Advanced word formation

If you know endings like -sjon, -isere, -itet and -isme and how compounds work, you can understand thousands of new words.

We teach Bokmål, the written standard most people in Norway use.

In short: Many advanced words are made of familiar parts. Learn the parts and you can guess the meaning of new words.

Rules

-sjon: nouns for an action or result, always masculine: en situasjon, organisasjonen. The ending is pronounced with an sj sound ('shoon').
-isere: verbs meaning 'make into' or 'make more': digitalisere, normalisere, modernisere (-ise/-ize).
-itet: nouns for a quality, masculine: kvalitet, mentalitet, kreativitet (-ity).
-isme: a movement, ideology or phenomenon: realisme, turisme, egoisme (-ism).
From verbs: -ing, -else and -sel form nouns: lese → lesing, oppleve → opplevelse, føde → fødsel.
From adjectives: -het and -dom: trygg → trygghet, fri → frihet, syk → sykdom (-ness, -dom).
Compounds: the last word decides the gender and the basic meaning. En skole + ei bok = ei/en skolebok.
Linking letter: often an -s- or -e- comes between the parts: arbeidsdag, julegave.
Meaning shift: some compounds mean more than their parts: en blindvei (dead end; also a solution that goes nowhere), en hestekur (literally 'horse cure', a drastic remedy).
Order matters: et vinglass is a glass for wine, while et glass vin is a glass of wine (the contents).
Write as one word: compounds are written together. «Røykfritt» means smoking is banned; «røyk fritt» means 'smoke freely'.

Typical mistake: splitting compounds as in English: «skole bok», «lamme lår». In Norwegian this can change the meaning completely.

Kommunen skal digitalisere alle søknadsskjemaene.The municipality is going to digitise all the application forms.
Kreativitet er viktigere enn perfeksjon i denne fasen.Creativity is more important than perfection at this stage.
Turismen har endret hele bygda.Tourism has changed the whole village.
Opplevelsen ga meg en ny følelse av trygghet.The experience gave me a new sense of security.
Forhandlingene havnet i en blindvei.The negotiations reached a dead end.
Regjeringen foreslår en hestekur for økonomien.The government is proposing drastic measures for the economy.
Hun kjøpte seks vinglass og en flaske vin.She bought six wine glasses and a bottle of wine.
Organisasjonen arbeider for likestilling i arbeidslivet.The organisation works for equality in working life.