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Chapter 10 of 16 · Explore the Norwegian path

Optional reference · Chapter 10 of 16

Word lists: colours, people, numbers, and more than one

Open this when a book hands you a word the path did not. Eight colours, ten words for people, one to ten, and how Norwegian says more than one by adding -er.

≈ 5 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter
  • Open this when a book uses a word the main path did not give you; the next step needs none of it.
  • Eight colours, ten people, and one to ten.
  • More than one is nearly always -er, and “the” on top of that is -ene.
  • A handful of very common nouns change their vowel instead, as English does in “foot” and “feet”.

You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Neither reading uses a colour, a number, a family word or a plural. Open it when a book hands you a word the main path did not, and then go back to reading.

Eight colours

Colours behave like any other describing word, so they take the same endings. Look one up and go back to reading.

rødrur“red” · blåblaw“blue” · grønngrurn“green” · gulguul“yellow”
svartsvart“black” · hvitveet“white” · brunbruun“brown” · grågraw“grey”

The d of rødrur is silent and the h of hvitveet is silent. They take the same coats as any describing word: et rødt huset rurt huus“a red house”.

Ten words for people

The people a story puts around its animals. Each is given with its little word, so you know which ending it will take.

en moren moor“a mother” · en faren fahr“a father” · et barnet bahrn“a child”
en gutten guut“a boy” · en jenteen YEN-tuh“a girl”
en mannen man“a man” · en koneen KOO-nuh“a wife” · en vennen ven“a friend”
en broren broor“a brother” · en søsteren SURS-ter“a sister”

With the endings on: morenMOO-ren“the mother”, farenFAH-ren“the father”, barnetBAHR-nuh“the child”. And an owner still follows: konen hansKOO-nen hans“his wife”.

Count from one to ten

Numbers barely appear in the two readings, but a book will print them. Say each one aloud once and it will look familiar later.

enen“one” · totoo“two” · tretray“three” · fireFEE-ruh“four” · femfem“five”
seksseks“six” · sjushuu“seven” · åtteAW-tuh“eight” · ninee“nine” · titee“ten”

One is the same word as the little word for “a”, and an et thing counts as ettet. Older books print syvsewv for seven; both are correct Bokmål. Two vague amounts come with them: mangeMANG-uh“many” and fåfaw“few”.

Say more than one

English adds -s for more than one. Norwegian adds -er, and stacks “the” on top of that. Each row runs from one thing to many.

en hunden huun“a dog”
hunderHUUN-er“dogs” · hundeneHUUN-uh-nuh“the dogs”
-er for more than one, -ene for “the” on top of it. Nearly every noun does exactly this.
en jenteen YEN-tuh“a girl”
jenterYEN-ter“girls” · jenteneYEN-tuh-nuh“the girls”
A noun already ending in -e just takes the r.
et huset huus“a house”
hushuus“houses” · huseneHUU-suh-nuh“the houses”
Short et words add nothing at all for the plural — the number in front tells you.
en boken book“a book”
bøkerBUR-ker“books”
A short list of common words change their vowel, as English does in “foot” and “feet”. en mannen man“a man” gives mennmen“men”, and et treet tray“a tree” gives trærtrar“trees”.
Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All Norwegian chapters ↗