{"id":2487,"date":"2018-07-31T23:28:40","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T23:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/?p=2487"},"modified":"2018-08-01T15:18:57","modified_gmt":"2018-08-01T15:18:57","slug":"silent-letters-in-norwegian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/silent-letters-in-norwegian\/","title":{"rendered":"Silent Letters in Norwegian"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Free image from Pixabay; no copyright.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ever thought about all the letters we don\u2019t say out loud \u2013 like the h in \u2019hour\u2019? Even though Norwegian is spelt in a more straightforward way than English, it also has its share of stumme bokstaver<\/b> (silent letters, literally \u201dmute letters\u201d).<\/p>\n

Hvem, hva, hvor og hvorfor?<\/b> (Who, what, where and why?) The H of the question words is not pronounced at all\u2026 In fact, it\u2019s silent both in front of V and J. Hvem vil hjem?<\/b> [vem vil yem] (Who wants to go home?) Hopefully, this doesn\u2019t make you scream hjelp!<\/b> [yelp] (help!) \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

A Norwegian speciality is the hushing of the final T in the ending -et<\/b> (the) and the word det<\/b> (it, that): Det hvite huset bak epletreet<\/b> [deh veeteh hooseh bak epletreh-eh] (The white house behind the apple tree.) This \u201ddefinite T\u201d is important to keep some words apart in spelling: De er hjemme.<\/b> (They\u2019re home.) vs. Det er hjemmet.<\/b> (That\u2019s the home.) \u2013 NB! In other cases, the final T stays: Marit kastet en tomat.<\/b> (Marit threw a tomato.)<\/p>\n

In common (Bokm\u00e5l) Norwegian, D is usually silent in the combination ND: land<\/b> [lann] (land), stranda<\/b> [stranna] (the beach)\u2026 But: bonde<\/b> [bonde] (farmer). D is always silent in the combination RD: jord<\/strong> [yor] (earth), ord<\/strong> [or] (words). Final D is also often silent, especially in common everyday words: Han er alltid glad.<\/b> [han er allti gla] (he\u2019s always happy).<\/p>\n

G is silent in front of J<\/a>: gjerne<\/b> [yerne] (with pleasure), gjemsel<\/b> [yemsel] (hide and seek). Words ending in -lig<\/b> or -ig<\/b> always lose the G part: veldig hemmelig<\/b> [veldee hemmelee] (very secret). And og<\/b> (and) is frequently pronounced without the G \u2013 which makes Norwegian schoolchildren wonder whether they should write husk \u00e5 kj\u00f8pe sm\u00f8r<\/b> (remember to buy butter \u2013 correct) or *husk og kj\u00f8pe sm\u00f8r* (remember and buy butter \u2013 wrong\u2026)<\/p>\n

There are probably other silent letters in Norwegian that I have overlooked, but here at least you have an intro to get past the worst hurdles when reading Norwegian aloud\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Ever thought about all the letters we don\u2019t say out loud \u2013 like the h in \u2019hour\u2019? Even though Norwegian is spelt in a more straightforward way than English, it also has its share of stumme bokstaver (silent letters, literally \u201dmute letters\u201d). Hvem, hva, hvor og hvorfor? (Who, what, where and why?) The H of…<\/p>\n

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