Learn About Norwegian Adjectives Part 2 – Hunkjønn

We have started to learn about Norwegian adjectives since the last post. We learnt how the adjectives behave when used with the hankjønn nouns. It’s time to look at how to use the Norwegian adjectives with the hunkjønn nouns.

(If you don’t know about hankjønn and hunkjønn Norwegian nouns, learn more here.)

An example:

Ubestemt Entall (Indefinite Singular)

Norwegian	English
Ei fin veske	A nice purse

This is easy to understand as it is very similar to English.

 

Bestemt Entall (Definite Singular)

Norwegian	English
Den fine veska	The nice purse

As you may have noticed, the bestemt entall form is a bit different when nouns are combined with adjectives.

Two rules can be learnt from this:

1. For the hunkjønn nouns, we add a Den before the adjective and an a attached after the noun (learn more here).

Den fine veska.

2. Marked in yellow, notice that we add an e to the adjective.

Den fine veska.

 

Ubestemt Flertall (Indefinite Plural)

Norwegian	English
mange fine vesker	Many nice purses

This follows the similar rule to the bestemt entall form where an e is attached to the adjective.

 

Bestemt Flertall (Definite Plural)

Norwegian	English
de fine veskene	The nice purses

This is also a bit similar to the bestemt entall form where:

1. For the hunkjønn nouns, we add a De before the adjective and an ene attached after the noun (learn more here).

De fine bilene.

2. Marked in yellow, notice that we add an e to the adjective.

De fine bilene.

 

Here are a few more adjectives along with a hunkjønn noun to get you more comfortable. The English definition of the adjective is in the brackets.

Entall (Singular)		Flertall (Plural)
Ubestemt (Indefinite)	Bestemt (Definite)	Ubestemt (Indefinite)	Bestemt (Definite)
ei fin(nice) veske	den fine veska	mange fine vesker	de fine veskene
ei ny(new) veske	den nye veska	mange nye vesker	de nye veskene
ei gammel(old) veske	den gamle veska	mange gamle vesker	de gamle veskene
ei rød(red) veske	den røde veska	mange røde vesker	de røde veskene
ei hvit(white) veske	den hvite veska	mange hvite vesker	de hvite veskene
ei dyr(expensive) veske	den dyre veska	mange dyre vesker	de dyre veskene
ei billig(cheap) veske	den billige veska	mange billige vesker	de billige veskene
ei moderne(modern) veske	den moderne veska	mange moderne vesker	de moderne veskene
ei norsk(Norwegian) veske	den norske veska	mange norske vesker	de norske veskene
ei stor(big) veske	den store veska	mange store vesker	de store veskene
ei lita(small) veske	den lille veska	mange små vesker	de små veskene

Notice the last entry in the table of adjectives above. lita is a special adjective that changes form a bit differently than the rest of the adjectives as seen.

Entall (Singular)		Flertall (Plural)
Ubestemt (Indefinite)	Bestemt (Definite)	Ubestemt (Indefinite)	Bestemt (Definite)
ei lita(small) veske	den lille veska	mange små vesker	de små veskene

Hope this post helped you increase your knowledge about Norwegian adjectives. Subscribe to this blog and you will keep getting more useful lessons.