PolyLingo
🇳🇴 Norwegian
NorskLatin

Word order: what’s normal (and how to sound natural)

Understand the default word order and a simple strategy to avoid ‘translation‑English’.

The key idea

Norwegian (Bokmål) is verb-second (V2) in main clauses. Like Swedish/Danish, it uses definite suffixes on nouns.

  • Memorize patterns (whole sentences), not just single words.
  • When you change the meaning, keep the grammar skeleton the same.
  • If word order is flexible, use ‘neutral’ order first — emphasis comes later.
Jeg er her.
I am here.
Jeg vil ha vann.
I want water.
Jeg forstår ikke.
I don't understand.
Snakker du engelsk?
Do you speak English?
Hvor er toalettet?
Where is the toilet?
Dette er vennen min.
This is my friend.

Tiny practice routine

Pick one sentence and create 5 variations. Example: ‘I want water’ → water/coffee/tea/ticket/help.

  • Speak each variation out loud.
  • Record yourself and compare rhythm.

Mini‑quiz

Mini-quiz
1/9 • Score: 0
Typical word order for this language is closest to…