B1 – Intermediate
Talk about your experiences and opinions, write e-mails and follow the news.
Take the level test (71 questions)Grammar on this level
Subordinate clauses: ikke before the verb
Clauses that start with at, fordi, som, hvis, når (and similar words) have their own word order.
Open →Comparison of adjectives
With the comparative and superlative you compare things: stor – større – størst.
Open →Future: skal, kommer til å, present
Norwegian has no special future form. You choose between three ways depending on the meaning.
Open →The past perfect: hadde + participle
The past perfect shows that something happened before another point in the past: Da jeg kom, hadde toget gått – when I arrived, the train had left.
Open →The conditional: ville, skulle and hvis
Norwegian has no separate conditional form. You use ville or skulle + infinitive, and the past tense in the hvis-clause.
Open →Det as a formal subject
Norwegian always needs a subject. When there is none, we put in det.
Open →Indirect speech
Han sa at han var syk. Hun spurte om jeg kom. This is how you report what others said.
Open →Ongoing actions: holder på å, sitter og leser
Norwegian has no -ing form. Plain present usually does the job, but to say that something is going on right now, you use phrases like holder på å or sitter og leser.
Open →Infinitive phrases: for å, uten å, ved å
After a preposition, Norwegian uses å + infinitive: for å lære (to learn), uten å spørre (without asking). It's a short way to say why or how you do something. You'll also see when at can be dropped, and how om and hvis differ.
Open →Paired conjunctions: både – og, verken – eller, enten – eller
Some linking words come in pairs: både … og (both … and), verken … eller (neither … nor), enten … eller (either … or). They join two things and show whether both apply, neither, or only one.
Open →Commas and punctuation
Norwegian comma rules are fairly logical, but they're not the same as in your language. Here you'll learn the few rules that cover almost everything you write day to day.
Open →Word formation: prefixes and suffixes
Many long Norwegian words are built from small, familiar parts. Learn the most common prefixes and suffixes, and you can guess the meaning of words you've never seen before.
Open →Bli and få – two small verbs with many jobs
Bli and få are among the most common Norwegian verbs, and each has several meanings. Here you'll see the main ones – and the difference between 'må ikke' and 'trenger ikke', which really matters at work.
Open →Where does ikke go? Sentence adverbs
Little words like ikke, aldri, alltid, også and bare have a fixed place in the sentence. That place is different in main and subordinate clauses, and getting it wrong is one of the most common mistakes in Norwegian.
Open →Words with audio
- en erfaringan experience
- å meneto think, to have an opinion
- en søknadan application
- likevelstill, nevertheless
- en utdanningan education
- en lønna salary, wages
- å søketo apply
- en oppsigelsea dismissal, a resignation
- å bestemme segto decide, to make up one's mind
- derfortherefore, that's why
- selv omeven though
- et tilbudan offer
- å trivesto thrive, to feel at home
- å rekketo make it in time, to catch
- å fortelleto tell
- å misteto lose
- det finnesthere is, there are
- å lure påto wonder
- å fortelleto tell
- å be omto ask for
- å pleieto usually do, to be in the habit of
- i ferd med åabout to, in the process of
- i stedet forinstead of
- å lure påto wonder
- både … ogboth … and
- verken … ellerneither … nor
- et kommaa comma
- et punktuma full stop
- en leddsetninga subordinate clause
- en forstavelsea prefix
- en endelsean ending, a suffix
- misfornøyddissatisfied
- å forsove segto oversleep
- å slippeto not have to, to be spared
- å få viteto find out
- sannsynligvisprobably