How to learn Norwegian by reading

Norwegian is a gift to readers who already know English. Jeg har en bok is “I have a book”; Huset er stort is “the house is big.” Verbs don’t change for person, word order is familiar, and much of the basic vocabulary is shared. Learn to read Norwegian and you also get a head start on Danish and Swedish.

There is one twist. Norway has two written standards: Bokmål, used by the large majority of Norwegians and in most books, and Nynorsk, used mainly in parts of western Norway and by writers such as Jon Fosse, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023. Lexo’s Norwegian is Bokmål. And spoken Norwegian has no official standard at all: people use their own dialects at work, on television and in parliament. Even the word for “I” changes from place to place: jeg in writing, but eg, æ or e in many dialects. Reading gives you the stable center that all of that speech revolves around.

What makes Norwegian hard to read

• Optional forms. Bokmål lets writers choose: “the book” can be boka or boken, “threw” can be kasta or kastet. Both are correct, and you’ll meet both, sometimes in the same bookshop.
• Gender and the article on the end. Nouns are masculine, feminine or neuter (en, ei, et), though many writers treat feminine nouns as masculine. The definite article is a suffix: en bil, “a car,” bilen, “the car.” With an adjective, Norwegian marks definiteness twice: det store huset, “the big house.”
• The possessive after the noun. Bilen min, literally “the car my,” is the everyday way to say “my car.” Min bil also exists, with extra emphasis.
• Word order. The verb comes second in a main clause: I dag spiste vi fisk, “today we ate fish,” literally “today ate we fish.” In a subordinate clause, ikke (“not”) moves in front of the verb: Han kommer ikke, but …at han ikke kommer.
• Long compounds. Norwegian writes compound nouns as one word, as German does: jernbanestasjon, “railway station”; sykehus, “hospital,” literally “sick house.” Split them at the joins and they usually explain themselves.
• Silent letters. Hv, hj and gj lose their first letter: hva is “va,” hjem is “yem,” gjøre is “yøre.” Final d is often silent (god sounds like “goo”), and so is the t in det.
• Pitch accent. Norwegian words carry one of two melodies, and a few pairs differ only in melody: tanken can mean “the tank” or “the thought.” Writing doesn’t show it.

Norwegian reading at each level

What to expect from Norwegian text at each CEFR level:

• A2, elementary. Short main clauses in the present and the past (spiste, gikk), with everyday words and simple dialogue.
• B1, intermediate. The perfect (har lest), subordinate clauses with at, som, når and fordi, possessives after the noun, particle verbs (finne ut, “find out”), simple conditionals, and the passive with bli or -s.
• B2, upper intermediate. Conditionals of every kind with ville and skulle, longer sentences, cleft sentences (Det var Axel som…), and a more literary vocabulary.
• C1, advanced. Close to the original text, with light condensing. C2 is the complete novel.

For the scale in general, see CEFR levels explained.

Journey to the Center of the Earth at A2 and at B2

Jules Verne’s novel begins with a coded message hidden in an old book. Two moments, written for this page:

A2

Professor Lidenbrock finner en gammel lapp i en bok. På lappen står det en hemmelig beskjed. Den forteller om en vei til jordens indre.

Professor Lidenbrock finds an old note in a book. On the note there is a secret message. It tells of a way to the center of the Earth.

B2

Det var Axel som til slutt knekte koden, men han angret nesten med en gang, for han skjønte at onkelen hans ikke ville nøle et sekund før han dro av gårde til Island.

It was Axel who finally cracked the code, but he regretted it almost at once, because he realized that his uncle wouldn’t hesitate for a second before setting off for Iceland.

In the A2 text, På lappen står det shows the verb coming second, with a dummy subject, det, after it. The B2 sentence uses a cleft (Det var Axel som, “it was Axel who”), the possessive after the noun (onkelen hans, “his uncle”), ikke before the verb in the subordinate clause (ikke ville nøle), and a particle phrase, dra av gårde, “set off.”

A daily Norwegian reading routine

1. Listen as you read. Turn on the narration and follow the text as it’s highlighted, word by word. Silent letters and the melody of the language come through the ear, not the page.
2. Reread without audio. Go over the same pages at your own pace. Notice which optional forms the book uses, such as boka or boken.
3. Tap only what blocks you. Norwegian is close enough to English that context often carries you. When it doesn’t, tap.
4. Try a page of Danish or Swedish now and then. Written Bokmål is especially close to Danish, and you’ll understand more than you expect.

Pick books you can read without stopping every line. Hu and Nation (2000, “Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension”) estimated that most learners need to know about 98 percent of the words in a fiction text to understand it adequately without help, roughly one unknown word in fifty. Below that, reading becomes decoding. More in the 98% rule, extensive reading and reading while listening.

Classics to start with

• Journey to the Center of the Earth sails from Copenhagen to Iceland before going underground: northern seas, a silent Icelandic guide, and a plot that’s easy to follow at A2.
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ends in the Maelstrom, the great whirlpool off the coast of Norway. A long, rewarding read at B1 or B2.
• Andersen’s Fairy Tales are short, familiar Scandinavian stories, one per sitting.
• The Call of the Wild moves fast through snow and danger, with strong, simple sentences.
• Treasure Island is an ideal first novel at A2 or B1.

Further along, Bokmål opens up contemporary Norwegian writing too, from Jo Nesbø’s crime novels to Karl Ove Knausgård’s autobiographical cycle, a natural goal once C1 feels comfortable.

Reading Norwegian in Lexo

Lexo’s Norwegian is Bokmål, the written standard most Norwegians use, and every book comes at five levels, from A2 to C2, chosen book by book.

Tap a word and a card shows what it means in that sentence, its base form and its part of speech, so boka and boken both lead back to bok. When the word belongs to a phrase, like dra av gårde, the card explains the phrase as a whole, and the full sentence is translated into English. Anything worth remembering can go into your Words list.

Every word can be played on its own, which settles silent letters and stress at a tap, and the whole book is narrated, with different voices for different characters and each word highlighted as it’s spoken. Sentence-by-sentence mode shows one sentence at a time with its audio and translation, and on an iPad turned sideways, the book opens into a two-page spread.

When an edition doesn’t exist yet, Lexo writes it for you; chapter 1 arrives in a few minutes, the rest while you read, and the first reader keeps a dated “First edition” mark. Downloaded books need no connection, and there’s no account to create.

Read on into Scandinavia: see Danish and Swedish.

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