistent. The dictionary at ordbokene.no shows every allowed form.
Rules
- Feminine: ei bok, boka or en bok, boken. Since 2005 every feminine noun can take -a or -en: hytta/hytten (the cabin), jenta/jenten (the girl).
- Past tense: many weak verbs can end in -et or -a: kastet/kasta (threw), snakket/snakka (talked), har vasket/har vaska (have washed).
- Word pairs: fram/frem, hjem/heim (home), vei/veg (road), melk/mjølk (milk), bro/bru (bridge), sju/syv (seven), mellom/imellom (between). The dictionaries at ordbokene.no show every allowed form.
- Radical Bokmål: picks the forms close to many dialects and to Nynorsk: boka, kasta, heim, veg, mjølk.
- Conservative Bokmål: picks the traditional forms: boken, kastet, hjem, vei, melk, frem. It is close to Riksmål.
- Moderate Bokmål: a mix that many people write, for example jenta and hytta, but kastet, hjem and vei.
- Riksmål: is not an official standard but a separate one looked after by the Norwegian Academy (Det Norske Akademi). Forms like sne, sprog and efter are Riksmål. In Bokmål it is snø (snow), språk (language) and etter (after).
- The 2005 reform: the split between main forms and secondary forms disappeared. All allowed forms became equally correct, also in textbooks and in government texts.
- Other changes in 2005: some traditional forms came back, like syv, hverken and mere next to sju, verken and mer. Rare forms such as kjerke and omn were dropped.
- Be consistent: choose one form for each word. Don't write boka in one paragraph and boken in the next, or kastet and vaska in the same text.
- On this site: we use common moderate forms. In the past tense we write kastet, and with feminine nouns you often see both, hytta or hytten, so you recognise both.
Typical mistake: mixing forms in one text, a bit like writing colour and color in the same email: «Jeg leste boka i går. Boken var spennende.» Pick one and keep it: boka ... boka.
Examples
- Kan du legge boka på hylla?Can you put the book on the shelf?
- Kan du legge boken på hyllen?Can you put the book on the shelf?
- Vi vasket bilen og ryddet garasjen i helgen.We washed the car and tidied the garage at the weekend.
- Vi vaska bilen og rydda garasjen i helga.We washed the car and tidied the garage at the weekend.
- Vi drar heim til Lofoten i jula.We're going home to Lofoten for Christmas.
- Det er syv kilometer til nærmeste butikk.It's seven kilometres to the nearest shop.
- Hun gikk fram til tavla og skrev svaret.She went up to the board and wrote the answer.
- Skriv boka eller boken, men vær konsekvent i hele teksten.Write boka or boken, but be consistent throughout the text.