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Chapter 4 of 16 · Explore the Norwegian path

The script · Chapter 4 of 16

The letters Norwegian writes and does not say

Norwegian writes letters it stopped saying centuries ago. Learn where the d, the g and the t go quiet, so a word is often shorter in your mouth than it looks on the page.

≈ 3 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter
  • 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.

Where the letters go quiet

Each row puts a written word beside the way it is said. The note tells you what happened to the spelling.

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 what the word sounds like

  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”
    Add
    jeg — I · Estimated A1
Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All Norwegian chapters ↗