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As you may know, a noun is a name for a person or a thing. For example, Kevin is a noun, vegetable is a noun, etc. Learning about nouns in Norwegian is probably one of the more difficult things. Why?
Because nouns in Norwegian can be classified into three categories based on gender,
| Hankjønn (en) | Male Gender |
| Hunkjønn (ei) | Female Gender |
| Intetkjønn (et) | Neutral Gender |
You need to learn the gender of a noun along with the noun because the rules of Norwegian grammar are different for each of the genders. Note the articles in () above. These articles help to identify the gender of the noun. So while learning a noun, remember the article associated with it (and you will recognize the gender). The article used to identify the male gender, Hankjønn is en.
So let’s begin with the male gender nouns i.e Hankjønn. Here are lots of words you can add to your vocabulary. Once again remember to learn the noun along with the gender.
| Norwegian | English |
| en gutt | a boy |
| en stol | a stool |
| en bil | a car |
| en pult | a desk |
| en linjal | a ruler |
| en hest | a horse |
| en okse | an ox |
| en telefon | a telephone |
| en maskin | a machine |
| en interesse | an interest |
| en diskusjon | a discussion |
| en kamerat | a comrade |
| en religion | a religion |
| en konflikt | a conflict |
| en klubb | a club |
| en immigrant | an immigrant |
| en mann | a man |
| en fot | a foot |
| en bror | a brother |
| en far | a father |
| en lærer | a teacher |
| en murer | a mason |
| en baker | a baker |
| en fisker | a fisherman |
| en arbeider | a worker |
| en amerikaner | an american |
| en finger | a finger |
| en skulder | a shoulder |
| en ankel | an ankle |
| en kjeks | a biscuit |
| en feil | a failure |
| en ting | a thing |
| en sko | a shoe |
| en meter | a meter |
I find that calling the genders ‘en’ ‘ei’ and ‘et’ or masculine, feminine, and neuter is more understandable to people who don’t quite understand GRAMMATICAL gender. It helps people avoid thinking o gender and real-life e.g., male/ female distinctions.
also why use capitals like the ‘h’ in hankjønn. That is not standard Norwegian
Thanks for your comments, Louis. The capital letter was used because the sentences were in English. Will keep this in mind while writing future posts.
en meter – means both a meter or one meter! Normally if you are counting,
en meter = one meter,
to meter – two meters
tre meter – three meters
Thanks for the comment, Bjørn 🙂
I will be posting lessons for counting and numbers in Norwegian soon.
I am still not understanding how to pronounce these letters. Is it the same pronunciation as you would pronounce the letter “H” in English and the “H” in Norwegian? Do you have a page for that yet because I am pretty sure it doesn’t work that way with pronunciation.
Thanks for the comment, Amanda,
Yes, I do have a page for help with the pronunciations. You can find it here.
http://norsk.rkevin.com/learn-the-norwegian-alphabets-and-pronunciation/
In the next few days I will be releasing lessons via email to help beginners. Be sure to subscribe.
with this new design I cannot listen to the words. why?
Hi,
Can you check if it is working now?
hi everyone
i am confused regarding hankjønn, hunkjønn, and itetkjønn.. how will i know if the word is hankkjøn, hunkjønn or itetkjønn,,, for example the word bus, table, telephone,,,etc..is there a rule in Norwegian grammar with this?
thanks a lot. i appreciate your help,
connie