Norwegian: A Comprehensive Grammar

Philip Holmes, Hans-Olav Enger

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351059817
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Norwegian: A Comprehensive Grammar is a complete reference guide to modern Norwegian (the Bokmål standard). The Grammar is an essential source for the serious student of Norwegian, and for students of comparative linguistics. It is ideal for use in colleges, universities and adult classes of all types.

The volume is organised to promote a thorough understanding of Norwegian grammar. It presents the complexities of Norwegian in a concise and readable form. Explanations are full, clear and free of jargon. Throughout, the emphasis is on Norwegian as used by present-day native speakers.

An extensive index, numbered paragraphs, cross-references and summary charts provide readers with easy access to the information they require.

Chapter 1

Nouns

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 Different types of noun

Nouns comprise two main groups: proper nouns (or names) and common or generic nouns (those denoting non-specific people, places, things or ideas).

1.1.1.1 Proper nouns

Bergen; Synnøve [woman’s name]; Per [man’s name]; Aftenposten [newspaper]; Statoil; Tyskland, Germany

As in English, proper nouns are written with an initial capital letter (12.3.1), unlike common nouns. They also differ from common nouns in that they do not generally have a definite form or a plural form, though this does occasionally occur, e.g. Volvoen, ‘the Volvo’; Dolomittene, ‘the Dolomites’. They do, however, in many instances have an –s genitive form: Pers mor, ‘Per’s mother’; Norges Bank, ‘the Bank of Norway’.

1.1.1.2 Common nouns

datamaskin, computer; hus, house; jente, girl; katt, cat; natt, night

Types of common noun:

1. (a) Count nouns are nouns denoting an individual countable entity and, therefore, usually possess a plural form. In the examples, the indefinite plural is used for illustration:
   kake − kaker, cake − cakes; lærer − lærere, teacher − teachers; hus – hus, house − houses
   Some abstract nouns are count nouns:
   farge − farger, colour; glede − gleder, joy; sykdom − sykdommer, illness
2. (b) Non-count nouns often denote an abstract concept or substance and are therefore usually without a plural form:
   frykt, fear; kjærlighet, love; håp, hope; søvn, sleep
   Many non-count nouns denote substances:
   bensin, petrol; luft, air; vann, water
   Most abstract nouns are non-count (cf. (a) above):
   hvithet, whiteness; lykke, happiness; musikk, music

1.1.2 Three genders or two?

See also 1.2.1f.

1.1.2.1

Grammatical gender, which is not found in English, is a system of noun classification in which most common nouns belong to one category or another (but see 1.2.1). Some nouns, such as those only existing in the plural (1.2.1, 1.5.2), have no gender. Gender is revealed when words related to the noun, such as articles, pronouns, determiners or adjectives, change their form according to the gender of the noun (see below). This is called ‘agreement’.

Nouns in Norwegian Bokmål officially have one of three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.

Masculine

en blomst, a flower; blomsten, the flower; blomsten min, my flower (see also 4.4.1.1); denne blomsten er liten, this flower is small; (cf. den er liten, it is small)

en gutt, a boy; gutten, the boy; gutten min, my boy (see also 4.4.1.1); denne gutten er liten, this boy is small (cf. han er liten he is small)

Feminine

en/ei hytte, a c...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Symbols and abbreviations
• Introduction: What is Norwegian?
• Chapter 1 Nouns
• Chapter 2 Adjectives
• Chapter 3 Numerals
• Chapter 4 Pronouns and determiners
• Chapter 5 Verbs
• Chapter 6 Adverbs
• Chapter 7 Prepositions
• Chapter 8 Interjections
• Chapter 9 Conjunctions and subjunctions
• Chapter 10 Sentence structure and word order
• Chapter 11 Word formation
• Chapter 12 Orthography
• Chapter 13 Punctuation
• Appendix 1: Linguistic terms
• Appendix 2: English-Norwegian and Norwegian-English linguistic terms
• Bibliography
• Index