Sometimes you need to change a word from one grammatical class to another. In English you do that all the time, for example when you make the verb ”to read” into a noun by adding an -ing suffix: Reading makes me happy.

When you want to swap the class of a Norwegian word, you have several suffixes or endings at your disposal. (Don’t worry, each word is usually tied to a single suffix. I mean, you wouldn’t say ”happity” or ”stupidness” in English.) Let’s look at the most common:

Changing an adjective to an abstract noun

-het: lik (equal) > likhet (equality), norsk (Norwegian) > norskhet(”Norwegianness”), kjærlig (loving) > kjærlighet (love)

-skap: lat (lazy) > latskap (laziness), utro (unfaithful) > utroskap(unfaithfulness)

-dom: rik (rich) > rikdom (richness, wealth), fattig (poor) > fattigdom(poverty), ung (young) > ungdom (youth, young people)

Changing a verb to an abstract noun

-ing: å sykle (to ride a bicycle) > sykling (bicycling), å klatre (to climb) >klatring (climbing)

-else: å føle (to feel) > følelse (feeling, sentiment), å friste (to tempt) >fristelse (temptation), å spøke (to haunt) > spøkelse (ghost)

-eri: å fiske (to fish) > fiskeri (fishing), å bake (to bake) > bakeri (bakery – okay, that’s a very concrete place!)

Changing a verb to a noun describing a person

-er: å bake (to bake) > baker (baker), å kjøpe (to buy) > kjøper (buyer)

-(n)ing: gal (mad) > galning (madman), gammel > gamling (old man)

Changing a verb to an adjective

-lig: å tenke (to think) > tenkelig (which can be thought), å kjede seg (to be bored) > kjedelig (boring)

Changing a noun to an adjective

-ete: hår (hair) > hårete (hairy), stein (stone) > steinete (stony)

-som: slit (toil) > slitsom (laborious, toilsome), en (one – allright, that’s not a noun!) > ensom (lonely)

Unfortunately, there are no clear-cut rules here, you just have to learn which words go with which endings. The endings -er, -ing and -het are very frequent. -er and -ing can be added to just about any verb in the language. But beware! Whereas å bygge (to build) can be suffixed to produce bygging(the act of building), the result of this building is called a bygning (a physical building).