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Substantivets former
[Forms of the Noun (Genders & Plurals)]Norwegian nouns have three grammatical genders: masculine (en), feminine (ei), and neuter (et). They decline in singular and plural, as well as indefinite and definite forms.
1. The Three Grammatical Genders
Nouns are divided into common nouns (fellesnavn: concrete like 'stol, vindu' and abstract like 'kjærlighet, glede') which have grammatical gender and inflect, and proper nouns (egennavn: 'Pia, Bergen') capitalized without articles. In indefinite singular, an article marks the gender:
Gender
Hankjønn (maskulin)(Masculine)
Indefinite Article
en
Example (with translation)
en bil(a car)
Gender
Hunkjønn (feminin)(Feminine)
Indefinite Article
ei / en
Example (with translation)
ei bok / en bok(a book)
Gender
Intetkjønn (nøytrum)(Neuter)
Indefinite Article
et
Example (with translation)
et hus(a house)
| Gender | Indefinite Article | Example (with translation) |
|---|---|---|
Hankjønn (maskulin)Masculine | en | en bila car |
Hunkjønn (feminin)Feminine | ei / en | ei bok / en boka book |
Intetkjønn (nøytrum)Neuter | et | et husa house |
Grammatical gender rarely correlates with natural gender. Always learn nouns together with their article (en stol, et vindu, ei veske). In Bokmål, all feminine nouns can also take the masculine article 'en' ('en bok' or 'ei bok').
2. Regular Inflection Pattern
Nouns have four primary forms: indefinite singular, definite singular, indefinite plural, and definite plural. In the definite form, the article is attached as a suffix:
Gender
Hankjønn(Masculine (en))
Indefinite Sing.
en stol(en stol (a chair))
Definite Sing.
stolen (-en)(stolen (the chair))
Indefinite Plur.
stoler (-er)(stoler (chairs))
Definite Plur.
stolene (-ene)(stolene (the chairs))
Gender
Hunkjønn(Feminine (ei))
Indefinite Sing.
ei dør(ei dør (a door))
Definite Sing.
døra (-a)(døra (the door))
Indefinite Plur.
dører (-er)(dører (doors))
Definite Plur.
dørene (-ene)(dørene (the doors))
Gender
Intetkjønn (1 stavelse)(Neuter (1 syllable))
Indefinite Sing.
et hus(et hus (a house))
Definite Sing.
huset (-et)(huset (the house))
Indefinite Plur.
hus (ingen endelse!)(hus (houses))
Definite Plur.
husene / husa (-ene/-a)(husene (the houses))
Gender
Intetkjønn (flere stavelser)(Neuter (multi-syllable))
Indefinite Sing.
et problem(et problem (a problem))
Definite Sing.
problemet (-et)(problemet (the problem))
Indefinite Plur.
problemer (-er)(problemer (problems))
Definite Plur.
problemene (-ene)(problemene (the problems))
| Gender | Indefinite Sing. | Definite Sing. | Indefinite Plur. | Definite Plur. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
HankjønnMasculine (en) | en stolen stol (a chair) | stolen (-en)stolen (the chair) | stoler (-er)stoler (chairs) | stolene (-ene)stolene (the chairs) |
HunkjønnFeminine (ei) | ei dørei dør (a door) | døra (-a)døra (the door) | dører (-er)dører (doors) | dørene (-ene)dørene (the doors) |
Intetkjønn (1 stavelse)Neuter (1 syllable) | et huset hus (a house) | huset (-et)huset (the house) | hus (ingen endelse!)hus (houses) | husene / husa (-ene/-a)husene (the houses) |
Intetkjønn (flere stavelser)Neuter (multi-syllable) | et problemet problem (a problem) | problemet (-et)problemet (the problem) | problemer (-er)problemer (problems) | problemene (-ene)problemene (the problems) |
Examples:
Jeg har en bil. Bilen er rød. (hankjønn)I have a car. The car is red.
Vi ser et hus. Huset er gammelt. (intetkjønn)We see a house. The house is old.
De har to barn. Barna leker i hagen. (intetkjønn flertall)They have two children. The children play in the garden.
Single-syllable neuter nouns (et hus, et år, et barn) take zero ending in indefinite plural: ett hus → to hus. The same applies to compound nouns whose final component is a single-syllable neuter noun: et trehus → to trehus, et sykehus → to sykehus.
3. Spelling Adjustments in Inflection
1. Nouns ending in unstressed –e drop the extra 'e':
en jente → jenta / jenten → jenter (IKKE jenteer) → jentenea girl → the girl → girls → the girls
et eple → eplet → epler (IKKE epleer) → eplenean apple → the apple → apples → the apples
2. Contraction and consonant simplification for nouns in -el, -er, -en:
en sommer → sommeren → somre (eller somrer) → somrenea summer → the summer → summers → the summers
en sykkel → sykkelen → sykler → syklenea bicycle → the bicycle → bicycles → the bicycles
en nøkkel → nøkkelen → nøkler → nøklenea key → the key → keys → the keys
en gaffel → gaffelen → gafler → gaflenea fork → the fork → forks → the forks
3. Nouns ending in –m double to –mm before vowel endings:
et rom → rommet → rom → rommenea room → the room → rooms → the rooms
en drøm → drømmen → drømmer → drømmenea dream → the dream → dreams → the dreams