Norwegian phrasebook

Norwegian is the language spoken in Norway. It's closely related to Danish and Swedish, and some speakers of the three languages can understand the others. Most of Norway's 4.5 million citizens speak Norwegian.

There are two official variations of written Norwegian: Bokmål and Nynorsk. The differences are small, but important to a lot of Norwegians. Bokmål is by far the most common, and evolved from Danish. Nynorsk is a newer spelling invented sometime in the 1800's by a Norwegian priest, writer, and linguist called Ivar Aasen, who took a sample of common dialects, and synthesized a written language with most of their common elements.

The actual proportion of people using Nynorsk instead of Bokmål is constantly debated in Norway, but it's somewhere in the 10-50% range.

There are also many spoken variations (dialects) of Norwegian, and even to Norwegians, some of them can be really hard to understand if you are not used to them. Because of radio, TV, and other mass communication, the situation is normalizing towards a language more similar to how it is written (Bokmål or Nynorsk).

Pronunciation Guide

Norwegian spelling is pretty simple and regular (compared to, say, English), but like most real languages, unfortunately not completely regular.

Vowels

Each vowel can be pronounced either as "long" or "short". A "short" vowel will always be followed by a double consonant (i.e. two similar consonants, such as ll or tt). A long vowel is not.

For example, in Norwegian "it" will be pronounced as in eet, whereas "itt" will be pronounced as english iht.

The Norwegian vowels are pronounced in almost the same way as in German. There are three additional vowels. æ (Æ), ø (Ø), and å (Å). Here's the full list:

a

like 'a' in "father"

e

like 'e' in "better" (but like æ if it is followed by an r)

i

like 'i' in "pin"

o (short)

like o in "lord"

o (long)

like 'oo' in "spooky"

u

like 'oo' in "foot"

y

like 'i' in "pin" (but darker; y doesn't correspond to any sound in English. English speakers may have difficulty distinguishing Norwegian's i and y. It's similar to German ü or French u.)

æ

like 'a' in "hat"

ø

like 'u' in "burn"

å

like 'o' in "lord"

Consonants

b

like 'b' in "book"

c

like 'c' in "cat" (mostly foreign words)

d

like 'd' in "dog"

f

like 'f' in "face"

g

like 'g' in "good", like 'y' in "yes" (before i or j), silent at the end of words

h

like 'h' in "hat"

j

like 'y' in "yes"

k

like 'k' in "keep", like 'ch' in Scottish "loch" (before i or j)

l

like 'l' in "late"

m

like 'm' in "mouse"

n

like 'n' in "nice"

p

like 'p' in "push"

q

like 'q' in "quick" (mostly foreign words)

r

like 'r' in "feather" (very soft, as in German) (many different variations ranging from spanish to french sounding.)

s

like 's' in "sun" (not like 'z' in "zap")

t

like 't' in "top"

v

like 'v' in "viper"

w

like 'w' in "water" (mostly foreign words)

x

like 'x' in "box" (mostly foreign words)

z

like 'z' in "zipper" (mostly foreign words)

Diphthongs

ei

like 'a' in "babe" (æ-i)

ai

like 'i' in "pine" (a-i)

au

like 'ou' in "mouse" (æ-u)

oi

like 'oy' in "boy" (å-y)

øy

like 'ooey' in "gooey" (ø-y)

sj

like 'sh' in "shirt"

skj

like 'sh' in "shirt"

rs

like 'sh' in "shirt"

kj

like 'ch' in Scottish "loch", German "ich", very similar to Greek 'χ'.

ng

like 'ng' in "long"

rt

like 'rt' in "art"

rn

like 'rn' in "burn"

ld

like 'll' in "ball" (makes vowels long, too)

nd

like 'nn' in "banner" (makes vowels long)

hj

like 'y' in "yes"

hv

like 'v' in "victory"

lj

like 'y' in "yes" (rare)

Exceptions

de

like "dee" in "deer" (just as a whole word)

og

like 'o' in "lord" (just as a whole word)

Phrase list

Basics

Good morning.

God morgen. (goh moh-ohrn)

Good evening.

God kveld. (goh kvel)

Good night (to sleep)

God natt. (goh naht)

Hello. (informal)

Hei. (hay)

How are you?

Hvordan går det? (vohrd-ahn gohr deh?)

Fine, thank you.

(Jo) takk, bare bra. (yoh )

What is your name?

Hva heter du? (Va he-ter du)

My name is ________?

Kan du fortelle meg veien til __. : Jeg har mistet ________________________________ på kartet? (...)

street

gate/vei (...)

Turn left.

Snu til venstre. (...)

Turn right.

Snu til høyre. (...)

left

venstre (venn-stre)

right

høyre (høy-re)

straight ahead

rett fram/rett framover (...)

towards the _____________________?

Hva er valutakursen for ____________________? (...)

I need...

Jeg trenger... (...)

...toothpaste.

...tannpasta. (...)

...a toothbrush.

...en tannbørste. (tann-bøsj-te)

...tampons.

...tamponger. (...)

...soap.

...såpe. (...)

...shampoo.

...shampoo. (sjam-po)

...pain reliever. (e.g., aspirin or ibuprofen)

...smertestillende. (f.eks Dispril eller Ibux) (...)

...cold medicine.

...hostesaft. (...)
translates back to cough lemonade. If that doesn't come close to what you need, go to a doctor.

...stomach medicine.

...???. (...)
Go to a drugstore (norwegian: "apotek"), or doctor (norwegian: "lege"), and explain your condition.

...a razor.

...en barberhøvel. (...)

...an umbrella.

...en paraply. (...)

...sunscreen lotion

...solkrem (...)

...sunblock lotion.

...sunblock. (...)

...a postcard.

...ett postkort. (...)

...postage stamps.

...frimerker. (...)

...batteries.

...batterier. (...)

...writing paper.

...skrivepapir/brevpapir. (...)

...a pen.

...en penn. (...)

...English-language books.

...engelske bøker. (...)

...English-language magazines.

...engelske blader. (...)

...an English-language newspaper.

...en engelsk avis. (...)

...an English-Norwegian dictionary.

...en engelsk-norsk ordbok. (...)

Driving

I want to rent a car.

Kan jeg få leie en bil? (...)

Can I get insurance?

Kan jeg få forsikring? (...)

stop (on a street sign)

stop (...)

one way

enveiskjørt/enveiskjøring (...)

yield

vikeplikt (...)

no parking

parkering forbudt (...)

speed limit

fartsgrense (...)

gas (petrol) station

bensinstasjon (...)

petrol

bensin (...)

diesel

diesel (...)

Authority

I haven't done anything wrong.

Jeg har ikke gjort noe galt. (...)

It was a misunderstanding.

Det var en misforståelse. (...)

Where are you taking me?

Hvor tar dere meg? (...)

Am I under arrest?

Er jeg arrestert? (...)

I am an American/Australian/British/Canadian citizen.

Jeg er en amerikansk/australsk/britisk/kanadisk statsborger. (...)

I demand to talk to the American/Australian/British/Canadian embassy/consulate.

Jeg forlanger å få snakke med den amerikanske/australske/britiske/kanadiske ambassade/konsulat (...)

I want to talk to a lawyer.

Jeg vil ha en advokat. (...)

Can I just pay a fine now?

Kan jeg bare betale boten nå? (...)
Note: Usually you can't. That would mean bribery was accepted. One exception; public transportation in Oslo (maybe elsewhere too) if you forgot to buy a ticket.

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