Nominal style and plain language
Bureaucratic Norwegian is full of heavy nouns and passives. Here you learn to recognise nominal style and rewrite it into clear, modern Norwegian.
We teach Bokmål, the written standard most people in Norway use.
In short: Good Norwegian non-fiction uses verbs, not heavy nouns: «Vi har foretatt en vurdering av saken» (We have carried out an assessment of the case) becomes «Vi har vurdert saken» (We have assessed the case).
Rules
- Verbal style: The action is a verb: Kommunen skal bygge en ny skole.
- Nominal style: The action is turned into a noun: Det skal foretas en utbygging av en ny skole i kommunal regi.
- Empty verbs: Foreta, gjennomføre, iverksette and finne sted carry little meaning: foreta en undersøkelse → undersøke (investigate).
- Hidden verbs: Many words ending in -ing, -else and -sjon hide a verb: avgjørelse → avgjøre, behandling → behandle, evaluering → evaluere.
- Kansellistil: The old, stiff civil-service style with long sentences, passives and words like herved (hereby), undertegnede (the undersigned), vedrørende (regarding), i henhold til (pursuant to).
- Klarspråk: The Language Act (2021) requires public bodies to write clearly, correctly and for their readers – Norway's version of plain language.
- Rewrite 1: I henhold til gjeldende regelverk → Etter reglene (Under the rules).
- Rewrite 2: Vedrørende Deres søknad → Om søknaden din. Authorities today say du, not the old polite De.
- Rewrite 3: Det er besluttet at … → Vi har bestemt at … (We have decided that …).
- Rewrite 4: Ved manglende betaling vil kravet bli oversendt til inkasso → Hvis du ikke betaler, sender vi kravet til inkasso.
- When nominal style fits: In headings, tables and technical language short noun phrases are fine: Endring av åpningstider.
- Check: Ask: who does what? Make the doer the subject and the action the verb.
Typical mistake: Thinking heavy words sound more professional. They just make the reader work harder.
Examples
- Vi har vurdert søknaden din.We have assessed your application.
- Kommunen har bestemt å legge ned skolen.The municipality has decided to close the school.
- Vi skal gå gjennom rutinene i neste uke.We will review the procedures next week.
- Etter reglene må du betale innen 14 dager.Under the rules you must pay within 14 days.
- Hvis du ikke svarer innen fristen, avslutter vi saken.If you don't reply by the deadline, we will close the case.
- Sykehuset må redusere ventetiden.The hospital must reduce waiting times.
- Endring av åpningstider fra 1. marsChange of opening hours from 1 March
- Om søknaden din om barnehageplassAbout your application for a nursery place