{"id":2806,"date":"2021-10-19T13:05:16","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T13:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/?p=2806"},"modified":"2021-10-19T13:10:52","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T13:10:52","slug":"adding-endings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/adding-endings\/","title":{"rendered":"Adding Endings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hale-n til hval-en.<\/strong> (The tail of the whale.) In Norwegian, adding endings to nouns is even more important than in English. (Illustrative photo by Simon Infanger<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>; no copyright.)<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the funny things about Norwegian is that you can\u2019t avoid adding endings to words. Well, of course English learners also sometimes struggle with that \u2013 how do you add a plural -s to box<\/em>? But generally, as long as you know how to add an -s1<\/a><\/sup>and a few other endings, such as -ed and -ing (verbs) and -ly (adverbs from adjectives)<\/span> to words, you don\u2019t have to care a lot about endings in English. Norwegian is more complex, mainly for one reason, which I\u2019m sure is the first thing you learnt: The<\/em> is an ending! So, let\u2019s repeat \u2013 instead of saying \u201dthe city (by<\/strong>)\u201d, Norwegians say \u201dcity-the\u201d<\/em> (by-en<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

The main challenge is knowing which word takes which ending.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Plurals<\/a> of most Norwegian nouns (hund, katt, jente, skog, menneske, system <\/strong>= dog, cat, girl, forest, human, system) are made with -er<\/strong>, but many short neuter nouns are identical in the singular and plural (fjell, \u00e5r, hus, vann <\/strong>= mountain[s], year[s], house[s], lake[s]).<\/p>\n

\u2022 Singular the<\/em> varies according to the noun\u2019s gender<\/a> \u2013 you have to know whether the word you\u2019re about to use is masculine (the<\/em> = -en<\/strong>), feminine (-a<\/strong>) or neuter (-et<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Once you know a noun\u2019s possible endings (-er <\/strong>or nothing; -en, -a <\/strong>or -et<\/strong>), you simply add one:<\/p>\n

hunder, skoger, katten, systemet <\/em><\/strong>(dogs, forests, the cat, the system). But what about words that end in an -e<\/strong>2<\/a><\/sup>A short, unaccented -e that is! \ud83d\ude42<\/span>?<\/p>\n

You of course don\u2019t say \u201djentea\u201d <\/em><\/strong>or \u201dmenneskeer\u201d<\/em><\/strong>. You remove the -e<\/strong>, then add the ending: jenta<\/em><\/strong>, mennesker<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Although I\u2019m focusing on nouns here, the rule about -e<\/strong> removal is used also when you\u2019re adding endings to verbs: \u00e5 danse,<\/strong> \u201dto dance\u201d, becomes danset,<\/strong> \u201ddanced\u201d (dansa<\/strong> in some varieties of Norwegian).<\/p>\n

Easy, right?<\/p>\n

The plural the<\/em> is -ene<\/strong>.3<\/a><\/sup>this can also be analysed as -ne<\/strong> (with an -e-<\/strong> added to ease pronunciation)<\/span> This ending replaces the -er<\/strong> ending: hunder > hundene <\/strong>(the dogs), fjell > fjellene<\/strong> (the mountains), b\u00f8ker<\/strong>4<\/a><\/sup>an irregular plural \u2013 the singular is bok.<\/span> > b\u00f8kene<\/strong> (the books).<\/p>\n

For a few, irregular plurals, the ending is just -ne<\/strong>: tr\u00e6r<\/strong> > tr\u00e6rne<\/strong> (the trees), kl\u00e6r<\/strong> > kl\u00e6rne<\/strong> (the clothes), kn\u00e6r<\/strong> > kn\u00e6rne<\/strong> (the knees).<\/p>\n

And oh! Nouns that already end in -er<\/strong> in the singular behave slightly differently\u2026 These are words that very often denote professions or nationalities (= persons): baker, ridder, tysker<\/strong> (baker, knight, German). Instead of doubling and saying things like \u201dbakerer\u201d<\/em><\/strong>, the final -r<\/strong> is dropped in the plural: bakere, riddere, tyskere<\/strong>. And for the plural the<\/em>, just add -ne<\/strong> to the basic word: bakerne, ridderne, tyskerne<\/strong>. That\u2019s it!<\/p>\n