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Lessons for English speakers

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.

13 core sections · ≈ 33 min + 3 optional lookups · ≈ 44 min with everything
4

The letters Norwegian writes and does not say

≈ 2 min
What you'll learn
  • A d at the end of a word is usually silent: godgoo“good” is “goo”, landlan“land” is “lan”.
  • The g of the ending -ig is silent, so veldigVEL-dee“very” ends in “-ee”.
  • The t of the word detday and of the noun ending -et is silent.
  • An h in front of j or v is silent, and so is the g of a few common words.
  • So a Norwegian word is often shorter in the mouth than on the page.

Norwegian spelling keeps letters that stopped being said centuries ago, exactly as English keeps the gh of “night”. There is no guessing involved: the same few letters go quiet in the same places, every time.

Spelling is not the sound

godgoo“good”
“goo”
A d after a vowel at the end of a word is silent. So is the d of gladglah“happy”.
landlan“land”
“lan”
A d after l or n goes the same way: hundhuun“dog” is “huun”.
godtgot“good”
“got”
Put a t after it and the d stays silent, the t is said, and the vowel shortens. The same word as the first row, wearing an ending.
veldigVEL-dee“very”
“VEL-dee”
The g of a final -ig is never said. Nor is the g of fuglfuul“bird” or of ogaw“and”, which sounds near enough like åaw.
detday“it, that”
“day”
The t is silent in this one word — and in the ending -et: husetHUU-suh“the house” is “HUU-suh”.
hvemvem“who”
“vem”
An h in front of v or j is silent: hjemyem“home” is “yem”.
dedee“they”
“dee”
Not “deh”. A few very common little words are simply said differently from how they look — this one, and jegyay“I”, which is “yay”.
norsknoshk“Norwegian”
“noshk”
An r swallows a following s into a “sh”, and does the same to a following t, d, n or l.

Say the word, not the spelling

  1. hund

    One letter goes quiet, and the u is tight.

    Show answer +
    hundhuun“dog”
  2. huset

    The ending -et loses its t.

    Show answer +
    husetHUU-suh“the house”
  3. jeg

    Said nothing like it looks.

    Show answer +
    jegyay“I”