Learn about grammatical gender in the Norwegian language
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: How can a word be masculine or feminine? |
| Anette: And how do you determine a noun's gender in Norwegian? |
| Michael: At NorwegianClass101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following situation, Kristian Karlsen is talking to a friend about his long-time dream. His daughter Karoline Karlsen happily joins the conversation. "I want a house." |
| Kristian: Jeg vil ha et hus. |
| Dialogue |
| Kristian: Jeg vil ha et hus. |
| Karoline: Jeg vil ha en hest! |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Kristian: Jeg vil ha et hus. |
| Michael: "I want a house." |
| Karoline: Jeg vil ha en hest! |
| Michael: "I want a horse!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Have you noticed that the nouns in the line |
| Anette: Jeg vil ha et hus |
| Michael: and |
| Anette: Jeg vil ha en hest |
| Michael: are preceded by different indefinite articles? This is because, in Norwegian, every noun has a gender. As a result, Norwegian articles must agree with the nouns they are used with as they, too, are gendered. Norwegian nouns have three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter. You can tell the gender of a noun either by the article that precedes it or by its ending. For instance, a noun is masculine if it is preceded by the article |
| Anette: en |
| Michael: as in |
| Anette: en gutt |
| Michael: or, "a boy." If we want to change this to a definite noun, we simply remove the article and attach it to the end of the noun, as in |
| Anette: gutten |
| Michael: or "the boy." What if we want to form the indefinite and definite plural for masculine nouns? For indefinite plurals for masculine nouns, we attach the suffix |
| Anette: -er or -r |
| Michael: Therefore, "boys" becomes |
| Anette: gutter |
| Michael: For definite plurals for masculine nouns, we use the suffix |
| Anette: -e or -ne |
| Michael: so that "the boys" becomes |
| Anette: guttene |
| Michael: Now, for feminine nouns, we use the article, |
| Anette: ei |
| Michael: before the noun, as in |
| Anette: ei jente |
| Michael: meaning "a girl." For feminine nouns, we don't attach the indefinite article at the end of the noun to form the definite noun. Instead, we use the article |
| Anette: a |
| Michael: as in |
| Anette: jenta |
| Michael: meaning "the girl." Keep in mind that at least 90% of feminine nouns in Norwegian can also be used in the masculine form, which means the rules are the same when forming the plural definite and indefinite for feminine nouns. For instance, "girls" becomes |
| Anette: jenter |
| Michael: and "the girls" becomes |
| Anette: jentene |
| Michael: For neuter nouns, we use the article |
| Anette: et |
| Michael: before the noun, as in |
| Anette: et hus |
| Michael: "A house." To change this to its definite form, we say |
| Anette: huset |
| Michael: Be aware that neuter nouns that are only a single syllable undergo no change to form the indefinite plural, although, to form the definite plural, they do add either |
| Anette: -ene or -a |
| Michael: For neuter nouns that are more than one syllable, the same rules apply that are used for masculine nouns when being changed into their plural forms. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the sentences we've heard in this lesson. I'll say the sentence in English, and then I want you to try and reply in Norwegian. Anette will then model the correct answer—listen to her carefully and repeat, with emphasis on your pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "I want a house?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Anette: Jeg vil ha et hus. |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Anette: Jeg vil ha et hus. |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Anette: Jeg vil ha et hus. |
| Michael: And do you remember how to say "I want a horse?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Anette: Jeg vil ha en hest! |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Anette: Jeg vil ha en hest! |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Anette: Jeg vil ha en hest! |
| Cultural Expansion |
| Michael: In Norwegian, there are no logical rules that can be used to determine which nouns are masculine, feminine, or neuter. In most cases, the gender, or, |
| Anette: kjønn |
| Michael: for each noun must be learned separately. We've mentioned that nearly all feminine nouns in Norwegian can be used as masculine nouns. But did you know that one Norwegian dialect uses no feminine gender for nouns at all? This dialect is that of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The same is true for the most preferred written standard for the Norwegian language, which is |
| Anette: Bokmål |
| Michael: In addition, there's not really a lot of common Norwegian words that can be considered neuter. This makes studying nouns easier in Norwegian because you can assume that most nouns are masculine or feminine, and just memorize nouns that fall under the neuter category. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Anette: Ha det! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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