Grammar notes
Welcome to our last “Grammar Notes” step!
Because this is the last week on the course, we wanted to summarize the most important features of the Norwegian language that you learnt during these short but intensive 4 weeks.
Let’s start with the most recent grammar features on the menu:
Past tenses
We learnt that we have two past tenses in Norwegian, Preteritum and Presens perfektum, for both regular and irregular verbs and that we have to learn their paradigms if we want to conjugate the verb correctly.
Regular verbs are divided into 4 groups:
Group 1
| Infinitive | å sykle (to cycle / ride a bike) |
| Present tense | sykler |
| Preteritum | syklet (sykl+et) |
| Presens perfektum | har syklet (sykl + et) |
Group 2
| Infinitive | å leke (to play) |
| Present tense | leker |
| Preteritum | lekte (lek + te) |
| Presens perfektum | har lekt (lek + t) |
Group 3
| Infinitive | å prøve (to try) |
| Present tense | prøver |
| Preteritum | prøvde (prøv + de) |
| Presens perfektum | har prøvd (prøv + d) |
Group 4
| Infinitive | å bo (to live) |
| Present tense | bor |
| Preteritum | bodde (bo + dde) |
| Presens perfektum | har bodd (bo + dd) |
The Irregular verbs on the other hand follow a path of their own and have specific paradigms you have to memorize.
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum | Pres.perf. | English |
| å dra | drar | dro | har dratt | go/leave |
| å gå | går | gikk | har gått | walk/go |
| å være | er | var | har vært | be |
| å ha | har | hadde | har hatt | have |
In the “Downloads” section we have included a brief list of the most common irregular verbs you should know the paradigm of.
Even if irregular, you will notice that it is possible to spot a pattern and group the verbs according to the vowel changes they follow. This is actually a good exercise that helps you memorize paradigms much easier. You might start by trying to group the verbs from the list!
Adjectives
- as attributes in front of nouns:
| en stor bil | den store bilen |
| a big car | the big car |
- as predicates after verbs like å være (to be):
| bilen er stor | bilene er store |
| the car is big | the cars are big |
| masc. | en stor bil | a big car |
| fem. | ei stor jakke | a big jacket |
| neut. | et stort hus | a big house |
| plural | store biler – jakker – hus | big cars – jackets – houses |
We call it double definite construction.
In English there is only one element that expresses definite form, the article “the” as in the big car. In Norwegian, however, definite form is marked twice:
| den + store + bilen | den store bilen | the big car |
| det + store + huset | det store huset | the big house |
| de + store + bilene/husene | the big cars/houses |
Note that in definite form the adjective takes the same ending in -e as in plural.
| Masculine sing. | Feminine sing. | Neuter sing. | Plural |
| Indefinite | en stor bil | ei stor jakke | et stort bord | store biler/jakker/bord |
| a big car | a big jacket | a big table | big cars/jackets/tables |
| Definite | den store bilen | den store jakka | det store bordet | de store bilene/jakkene/bordene |
| the big car | the big jacket | the big table | the big cars/jackets/tables |
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
| Indefinite | en liten bil | ei lita lue | et lite skjerf | små biler/luer/skjerf |
| a small car | a small cap | a small scarf | small cars/caps/scarfs |
| Definite | den lille bilen | den lille lua | det lille skjerfet | de små bilene/luene/skjerfene |
| the small car | the small cap | the small scarf | the small cars/caps/scarfs |
Under “Downloads” you’ll also find the pattern for other irregular adjectives.
We hope this last “Grammar Notes” step has been useful in clarifying possible doubts and insecurities about the use of past tenses and adjectives in Norwegian. These have been the two most difficult language features you learnt on this course.
Now be confident that you are well prepared to join course 3 on Learn NoW – Norwegian for beginners!
Lykke til !!
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