Learn About Norwegian Adjectives Part 3 – Intetkjønn

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

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

An example:

Ubestemt Entall (Indefinite Singular)

Norwegian	English
Et fint hus	A nice house

This is easy to understand as it is very similar to English. For many intetkjønn nouns, usually a t is added after the adjective in hankjønn or hunkjønn  form. So fin becomes fint.

Bestemt Entall (Definite Singular)

Norwegian	English
Det fine huset	The nice house

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 intetkjønn nouns, we add a Det before the adjective and an et attached after the noun (learn more here).

Det fine huset.

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

Det fine huset.

 

Ubestemt Flertall (Indefinite Plural)

Norwegian	English
mange fine hus	Many nice houses

This follows the similar rule to the bestemt entall form where an e is attached to the adjective. Also note that the ubestemt flertall of the noun hus is hus as well (not huser). This has already been explained in detail here.

 

Bestemt Flertall (Definite Plural)

Norwegian	English
De fine husene	The nice houses

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

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

De fine husene.

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

De fine husene.

 

Here are a few more adjectives along with an intetkjønn 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)
et fint(nice) hus	det fine huset	mange fine hus	de fine husene
et nytt(new) hus	det nye huset	mange nye hus	de nye husene
et gammelt(old) hus	det gamle huset	mange gamle hus	de gamle husene
et rødt(red) hus	det røde huset	mange røde hus	de røde husene
et hvitt(white) hus	det hvite huset	mange hvite hus	de hvite husene
et dyrt(expensive) hus	det dyre huset	mange dyre hus	de dyre husene
et billig(cheap) hus	det billige huset	mange billige hus	de billige husene
et moderne(modern) hus	det moderne huset	mange moderne hus	de moderne husene
et norsk(Norwegian) hus	det norske huset	mange norske hus	de norske husene
et stort(big) hus	det store huset	mange store hus	de store husene
et lite(small) hus	det lille huset	mange små hus	de små husene

Notice the last entry in the table of adjectives above. lite 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)
et lite(small) hus	det lille huset	mange små hus	de små husene

 

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