Mye or mange? Much, many, little and few
You use mye and lite for things you can't count: water, time, snow. You use mange and få for things you can count: cars, friends, hours. One simple question helps you pick the right word every time.
We teach Bokmål, the written standard most people in Norway use.
In short: mye and lite + things you can't count (mye vann = a lot of water), mange and få + plurals (mange biler = many cars).
What is this about?
Every language needs words for quantity: a lot, a little, many, few. The tricky part is that some things can be counted (one apple, two apples) and some can't (water, time, snow). Many languages use different words for the two kinds.
Norwegian does. For things you can't count, you say mye (much, a lot) and lite (little): «mye vann» (a lot of water), «lite tid» (little time). For things you can count, you say mange (many) and få (few): «mange biler» (many cars), «få gjester» (few guests). The split carries on: «mer kaffe» (more coffee) but «flere kopper» (more cups), «mindre stress» (less stress) but «færre feil» (fewer mistakes).
English has the same idea in much and many, but in everyday speech people say a lot of for everything, and then «mye biler» slips out. Use the counting test: can you say one, two, three? Then it's mange. Note that English more covers both, while Norwegian has mer and flere. And watch litt and lite: «Kan jeg få litt melk?» (can I have a little milk?) is positive, «Jeg sov lite i natt» (I hardly slept last night) is negative. You'll need these in the shop, at work («Vi har mye å gjøre», we've got a lot to do) and when you talk about the weather («Det kom mye snø i natt»).
Rules
- The counting test: can you say one, two, three? Then use mange: tre epler → mange epler. If not: mye melk (a lot of milk).
- Mye/mange: mye tid, mye snø, mye arbeid (a lot of time, snow, work); mange timer, mange venner, mange spørsmål (many hours, friends, questions).
- Lite/få: lite tid, lite søvn (little time, little sleep); få gjester, få ledige plasser (few guests, few free seats).
- Mer/flere: mer kaffe, mer plass (more coffee, more room); flere kopper, flere barn (more cups, more children).
- Mest/flest: Hvem spiste mest is? (Who ate the most ice cream?) Hvem fikk flest gaver? (Who got the most presents?)
- Mindre/færre: mindre sukker, mindre stress (less); færre feil, færre biler (fewer).
- Litt or lite: litt = a little, positive: Kan jeg få litt melk? Lite = not much, negative: Jeg sov lite i natt (I hardly slept last night).
- Få or noen få: Det kom få folk (few people came, hardly anyone). Det kom noen få folk (a few people came).
- En del: = quite a lot of / quite a few, for both: en del penger, en del folk.
- Masse: spoken Norwegian for both mye and mange: Det var masse folk på konserten. Vi fikk masse snø i natt.
- Money: both mye penger and mange penger are correct.
Typical mistake: copying English «a lot of» and using mye with everything: «mye biler». Cars can be counted, so it's mange biler.
Examples
- Vi har ikke mye tid, toget går om ti minutter.We don't have much time, the train leaves in ten minutes.
- Det var mange folk på stranda i helgen.There were a lot of people on the beach at the weekend.
- Jeg drikker for mye kaffe på jobben.I drink too much coffee at work.
- Det er få ledige leiligheter i sentrum.There are few vacant flats in the city centre.
- Kan jeg få litt mer melk i kaffen?Can I have a little more milk in my coffee?
- I år kom det flere søkere enn i fjor.There were more applicants this year than last year.
- Hvem i klassen har flest søsken?Who in the class has the most brothers and sisters?
- Barna sover for lite når de har mobilen på rommet.The kids sleep too little when they have their phones in their rooms.