Learn to read Norwegian
A short, active path into reading Norwegian: three extra letters and the silent ones, nine real words decoded before any grammar, why the verb sits second in a statement, how “the” hides on the end of the noun, and two short fables before your first book.
Spelling reference: look up, do not recite
- Open this when a letter or a letter pair stops you; the rest of the path does not need any of it.
- The first card set is the full run of vowels, all nine of them, long and short.
- The second gathers the letter combinations, including the ones the main path treated in passing.
- The last block is the silent letters gathered in one place.
You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Open it when a letter or a letter pair stops you: find the letter, take the sound, and go straight back to the story. Nothing here is meant to be memorised in one sitting.
The nine vowels
- along, “ah” as in “father”; short, that same vowel cut off — the respelling writes it adagdahg“day”
- elong, “ay” as in “day”; short, the e of “bed”; unstressed at the end, “uh”tretray“tree”
- ilong, “ee” as in “see”; short, the i of “sit”skishee“ski”
- ousually “oo” as in “moon”; sometimes short, the o of “top”The word for book is said “book”. Let that one carry the rule.bokbook“book”
- u“uu” — “oo” with the lips pushed tight forwardmusmuus“mouse”
- y“ew” — “ee” with the lips roundedThe word for new is said “new”, near enough.nynew“new”
- æthe a of “cat”væreVA-ruh“to be”
- øBritish “her” with no r in itsjøshur“sea”
- å“aw”, as in “law”nårnawr“when”
A vowel is long in front of one consonant and short in front of two — mateMAH-tuh“to feed” against matteMAT-tuh“mat”. You need to know the two lengths exist, not to compute them.
The combinations, in one place
- ei“ay”, as in “day”, opening a little lowerneinay“no”
- aithe sound in “eye” — rare, and mostly in borrowed wordskaiky“quay”
- authe a of “cat” gliding into the tight usausa-uu“sheep”
- øylike “boy”, but starting at øøyeOY-uh“eye”
- sj“sh”, made a little further back than English, with the lips outsjøshur“sea”
- skjthe same “sh”skjeshay“spoon”
- skin front of i, y or øy“sh” again — elsewhere a plain skEnglish borrowed ski and then said it wrong. Norwegian says “shee”.skishee“ski”
- kjthe soft hiss of a whispered “huge”, never the ch of “church”kjæreCHA-ruh“dear”
- tjthe same soft hisstjueCHUU-uh“twenty”
- kin front of i or ythe same soft hiss — elsewhere a plain kkirkeCHIR-kuh“church”
- gjygjøreYUR-uh“to make”
- gin front of i, y or eiy — elsewhere a plain ggiyee“to give”
- hvv; the h is silenthvorvoor“where”
- hjy; the h is silent againhjelpeYEL-puh“to help”
- ngthe ng of “singer” — no hard g follows itlengeLENG-uh“a long time”
These are ordinary letters standing next to each other, which Norwegian reads as one sound. Many younger speakers now say kj and tj as “sh” too, so you may hear the sj sound where this list gives the soft hiss.