A1 – Beginner
Greetings, introducing yourself, numbers, everyday words and your first sentences.
Take the level test (81 questions)Grammar on this level
Nouns: gender and articles
Every Norwegian noun has a gender. The gender decides which article you use.
Open →Verbs in the present tense
Good news: Norwegian verbs have the same form for every person.
Open →Personal pronouns
Pronouns have one form as the subject and another as the object: jeg – meg, han – ham.
Open →Possessives: min, din, sin
Possessives show who something belongs to. Many of them change with the gender of the noun.
Open →Question words
Most Norwegian question words start with hv-. The verb comes right after the question word.
Open →The infinitive: å + verb
The infinitive is the dictionary form of a verb. It usually comes with å in front – but not always.
Open →The imperative: Kom! Spis!
You use the imperative to tell someone to do something. The form is simple: the infinitive without -e.
Open →Numbers, time and dates
Numbers from 0 to 1000, telling the time and saying dates.
Open →Plural of nouns
Most nouns take -er and -ene, but some have a life of their own.
Open →The alphabet and spelling
Norwegian has 29 letters: the 26 you already know plus æ, ø and å. Here you learn how to say them, how to spell your name on the phone and which letters are written but not pronounced.
Open →Negation: ikke, ingen, aldri
Ikke, ingen and aldri are how you say no in a sentence. One negative word is enough, and where you put it follows a few fixed rules.
Open →Yes/no questions and short answers
You make a yes/no question by putting the verb first. Norwegians rarely answer with a bare «ja» – they say «Ja, det gjør jeg» or «Nei, det er jeg ikke», much like English «Yes, I do».
Open →Object pronouns: meg, deg, ham, henne
When a person isn't doing the action but receiving it, or comes after a preposition, Norwegian uses the object form: jeg becomes meg, vi becomes oss – just like English I → me, we → us.
Open →Noun gender: en, ei, et
Every Norwegian noun is masculine (en), feminine (ei) or neuter (et). The gender decides the article, the ending and the adjective form, so learn each noun together with en, ei or et.
Open →Stress, tones and long vs short vowels
Norwegian has its own melody. Get the stress and the vowel length right, and people will understand you much more easily – even when your grammar isn't perfect.
Open →Words with audio
- heihi, hello
- takkthank you
- unnskyldexcuse me, sorry
- jayes
- neino
- god morgengood morning
- jeg heter …my name is …
- hvor mye koster det?how much does it cost?
- en, to, treone, two, three
- et kjøkkena kitchen
- en venna friend
- en familiea family
- et barna child
- å spiseto eat
- å drikketo drink
- vannwater
- i dagtoday
- i morgentomorrow
- storbig
- litensmall
- hvorwhere
- å glemmeto forget
- å husketo remember
- å venteto wait
- å ringeto call, to phone
- å begynneto begin, to start
- å slutteto stop, to quit
- klokkathe clock, the time
- halvhalf
- et kvartera quarter of an hour
- en ukea week
- en måneda month
- en mann – menna man – men
- ei bok – bøkera book – books
- et øye – øynean eye – eyes
- hjemmeat home
- hjemhome (direction)
- en bokstava letter (of the alphabet)
- å staveto spell
- ingenno, nobody
- aldrinever
- ingentingnothing
- joyes (contradicting a negative question)
- ikke sant?right? isn't it?
- et eplean apple
- et vindua window
- ei jentea girl
- å uttaleto pronounce
- en stavelsea syllable
- et trykkstress (on a syllable), pressure