The Norwegian words for ’big’ and ’small’ are a bit more complex than your average adjective. Let’s start with stor, which covers most instances where you’d use the words big or large in English:

• en stor tanke (a big thought) – den store tanken (the big thought) – tanken er stor (the thought is big)

• ei stor jente (a big girl) – den store jenta (the big girl) – jenta er stor (the girl is big)

• et stort fjell (a big mountain) – det store fjellet (the big mountain) – fjellet er stort (the mountain is big)

• store katter (big cats) – kattene er store (the cats are big)

(As you already know, a -t is usually added to adjectives describing neuter nouns, while an -e is added to adjectives describing both plural nouns and definite nouns, that is, nouns that ”singled out” somehow: dette store fjellet – this big mountain [and not another one]; Karis store tanke – Kari’s big thought [and not someone else’s].)

Okay, that’s still like most Norwegian adjectives would behave – but look at ’bigger’, ’biggest’: større, størst:

• fjellene er større i Sogn og Fjordane (the mountains are bigger in Sogn og Fjordane)

• Oslo er den største byen i Norge (Oslo is the biggest city in Norway)

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The word for ’little, small’ is totally messed up – it’s liten in the masculine, lita in the feminine, lite in the neuter:

• en liten gutt (a little boy)

• ei lita jente (a little girl)  – – Please note that many people tend to ”go masculine” in writing, expressing things like jenta er liten, which is felt to be more ”formal” than jenta er lita!

• et lite barn (a small child)

However, this word becomes lille when describing definite nouns:

• den lille gutten (the little boy)

• den lille jenta (the little girl)

• det lille barnet (the little child)

(Some people also use the word vesle here – it’s very Nynorsk-ish: den vesle gutten, den vesle jenta, det vesle barnet.)

And, even weirder, ’little’ is små whenever plural nouns are described:

• barna er små (the children are small/little)

• jeg liker de små bygdene (I like the small villages)

The word små can be ”re-singularized” as smått (”something small”), which is used in some fixed expressions:

• det er smått med penger (there’s little money [left])

• smått om senn (little by little)

Føler du deg litt forvirret nå? (Feeling a bit confused now?)

Don’t worry, were almost there. The only thing lacking is ’smaller – smallest’: mindre – minst:

• bygdene er mindre i Nordnorge (the villages are smaller in Northern Norway)

• sist, men ikke minst: (last, but not least:)