Family.  I have not yet written a post about familie and I think knowing how to talk about the different members of a family is a good thing.  It’s nice to know the word for all of the family members and then to be able to ask questions and reply to questions with answers with regard to familie.  So let’s start with the basics.

mor/mamma is mother/mom, far/pappa is father/dad, foreldre is parents

søster is sister, bror is brother

datter is daughter, sønn is son

tante is aunt, onkel is uncle

kusine is cousin (female), fetter is cousin (male)

søskenbarn is cousins, tremenning is second cousin

bestemor is grandmother, bestefar is grandfather, besteforeldre are grandparents

and more specifically, farmor is father’s mother, farfar is father’s father, morfar is mother’s father, and mormor is mother’s mother

oldemor is great grandmother, oldefar is great grandfather

et barn is a child, et barnebarn is a grandchild

svigermor is mother-in-law, svigerfar is father-in-law

niese is niece, nevø is nephew

stemor is stepmom, stefar is stepfather

venn is friend, vennine is female friend

kjæreste is girlfriend or boyfriend

kone is wife, mann is husband

And if that’s not enough, let’s learn a few questions…

Har du en kjæreste?  Do you have a girlfriend\boyfriend

Er du forlovet?  Are you engaged? 

Er du gift?  Are you married? 

Har du slektninger i Norge?  Do you have relatives in Norway?

Har du familie i Norge?  Do you have family in Norway?

While it used to be very common for Norwegian children to have many siblings, it is now common for a Norwegian child to have one or two siblings, or perhaps none at all.  It is also common today for couples to have children without being married first, or even without being married at all.  When a couple lives together and is not married, this is called samboerskap.  The two are samboer.  This is accepted by the majority of the population and is most likely only going to become more popular. 

Now that you know a fair amount of Norwegian familie words, practice calling your mother mor, your father far and so forth.