Chapter 4

Pronouns and determiners

4.1 Introduction

The class of pronouns comprises rather few words, in Norwegian as in English, but the pronouns occur very frequently, especially the personal pronouns. They are, therefore, important to learn.

Pronouns serve ‘pro nouns’, i.e. they function in place of a noun. Compare

Harry har kysset Gulla.	Harry has kissed Ginny.
Han har kysset henne.	He has kissed her.

In the second example, henne serves the same function as Gulla in the first; henne functions in place of the noun. Similarly, han serves the same function in the second sentence as Harry in the first, so han is also a pronoun.

It is not easy to delimit the class of pronouns exactly; in NRG from 1997, pronouns and determiners are treated as two different word classes. In this grammar, we treat pronouns and determiners in the same chapter, cf. 4.3.1 below.

4.2 Personal pronouns

4.2.1 Case inflection

The personal pronouns are the ‘core examples’ of pronouns. They are the only words in the written Norwegian language that retain a vestige of the Old Norse case distinction, i.e. a difference between nominative and accusative. This works in essentially the same way as in English; simplified, the nominative case is used when the pronoun serves as subject, the accusative otherwise (cf. 4.2.4.10 below). Compare:

Harry har kysset Gulla.

Harry has kissed Ginny.

The position after the non-finite verb can be filled by the object, but not by the subject, cf. 10.4. Thus, the word order makes clear that Gulla (Ginny) is the object, and it follows that Harry is the subject. If we replace the proper noun Gulla with a personal pronoun, this pronoun has to be in the accusative:

Harry har kysset henne.

Harry has kissed her.

In this example, not only does the word order signal that henne is the object, but the form of the pronoun does so too, because the accusative henne ‘her’ cannot serve as subject. The nominative form is hun, and only then can the pronoun serve as a subject:

Harry har hun kysset.	She has kissed Harry.
	(Lit. Harry she has kissed.)

In this example, the personal pronoun hun is in the nominative. It cannot serve as object. Therefore, hun must be the subject of the sentence, in this case the person doing the kissing. (The word order also indicates this; the object is not usually found in the position between finite and non-finite verb.) Consequently, Harry must be the person being kissed, in this example.

4.2.2 The actual forms

The personal pronouns of Norwegian are:

	Nominative	Accusative
Singular
1.	jeg	meg
	I	me
2.	du	deg
	you	you
3. Masculine	han	han/ham
	he	him
3. Feminine	hun	henne
	she	her
3. Masculine/Feminine	den	den
	it	it
3. Neuter	det	det
	it	it
Plural
1.	vi	oss
	we	us
2.	dere	dere
	you	you
3.	de	dem
	they	them

4.2.2.1

Pronouns are even more frequent in the spoken language than in written text. There are many differences between speech and writing when it comes to pronouns.

In the written language, shown in the table, the personal pronouns differentiate for case, with a couple of exceptions. First, the second person plural pronoun dere does not differentiate for case. It may thus be compared with the English ‘you’ (even if that pronoun does not show number either; dere is clearly plural).

Note – In the spoken language, most speakers do not have case inflection in the third person plural and the third person singular masculine, and some have no case inflection in the first person plural, some none in the second person singular. It is thus in the first person singular that the case distinction is most solidly anchored.

In the spoken language, a number of pronouns may sound rather differently. For example, instead of han, one may hear ’n; instead of hun, one may hear ’a, and instead of du, we may hear ’u:

Nå kommer’n!	Here he comes!
Nå kommer’a!	Here she comes!
Nå slutter’u!	Now you quit!

4.2.2.2

Personal pronouns can be followed by a relative clause or a prepositional phrase, and this may be more common in Norwegian than in English:

• Hun som står der, er Norges statsminister.
  She who is standing there, is the Norwegian Prime Minister.
• Spør han med den rutete skjorta.
  Ask him with the checquered shirt.
• Tenk på henne som løste det ondes problem.
  Think of her who solved the problem of evil.

Especially in the spoken language, duplication of pronouns (10.9.5) is not uncommon:

Jeg tar litt mer kaffe, jeg.

Lit. I’ll have a bit more coffee, I.

4.2.3 Polite pronoun?

Traditionally, there has been a polite pronoun De – nominative De, accusative Dem, identical to the third person plural (as in German):

• Vil De ikke ha en kopp kaffe?
  Would you not like a cup of coffee?
• Kan jeg be Dem komme fram og ta imot medaljen?
  Can I ask you to step forward and receive the medal?

This pronoun is, however, not part of normal usage today. Some Norwegians may even react negatively – feeling that the use of De by the other party implies either an undesirable social distance or that the addressee is so old as to be antiquated.

In official correspondence, De is also seldom used these days, but it is not quite so stylistically ‘marked’:

• Vi viser til Deres brev av 5. mai.
  We refer to your letter dated May 5.

In newspapers, magazines and advertisements, one could find De well into the 1970s.

4.2.3.1 Other forms of address

It is possible to address adults (especially men), using their family name:

• Kan du se på dette, Kristoffersen?
• Can you have a look at this, Kristoffersen?

These days, this has an air of ‘buddies’ talk’.

4.2.4 Notes on each pronoun and usage

4.2.4.1 Jeg ‘I’

This pronoun is used to refer to the speaker. It inflects for case (nominative jeg, accusative meg).

• Jeg vil bli konge, keiser. [Ibsen, Peer Gynt]
  I want to become king, emperor.
• Jeg elsker Carmen, Carmen elsker meg.
  I love Carmen, Carmen loves me.
• Hvorfor er alle så sinte på meg som sa sannheten?
  Why is everybody so mad at me who spoke the truth?

Note 1 – In written non-fiction, it is more common to use jeg in Norwegian than it is to use ‘I’ in English.

Note 2 – Notice the idiomatic expression meg bekjent, ‘as far as I know’.

4.2.4.2 Du ‘you’

This pronoun is used to refer to the other party in a dialogue. It inflects for case (nominative du, accusative deg). While English ‘you’ may be used for a single addressee or a crowd alike, Norwegian du is restricted to one addressee; if there are many, dere is used (cf. 4.2.4.8).

• Hva skal du bli når du blir stor?
  What do you want to be when you grow up?

Hva synes du, Ingebjørg?	What do you think, Ingebjørg?
Nå skal jeg vise deg noe.	Now I shall show you something.

Note 1 – In speech and informal writing, du may also be used with the same meaning as man ‘one, they’:

• Det er ikke uvanlig å bli deprimert når du mister ektefellen.
  It is not unusual to be depressed when you lose your spouse.

Perhaps this use of du in part reflects English influence, since man is more traditional in the written language. See 4.7 on indefinite pronouns.

Note 2 – Du der ‘you there’ may be used to address – rather bluntly – somebody the speaker does not know, especially if they are up to no good:

• Hei, du der! Slutt å plage den stakkars hunden!
  Hey you there! Stop pestering the poor dog!

Note 3 – Du da (lit. ‘you then’) may be used to address somebody the speaker does know, especially with a certain emotional load (endearment or irritation):

• Du da … Du trengte da ikke kjøpe en ny Porsche til meg.
  Oh you … You did not have to buy me a new Porsche.
• Du da … Du kan bare tie stille.
  Oh you … You can just keep quiet.

Note 4 – Notice the case in the idiomatic expressions Du godeste, ‘My goodness’; Kjære deg, ‘Dear you’. Notice also that Norwegian uses the possessive in Din tosk, ‘You fool’, and similar expressions, cf. 4.2.4.10 (c).

4.2.4.3 Han ‘he’

The pronoun han is used:

1. (a) To refer to male persons
   • Der kommer Rolf. Han er travel.
     There comes Rolf. He is busy.
   • Joseph blir sjokkert av det Orson forteller ham.
     Joseph is horrified by what Orson tells him.
   • Legen min sa jeg burde drikke mindre, og han sa jeg burde trimme mer.
     My doctor told me to drink less, and he said I should exercise more.

While the personal names in the first two examples indicate that reference would be made with han, the third example is different. Rolf and Joseph will refer to males by the conventions for Norwegian first names, while legen min can refer to a person of either sex. It is thus the sex of the doctor in question that makes the speaker use han in the third example.

1. (b) To refer to higher animals that are male:
   • Hva heter hunden din? Han heter Buster.
     What is your dog called? He is called Buster.
   • Her er et bilde av isbjørnen Knut, som var veldig populær i Tyskland, idet han spiser frokost.
     Here is a picture of the polar bear Knut, who was very popular in Germany, as he is eating breakfast.

In these examples, han is practically obligatory. The reason does not only have to do with the animals being ‘higher’, but also with familiarity. If somebody has never seen the dog Buster before, they might reasonably ask:

Hva heter den?

What is it called?

The dog’s owner, however, is unlikely to answer using den. Similarly, the example involving the polar-bear Knut above may be contrasted with the following:

• Dette er bilde av en isbjørnhann idet den angriper teltet til to turister.
  This is a picture of a male polar bear as it attacks the tent of two tourists.

When animals are less domesticated or ‘lower’ down the scale, den will be more normal. It would be strange to refer to the once familiar polar bear Knut with den, and it would be strange to refer to the unfamiliar aggressive polar bear with han. The fact that the attacking bear is referred to with an indefinite noun phrase, and thus is unfamiliar, is also relevant.

1. (c) Allegedly gender-neutral use:

   At least until 1960, it was fairly generally accepted that han could be used as an allegedly gender-neutral pronoun. Compare the following quote:

   • Hvad gagner det et menneske om han vinner den hele verden, men tar skade på sin sjel?
     For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Matthew 16, 26; 1930 version)

   The Norwegian word menneske is inherently sex-neutral (unlike the English word ‘man’) and has neuter gender, and yet the masculine pronoun was chosen. Already in the 1978 version, however, we find:

   • Hva gagner det et menneske om det vinner hele verden, men taper sin sjel?

   The allegedly ‘neutral’ use of han is probably best avoided today. However, this poses a problem, inasmuch as Norwegians do not like to use the neuter pronoun about a specific human being. To say det ‘it’ about an adult may (if not in the biblical example above) almost seem offensive. See further 4.7 on ‘evasion’, and 1.2.4.1.

   Han can also be used as a determiner, cf. 4.3.2.5 below.

   Note – In North Norway, han can also be used with meteorological verbs, the way det is used in the rest of the country, cf. 4.2.4.6, 3.

4.2.4.4 Hun ‘she’

This pronoun inflects for case (nominative hun, accusative henne). It is used to refer to:

1. (a) Female persons
   • Kjersti er en god kollega. Hun er omtenksom og vennlig.
     Kjersti is a good colleague. She is considerate and friendly.
   • Eldbjørg har vært på hytta. Det var fint for henne.
     Eldbjørg has been to the cabin. That was nice for her.
   • Har du sett sjefen i dag? Nei, hun er sjuk.
     Have you seen the boss today? No, she is ill.

The third example differs from the previous two. Any Norwegian will know that the first names Kjersti and Eldbjørg refer to females; by contrast, sjefen can refer to a person of either sex.

1. (b) Female higher animals
   • Katta vår er kanskje vakker, men hun er ikke så snill.
     Our cat may be beautiful, but she is not so well-behaved.

In this case, an alternative may be den, cf. 4.2.4.3(b), 4.2.4.5.

Note 1 – In the usage of some authors, boats and ships are also referred to with hun.

Note 2 – In the speech of many Norwegians, the division of labour between han, hun and den is different than in Bokmål. We may use Nynorsk (the other written standard of Norwegian, cf. the Introduction to this book), to represent these dialects. In Nynorsk, han and ho (= hun) are used to refer to entities of the masculine gender and feminine gender respectively, be they animate or inanimate. In other words, den is not used as a personal pronoun. Han can be used to refer both to a father and to a chair (faren, stolen), ho can be used to refer to both a mother and a book (mora, boka).

Hun can also be used as a determiner, cf. 4.3.2.5 below.

Note 3 – Recently, some language reformers have suggested introducing an additional personal pronoun to be used without reference to gender, e.g. hen; this pronoun has become fairly common in Swedish. In Norwegian, this suggestion has not gained much ground so far, but it remains to be seen how this will develop. (Some also wish to reserve hen for trans-persons.)

4.2.4.5 Den ‘it’

Den does not inflect for case. Both den and det can be used as inanimate pronouns in the third person singular (just as English ‘it’); what distinguishes them is gender. Den is common (masculine and feminine), det is neuter.

Den is used as a pronoun:

1. (a) To refer to animals, especially lower or unfamiliar ones, and non-animates of non-neuter gender
   • Bildet viser en blåhval idet den svømmer forbi skipet.
     The picture shows a blue whale as it passes our boat.

   Se på den!	Look at it.
   Turistene elsker den.	The tourists love it.

   • Her står farfars gamle stol. Den er faktisk ganske stygg.
     Here is granddad’s old chair. It is actually rather ugly.
   • Likte du ikke Sniffs nye roman? Nei, jeg mislikte den faktisk.
     Didn’t you enjoy Snoopy’s new novel? No, I disliked it, actually.
2. (b) To refer to a person of unspecified sex

   This is only found when the person is defined further, typically in a relative clause. In English, a possible translation will often involve using the plural:

   • Den som tror at nordmenn er født med ski på beina, kjenner nok ikke så mange nordmenn.
     Those (lit. the one) who think that Norwegians are born with skis on their feet, probably do not know many Norwegians.
   • Den som har visjoner, bør oppsøke lege.
     Those (lit. the one) who have visions should consult a doctor.
3. (c) In exclamations, den can be followed by a relative clause to indicate a wish:

   Å, den som var på hytta nå.	Oh, I wish I were at the cabin now.
   Å, den som var i England …	Oh, to be in England …

   Note – Informally, one may also use den to refer to specific ideas, suggestions, questions:

   Den var ikke dum!

   That is not a stupid idea.

There are other uses of den, but they can be classified as determinative uses; see 4.3.1. and 4.3.2.1 below.

4.2.4.6 Det ‘it’

The pronoun det ‘it, that’ is used in a variety of functions. While most often translated by English ‘it’, det has an even broader meaning. It can also be translated by ‘there’, ‘that’ or ‘so’:

• Dette huset kjøpte vi i fjor. Det ligger ved sjøen.
  This house we bought last year. It is close to the sea.
• Nå er vi framme. Det var godt å høre!
  Now we are there. That is good to hear!
• Det dyrkes ikke hvitløk på Romerike.
  They do not grow [Lit. It is not grown] garlic on Romerike.
• Han er vanskelig, og det er hun også.
  He is difficult, and so is she.
• Det var få restauranter i Sandnes i 1965.
  There were few restaurants in Sandnes in 1965.

Det ‘it’ can be used as a pronoun:

1. 1) To refer to a non-animate, typically expressed by a preceding noun phrase, of neuter gender:
   • Der står huset vårt. Er det ikke fint?
     There is our house. Isn’t it nice?
   • Bordet står på låven. Det skal kastes.
     The table is in the barn. It will be thrown away.

   Note – If the preceding neuter noun denotes a human being, Norwegians tend to avoid the personal pronoun det. See 4.7.2.

2. 2) To refer to a phrase or clause that in itself is genderless:
   • Å være eller ikke, det er spørsmålet.
     To be or not to be, that is the question.
   • At du kunne ro så langt, det hadde jeg aldri trodd.
     That you could row so far, that I would never have thought.

   In 1) and 2), det may be said to refer to or represent a noun phrase (or something similar); in other words, det is used pronominally. Also, in 1 and 2, det may potentially be stressed.

   However, there are a number of pronominal usages of det where this does not hold true. In types 3–6 below, there is no noun or noun phrase that could replace det, and to stress the pronoun would sound strange. This is where we talk of ‘formal subjects’, cf. also 10.3.2.

3. 3) With meteorological verbs and some other verbs of perception:

   Det snør ute.	It is snowing outside.
   Det lysnet i skogen.	It got lighter in the forest.
   Det bråker så fælt her.	It is so noisy here.
   Det lukter av osten.	Lit. It smells of the cheese; The cheese stinks.

4. 4) Preceding an infinitive construction or an at-clause:

   Det er moro å arbeide.

   It is fun to work.

   • Det var fint at du kunne komme.
     It was good that you could come.

   In such cases, the potential subject å arbeide may be turned into a real subject:

   Å arbeide er moro.	To work is fun.
   At du kunne komme, det var fint.	That you could come, was fine.

   Especially the second example is rather formal; infinitives and at-clauses as subjects are often ‘copied’, using det, ‘it’ (especially in the spoken language):

   Å arbeide, det er moro.

   To work, that is fun.

   • At du kunne komme, det var fint.
     That you could come, that was fine.
5. 5) In cleft sentences (cf. 10.3.2.4):
   • Det var butleren som drepte lorden.
     It was the butler who killed the lord.
   • Det var i biblioteket (som/at) liket ble funnet.
     It was in the library (that) the body was found.
6. 6) In existential sentences, where English uses ‘there’:
   • Det er mange sauer på New Zealand.
     There are many sheep in New Zealand.
   • Det satt to katter på et bord.
     There were two cats sitting on a table.
   • Det vokser et tre i Brooklyn.
     A tree grows in Brooklyn (novel by Betty Smith)

   In existential sentences (cf. 10.3.2.2, 10.7.3.4), det is often considered a mere place-holder. It cannot be replaced by a noun, and it cannot be stressed. The third example illustrates the fact that Norwegians do not like an indefinite subject sentence-initially.

   In 1) – 3) and 5), Norwegian det can be translated into English ‘it’. In type 6, by contrast, English uses ‘there’. So does Danish, and some Norwegian dialects. Because of the Danish tradition that has influenced Bokmål (cf. the Introduction), der is not ruled out in such existential sentences:

   • Der er en lykke i livet som ikke kan vendes til lede.
     There is a joy in life that cannot be turned to grief. [A. Øverland]

   However, the use of der in these sentences is becoming rare in Bokmål.

7. 7) To refer back to some non-neuter noun phrases:

   Akevitt, det er tingen!	Aquavit, that’s the thing!
   Pannekaker, det er sunt.	Pancakes are good for you.

   In these examples, the antecedent noun (phrase) does not have neuter gender, but det indicates that the semantics of the noun is mass-like. (Compare adjective agreement, 2.2.6.)

   In fact, one can refer back to noun phrases of any gender and number with det if they do not have a specific referent (and thus typically are indefinite), and particularly if they are not the subject:

   • Jeg trenger en hammer og ei sag. Det kan du få låne av meg.
     I need a hammer and a saw. Lit. That you can borrow from me. You can borrow that from me.
   • Vi hadde en terrier den gangen. Det har vi ikke nå.
     We had a terrier back then. Lit. That we do not have now. We do not have it now.

   Notice the difference between det and other pronouns in such examples:

   • Vi hadde en terrier den gangen. Den har vi ikke nå.
     We had a terrier back then. Lit. That (same terrier) we do not have now. We do not have that one now.
   • Batman har en søt kjæreste. Det vil Robin også ha.
     Batman has a cute girlfriend. Lit. That Robin wants too (i.e. a cute girlfriend). Robin wants one too.
   • Batman har en søt kjæreste. Henne vil Robin ha.
     Batman has a cute girlfriend. Lit. Her Robin wants (i.e. Batman’s girlfriend). Robin wants her.
8. 8) In impersonal passives (see 5.6.1.1 (c)):

   Det arbeides mye.	A lot of work is going on.
   Det blir oppført et nytt bygg.	A new building is being erected.
   Det dyrkes ikke hvitløk i Nes.	Garlic is not grown in Nes.
   	(place-name)

9. 9) Occasionally where it translates into English as ‘so’:

   Du mener det?	You think so?
   La oss håpe det.	Let’s hope so.

   This is particularly in combination with the words også, òg (and med), meaning ‘too’:

   • Vi dummet oss ut, men det gjorde de også,
     We made fools of ourselves, but (then) so did they too.
   • Hun er pen, og det er han òg.
     She is good-looking, and so is he.
10. 10) In examples with a copula, det may serve as subject and refer to a person or thing identified by the subject complement.

    Det er kona mi.	That is my wife.
    Det er boka di.	That is your book.

11. 11) To refer back to a verb phrase:
    • Harry ville drikke mer, men Hermine ville ikke det.
      Harry wanted to drink more, but Hermione did not want that (i.e. to drink more).
    • Du bør gå, og det straks.
      You had better leave, and that (i.e. your going) right now.
    • La oss gå hjem. Hvorfor det?
      Let’s go home. Why (Why so)?
12. 12) To refer back to an adjective phrase:
    • Hermine er skoleflink, men det er ikke Ronny.
      Hermione is good at school, but Ronny is not [lit. it].
    • Vennlig og snill, det er han ikke.
      Friendly and kind, [it/that] he is not.

There are other uses of det, but they can be classified as determinative uses, see 4.3 below.

4.2.4.7 Vi ‘we’

Like its English equivalent, this pronoun usually refers to the speaker and a number of others, including or excluding the addressee. Vi inflects for case (compare vi – oss). As with the other pronouns, the accusative case is used when the pronoun is governed by a preposition or when it is object; see also 4.2.4.10.

Skal vi gå?

Shall we go?

• Vi er fra politiet; la oss komme fram.
  We are from the police; let us through. (excluding the addressee)
• La oss komme oss ut herfra.
  Let’s get out of here. (including the addressee)

Note 1 – In journalese, vi can mean ‘the reporter (on behalf of the newspaper and its readers)’; this usage is less common these days.

Note 2 – Vi can be used as a form of address.

Hvordan har vi det i dag?	How are we (you) today?
Har vi sovet godt?	Did we (you) sleep well?

This is an almost stereotypical nurse – patient interaction, and may be perceived as a little patronising.

Note 3 – Note the fixed expressions oss imellom ‘between you and me’; oss bekjent ‘as far as we know’.

Like many other personal pronouns, vi can also be used as determiner, cf. 4.3.2.4.

4.2.4.8 Dere ‘you (pl.)’

Dere is clearly plural (unlike English ‘you’, which may be either singular or plural; dere may thus be compared with American ‘you guys’). Dere does not inflect for case.

Vil dere ha en kopp til?	Would you like another cup?
Vi tenker på dere.	We think of you.

Like many other pronouns, dere can be used as a determiner, cf. 4.3.2.4.

4.2.4.9 De ‘they’

This pronoun is used to refer to a plurality of participants irrespective of gender who are not present in the speech situation. De inflects for case (nominative de, accusative dem). The case distinction is rarer in the spoken language.

De ser på henne.	They look at her.
Hun ser på dem.	She looks at them.
Hun gav dem en tankevekker.	She gave them food for thought.

The personal pronouns in the first and second person normally refer to animates (since non-animates are unlikely to participate in the speech situation); the third person pronoun, by contrast, often refers to non-animates:

• Hvor er brillene mine? De ligger under avisa.
  Where are my glasses? They are under the newspaper.
• Veiene på Vestlandet, de har da blitt mye bedre?
  The roads in West Norway, they have improved (haven’t they)?

De can also be used as a determiner, cf. 4.3.2.4.

Note 1 – In speech and informal writing, de may be used with the same meaning as man ‘one, they’ (see also 4.7.2):

• De burde aldri ha lagt ned natt-toget til Stockholm.
  They should never have withdrawn the night train to Stockholm./
  The night train to Stockholm should never have been withdrawn.

Note 2 – De can also be used to refer back to a collective noun, even though this noun grammatically is in the singular. In the following example, the singular pronoun det (which may seem grammatically correct) would be very unlikely:

• Politiet er nokså sikre, men de har ennå ikke sagt noe.
  The police are fairly sure, but they have said nothing as yet.

4.2.4.10 Choice of case

The nominative is the case of the subject; the accusative is the case of the object (direct or indirect) and of other ‘dependents’, as when the pronoun is governed by a preposition (see also 4.2.1). Compare:

Jeg kjente henne igjen.	I recognised her.
Hun kjente meg ikke igjen.	She did not recognise me.
Hun så på meg.	She looked at me.

The nominative is also used as a ‘vocative’, i.e. to address others:

Kom, du, så går vi oss en tur.	Come, let’s go for a walk.
	(Come on, you…)

While this is the main rule and very much like English, the choice of case is not always as straightforward as this.

Subject complements might perhaps be expected to occur in the nominative. As in English, however, they are normally in the accusative:

Hvem er det? Det er meg!

Who is it? It is me!

• Hvis du var meg, hadde du da sagt ja?
  If you were me, would you then say yes?

Using the nominative here is not common in written Bokmål. Some speakers will find it stilted or affected.

1. (a) In ‘cleft sentences’ (cf. 10.3.2.4), where a subject has been ‘split’, the nominative is recommended and common:
   • Det var du som sa at månen er en grønn ost.
     It was you who said that the moon is made of (lit. is a) green cheese.
   • Compare:
     Hvem sa at månen var en grønn ost? Det var deg.
     Who said the moon is made of (lit. is a) green cheese? You did.
   • Det var han som gravde opp Osebergskipet.
     He was the one (lit. it was he) who excavated the Oseberg Ship.
     (Compare: Det var ham.)

Note – The accusative form can also be found in such examples, but this is traditionally considered wrong:

• Tenk om det var deg som gikk barbeint i snøen.
  Imagine it was you walking bare-foot in the snow.

1. (b) In emphatic, isolated use, English pronouns occur in the accusative, Norwegian in the nominative

   Me, worried?	cf.	Bekymret, jeg?
   Him, a murderer?		Morder, han?

2. (c) In certain exclamations where English has an accusative pronoun, Norwegian uses a possessive:

   Oh, you fool!	Å, (du) din tosk!
   Oh, you smart-alec!	Å, (du) din luring!
   Oh, I am a fool!	Å, jeg mitt naut! [Lit. my cow/ox]

   This usage is restricted to the first and second person singular. In the first person (as in the third example above), Norwegians use a personal pronoun in the nominative in addition to the possessive.

3. (d) In certain fixed cases of exclamations where English uses a possessive, Norwegian uses a personal pronoun in the nominative:

   My goodness!	Du godeste!
   Good grief!	Du storeste!/Du store!

   The fixed character of Du godeste, Du storeste is also shown in that the adjective inflection is not the one we normally find for god, stor (which would be beste, største, respectively (cf. Adjectives 2.5.4.1, 2.5.3).

4. (e) In certain (almost fixed) cases of address, Norwegian uses a personal pronoun in the accusative:

   Dear you!	Kjære deg!
   Poor you!	Stakkars deg!

   Note – In some cases, Norwegians these days accept the nominative:

   • Vi ser på de/dem som har gått i toget.
     We watch those who have gone in the procession.
   • (Third person plural, much variation, both nominative and accusative are accepted; the nominative is spreading.)

   After enn ‘than’, som ‘as’, the accusative is common:

   Hun er flinkere enn meg.	She is more gifted than I am.
   Vi er like smarte som dem.	We are as smart as they are.

4.3 Determiners

4.3.1 Pronoun or determiner?

The words den, det and de do not only have pronominal uses; they can also be used as determiners (see also 2.3.3.1):

• Den gamle favorittstolen til farfar var faktisk ganske stygg.
  The favourite old chair of granddad’s was actually quite ugly.
• Kaptein Ahab var besatt av den hvite hvalen.
  Captain Ahab was obsessed with the white whale.
• De mest innbitte skientusiastene håper at det fine været skal vare til påskeferien.
  The most ardent skiing enthusiasts hope that the fine weather will last until the Easter vacation.

There is no noun that can replace den, det, de in the examples above; they do not function ‘pro noun’. The third person plural de is telling. As a pronoun, it inflects for case (cf. 4.2.4.9); there is, for example, a contrast between de and dem in:

• De tenker på oss, og vi tenker på dem.
  They think of us, and we think of them.

However, consider the following examples:

• De store hvalene lurte hvalfangerne.
  The big whales outsmarted the whalers.
• Hvalfangerne stirret på de store hvalene.
  The whalers stared at the big whales.

There is no case inflection of de when the word is used determinatively. When used in this way, de does not stand in for any noun. This is one reason why NRG operates with a word-class called ‘determiners’.

However, the distinction between pronouns and determiners is subtle. In fact, de, den and det are not alone in showing the ‘dual usage’ illustrated above. A number of other words can also be used either as a determiner or as a pronoun, e.g. en ‘one’, alle ‘all’:

• Jeg kjenner en lærer. I know a teacher.
• determinative
• Jeg kjenner en som har gått Birkebeineren siden 1970.
• pronoun
• I know one (person) who has done the Birkebeiner Race since 1970.
• Alle mennesker behøver en god bok iblant.
  determinative
  Everyone needs a good book sometimes.
• Alle behøver en god bok iblant.
  pronoun
  Everyone needs a good book sometimes.

In short, pronouns and determiners overlap. In this grammar, they are not treated as separate word classes; they appear in the same chapter and are seen as different uses of (the same) words.

4.3.2 Determinative use of third person pronouns

4.3.2.1 Den

1. (a) Den can be used determinatively (preceding a non-neuter noun phrase of common gender):
   • Dette er den fineste hoppbakken i verden.
     This is the finest ski-jumping hill in the world.
   • Oppe på loftet fant hun den gamle anorakken.
     Up in the attic she found the old anorak.
   • På den herregården var det et lite museum.
     At that manor house there was a small museum.

   Den as determiner has partly the same function as the suffixes –en, –a, and they are traditionally called ‘front’ and ‘end’ articles, or, in Norwegian, bestemt foranstilt artikkel respectively bestemt etterhengt artikkel.

2. (b) Normally, the noun following den will be definite:

   Den grøten var god!

   That porridge was delicious!

   • Den mannen som står der borte, er broren min.
     That man standing over there is my brother.
   • Hun tenkte tilbake på den tida med glede.
     She thought back on that period with pleasure.

   However, in literary written language one can find quite a few examples of den followed by an indefinite noun:

   • I den natt da han ble forrådt, …
     On the same night in which he was betrayed, … (I Corinthians 11:23)

   Det er den eneste glede.

   That is the only joy.

   Also in a large number of set expressions, such as:

   for den saks skyld …	If it comes to that …
   for den del
   noe i den dur	something similar (colloquial)
   Den røde plass	Red Square (in Moscow)
   Den forbudte by	The Forbidden City (in Beijing)

   If the noun phrase beginning with den contains an adjective (or is followed by a relative clause), an indefinite noun is also slightly more frequent. Thus, den hopper ‘the jumper’ is unlikely, but den tyske hopper ‘the German jumper’ is slightly more frequent, even if den tyske hopperen is by far the most common. (See also 2.3.4.1.)

   Note 1 – A standard way of beginning jokes involves the use of den ‘the one’:

   • Har du hørt den om dansken, svensken og nordmannen som skulle svømme om kapp over Atlanterhavet?
     Did you hear the one about the Dane, the Swede and the Norwegian who were to compete in swimming across the Atlantic?

   Note 2 – Noun phrases consisting only of a determiner den and a noun are rather rare. Thus, den mannen ‘the/that man’, den tida ‘the/that time’ are rare, but they can be used to signal that the speaker and the addressee are in a close relationship and share a lot of knowledge, and that the speaker is trying to remind the addressee of this: Den mannen, hva skjedde med ham? ‘That man, what happened to him?’ Alternatively, den tida, etc. can be used for emphasis and contrast: På den tida inntraff de første istidene, ‘At that period, the great ice ages occurred’. In that case, there is stress on the determiner.

   Unlike English, Norwegian does not need an ‘extra’ word after the adjective in such examples as the following (see also 2.4.1.1):

   • Hvilken kjole liker du best, den blå eller den grønne?
     Which dress do you prefer, the blue one or the green one?
   • Ikke før hadde hun vist ut en bråkmaker, så kom den neste.
     No sooner had she expelled one trouble-maker than the next one turned up.

4.3.2.2 Det

1. (a) Just like den, det can be used determinatively. It will then usually precede a noun (a noun phrase) of neuter gender:
   • Der borte står det gamle huset hun vokste opp i.
     Over there is the old house in which she grew up.
   • Det sorgløse livet vi drømte om, finnes ikke.
     The carefree life we dreamt of does not exist.

   Det has partly the same function as the suffix –et (cf. 4.3.2.1).

   Normally, the noun following will be in the definite, but not necessarily:

   Det gode liv er en drøm.

   The good life is a dream

   The use of the indefinite noun here is normally rather formal. (See also 2.3.4.) The same rules apply as for den; see 4.3.2.1.

   Note 1 – Noun phrases consisting only of a determiner det and a noun are rather rare: det huset, ‘that house’. They are used in the same way as phrases consisting of den + noun. See 4.3.2.1(c) Note 2.

   Note 2 – Some fixed expressions involve an indefinite noun: Det hvite hus ‘The White House’, det ganske land ‘all the country’, det rene sludder ‘nonsense’. See 2.3.4.1.

   Note 3 – Det may precede an adjective in the definite without a noun following, especially in literary or formal use: det onde, ‘evil’. See 2.4.

2. (c) Det can also precede an at-clause or an infinitive construction:
   • Det å bli kalt populist tar jeg som et kompliment.
     To be called a populist, I take that as a compliment.
   • Det at du tok feil da, betyr ikke nødvendigvis at du har rett nå.
     The fact that you were wrong then does not necessarily mean that you are right now.

4.3.2.3 De

De can be used determinatively, preceding either a noun (phrase) or an adjective:

• Der ser du de bøkene jeg har lett etter.
  There you see those books I’ve been looking for.
• De gamle klassikerne er ofte litt triste.
  The old classics are often rather sad.

When used as a determiner, de does not have an accusative form, cf. 4.3.1.

4.3.2.4 First and second plural pronouns in determinative use

Vi ‘we’ can marginally be used as a determiner. In such cases, vi retains case inflection (unlike han, hun, de):

• Vi nordmenn er dessverre ikke beskjedne og nøysomme lenger. Sadly, we Norwegians are no longer modest and thrifty.
• Snakker dere om oss nordmenn?
  Are you talking about us Norwegians?

Also dere ‘you (pl.)’ can be used determinatively:

Dere gallere er rare!

You Gauls are strange!

4.3.2.5 Han and hun as determiners

The personal pronouns han and hun are also used determinatively. While this has been frowned upon, traditionally, it seems to be spreading, although it is still informal or colloquial:

• Hva heter hun i Drammen?
  What is the name of her in Drammen?
• Er han snille der borte faren din?
  Is he the kind one over there, your dad?
• Hun legen og han snekkeren.
  She the doctor and he the joiner.

4.3.2.6 Proximal determiners: Denne, dette ‘this’; disse ‘these’

1. (a) These words are used as proximal determiners, and only rarely pronominally; they normally precede a noun (phrase). Denne and dette are used before a noun in the singular, disse before one in the plural. Usually, the noun is in the definite:

   Denne jenta heter Aud.	This girl is called Aud.
   Denne gangen måtte Boris gi opp.	This time, Boris had to give up.
   Dette barnet ble født for tidlig.	This child was born prematurely.
   Disse filmstjernene er de største.	These movie stars are the greatest.

   Both dette and denne agree in grammatical gender with the noun following; dette is used before neuters, denne before non-neuters. (Compare den and det; den is used with non-neuters, 4.3.2.1, det with neuters, 4.3.2.2.) The difference between denne, dette, disse on the one hand and den, det, de on the other is that the former suggest proximity and the latter do not. (Compare the difference between ‘this’, ‘these’ and ‘that’, ‘those’ in English.)

   Denne hunden heter Buster.

   This dog is called Buster.

   This will normally imply that the dog is close to the speaker (physically or mentally). By contrast, such proximity is not implied in the following:

   Den hunden heter Rambo.

   That dog is called Rambo.

   Den is not so clearly proximal. In examples like this, den can be stressed in speech, if contrast is aimed for.

   The same proximity contrast applies for dette – det and disse – de:

   Dette barnet er mitt.	This child is mine.
   Det barnet er ikke mitt.	That child is not mine.
   Disse hundene er snille.	These dogs are kind.
   De hundene er slemme.	Those dogs are mean.

   While English has a contrast between ‘those’ and ‘they’, Norwegian uses de for both.

   Denne (dette) can also indicate closeness in time:

   • Denne helga er kongen og dronningen i Harstad.
     This weekend the king and queen are in Harstad.

   Compare denne uka, ‘this week’ vs. den uka, ‘that week’.

2. (b) It is possible to use an indefinite form of the noun after the determiners denne, dette, disse but, this is somewhat literary and unusual these days. No dog owner will say in a casual conversation denne hund, but, as with den, det, cf. 4.3.2.1 and 4.3.2.2, an adjective or a relative clause increases the possibility of using the noun in the indefinite, as does a formal style:
   • Det var meg en fornøyelse å få dele dette utsøkte måltid med Dem.
     It has been a pleasure for me sharing this exquisite meal with you.
   • Denne forunderlige by som ingen forlater før han har fått merker av den.
     This strange city [viz. Oslo] that nobody leaves before it has marked him (lit. he has been marked by it) – Hamsun

   Å, disse plagede detektiver!

   Oh, those tormented detectives!

3. (c) The last of these three examples also illustrates the ‘emotional load’ that sometimes comes with disse (denne, dette), cf. disse evinnelige forelesningene, ‘those eternal lectures’; dette stadige maset ditt, ‘this continual nagging of yours’.

4.3.2.7

Typically, denne, dette, disse are used as determiners. In formal language, they can also be used as pronouns, however. They will then refer ‘back’ (to the left) in the text:

• Utenriksministeren har hatt flere samtaler med sin russiske kollega Lavrov, og denne har sagt at Russland har et legitimt krav på Krim.
  The foreign minister has had several talks with his/her Russian colleague Lavrov, and the latter (i.e. Lavrov) [lit. this] has said that Russia has a legitimate claim to Crimea.
• Islands statsminister er gått av, og dette kom vel ikke som noen overraskelse.
  The Prime Minister of Iceland has resigned, and this (i.e. the resignation) did not really come as a surprise.

To use denne to refer to persons is much more formal than to use dette to refer to events; the use of dette above can also be found in spoken language.

Compare:

• Islands statsminister er gått av, og det kom vel ikke som noen overraskelse.
  The Prime Minister of Iceland has resigned, and that (i.e. the resignation) did not really come as a surprise.

The sentence with det means practically the same thing as the one with dette, but it is less literary.

Also, disse ‘these’ can be used pronominally in this way, but that is formal and infrequent (even more so than using denne in this way):

• Kongen av Ruritania har vært i kontakt med alle hertugene, og disse har forsikret ham om at de forblir lojale.
  The King of Ruritania has been in touch with all the dukes, and the latter (lit. these) have assured him that they will stay loyal.

Notice, however, that there is also a decidedly less formal use of denne, dette without a following noun in examples like the following, when dette is used directly to point to the cod:

• Her bad vi om god torsk – og så fikk vi dette!
  Here we asked for good cod – and we got this!

4.3.2.8 Atypical uses of denne, dette

Denne can also be used as a determiner in front of a proper name. It will then signal a certain distance:

• Hvem er denne Julie som Romeo mumler om?
  Who is this Juliet that Romeo is mumbling about?

The implication is that the speaker has not heard about Juliet before (so here there is no ‘proximal’ meaning, unlike in 4.3.2.6). The connotation of distance may be quite strong:

• Hva for slags menneske var egentlig denne Himmler?
  What kind of human being was this Himmler, really?

By contrast, the use of den in the following example signals that the speaker knows or has heard about several Camerons, and now is picking out the right specimen:

Å, er det den Cameron?

Oh, it is that Cameron?

Dette can also be used when showing something or even somebody, not necessarily inanimate or of neuter gender:

Dette er kona mi.	This is my wife (Meet my wife).
Dette er god mat.	This is good food (This food is delicious).
Dette må ta slutt.	This has to stop.

4.3.2.9 Other determiners: herre, derre, her, der

In colloquial language, a determiner and a noun may be followed by her, ‘here’ or der, ‘there’, which then function as proximal determiners:

• De øynene der – de minner meg om Bette Davis.
  Those eyes there – they remind me of Bette Davis.
• Dette huset her burde vi aldri ha kjøpt.
  This house here, we should never have bought it.

4.4 Possessives

4.4.1 Introduction

These words include the following:

Non-neuter		Neuter	Plural
min	min/mi	mitt	mine	my (mine)
din	din/di	ditt	dine	your (yours)
hans	hans	hans	hans	his
hennes	hennes	hennes	hennes	her (hers)
dens	dens	dens	dens	its
dets	dets	dets	dets	its
vår	vår	vårt	våre	our, ours
deres	deres	deres	deres	your, yours
deres	deres	deres	dere	their, theirs
sin	sin/si	sitt	sine	his/her/hers/
				its/their/theirs

4.4.1.1

Traditionally, these words are called pronouns. However, they do not inflect for case, unlike the personal pronouns. The possessives also have a different distribution than personal pronouns:

Det er min bil.	That is my car.
Det er bilen min.	That is my car.

No noun can replace min in these examples, so the word does not serve ‘pro noun’, cf. 4.1.

The possessives min, din, sin, vår inflect for gender and number; personal pronouns do not.

Det er bilen min.	That is my car.
Det er hytta mi.	That is my cabin.
Det er huset mitt.	That is my house.
Det er bøkene mine.	Those are my books.

4.4.1.2

Feminine forms such as mi, di, si occur very infrequently in Bokmål (though not in speech). Very few people write mi bok, ‘my book’ or Boka er mi, ‘The book is mine’. However, it is somewhat more frequent to use the special feminine forms mi, di, si immediately following the noun; mi is somewhat more commonly used in boka mi than in mi bok or boka er mi. To write *boka min is wrong; to write boken min is quite all right. Cf. 1.1.2, 1.2.3 on the feminine gender.

4.4.1.3

The third person singular inanimate possessives dens, dets are rare in practice. They are literary – dets even more so than dens. Possession is, after all, typically associated with humans (or institutions), and humans are seldom referred to with det (cf. 4.2.4.3(c), 4.7.2 and 1.2.4.1 Note 1).

The reflexive possessive sin is used to ‘reflect’, to refer to the subject. (Cf also 4.5.1.2–4.5.1.5 on seg.) Other possessives will not usually refer back to the subject.

Compare:

Kari liker sønnen sin.	Kari likes her (own) son.
Kari liker sønnen hennes.	Kari likes her (some other woman’s) son.

• Watson tok forstørrelsesglasset sitt.
  Watson took his (own) magnifying glass.
• Watson tok forstørrelsesglasset hans.
  Watson took his (some other man’s) magnifying glass.
• Gry og Ola klemte sønnene sine.
  Gry and Ola hugged their (own) sons.
• Gry og Ola klemte sønnene deres.
  Gry and Ola hugged their (some other people’s) sons.

Notice, however, that sin may refer back to the ‘logical subject’ of an infinitive:

• Per ba Ola fjerne bilen sin.
  Per asked Ola to move his [Ola’s] car.
• Per ba Ola fjerne bilen hans.
  Per asked Ola to move his (i.e. Per’s) car.

While the possessive sin traditionally has had a reflexive function only (cf. 4.4.1), it has spread in Bokmål in recent years, replacing the traditional –s genitive (see also 1.8.1.7):

Det er Katrine sin bil.	That is Katrine’s car
Det er jentene sine fotballer.	It’s the girls’ footballs

This usage has been frowned upon, but not so much any more. For many Norwegians, –s is not really felt to be an option, at least not in the spoken language, and particularly not with non-human possessors (see 1.8.1.7).

Note also that, with no noun following after a possessive, sin may be used contrastively, even by people who otherwise prefer –s:

• Det er min brors bil, ikke din far sin.
  That is my brother’s car, not your father’s.
  (Din fars is possible here, but less used.)

4.4.1.4

Note that deres covers both the second and the third person plural; it can mean either ‘your/s’ or ‘their/s’.

4.4.2 Preposed vs. postposed possessive

There is a nuance in meaning and style between the construction where the possessive is preposed and that where the possessive is postposed. Thus, there is a difference between huset mitt and mitt hus, even if both translate into English as ‘my house’.

The normal case, especially in the spoken language, is that the possessive is postposed (unlike English).

Vi elsker puslespillene våre.

We love our puzzles.

If the possessive is postposed, the noun will occur in the definite, as above, but if the possessive is preposed, the noun will occur in the indefinite:

Vi elsker våre puslespill.

We love our puzzles.

In the written language, there used to be a preference for a preposed possessive, presumably at least partly because Danish does not accept the construction with a postposed possessive. These days, a preposed possessive may seem literary, but not wrong.

Hytta vår ligger inne i skogen	(normal). Our cabin is in the forest.
Vår hytte ligger inne i skogen.	Our cabin is in the forest.

Out of context a preposed possessive can seem literary, but it is perfectly normal, even preferred, if a contrast is aimed for:

• Deres hytte ligger ved sjøen, mens vår hytte ligger inne i skogen.
• Their cabin is by the sea, while our cabin is in the forest.

Det er min sykkel, ikke din.

That is my bike, and not yours.

In English, there are special emphatic possessives, sometimes described as possessive adjectives, such as ‘yours, mine’:

• No, this one is mine; that one over there is yours.

Norwegian has no such special emphatic possessives:

• Nei, denne er min; den der borte er din.

Note – In the spoken language, a postposed possessive can follow an indefinite noun if that noun denotes a close relative: bror min, ‘my brother’.

4.4.3 Possessives that do not inflect

While the possessives min ‘my’; din ‘your’; sin; vår ‘our’ agree in gender and number with their head noun, the third person possessives hans ‘his’; hennes ‘her’; deres ‘your; their’, by contrast, are not inflected for gender or number of the head noun.

Compare:

• min hund, mitt dyr
  min is used because the noun hund is non-neuter, mitt because the noun dyr is neuter.
• mine hunder, mine dyr
  In both these examples, mine is used because the noun is in the plural. There is no gender distinction in the plural.
• hennes hund, hennes dyr
  hennes does not show any inflectional contrast; it does not matter whether the following noun is neuter or non-neuter, singular or plural.

Hans, hennes, like the English ‘his, her’ point to the ‘logical gender’ of the relevant noun (the possessor):

• Lærerne hennes roste alltid Hermine.
  Her teachers always praised Hermione.
• Dette var ikke hans store dag, tenkte Ronny.
  This was not his finest hour [lit. his big day], Ron thought.
• Legen var veldig sjarmerende, så han spurte om telefonnummeret hennes.
  The doctor was very charming, so he asked for her phone number.

In this example, hennes is used even if the noun lege, ‘doctor’ itself does not indicate a woman. Compare also:

• Cybill Shepherd spilte blondinen – jeg husker ikke hvem som spilte bølla, men jeg husker smilet hans.
  Cybill Shepherd played the blonde – I cannot remember who played the baddie, but I remember his smile.

The noun bølle, ‘baddie’ is (perhaps surprisingly) a feminine, if one has a three-gender system; and yet, in this example, hans must be chosen, because the speaker does remember the male actor, if not his name.

4.4.4 English uses a possessive, Norwegian does not

In some cases where English uses a possessive pronoun, Norwegian does not. For more details, see also 1.11.7. Typical examples include:

1. 1) Nouns denoting body parts and articles of clothing:
   • Jeg har vondt i beinet/hodet.
     I have pain in my leg/head (my leg/head hurts).
   • Han tok av seg genseren.
     He took off his sweater.

   A vernacular way of expressing ‘possession’ with body parts is by using a prepositional construction:

   • Signe tok tak i armen på Tor.
     Signe got hold of Tor’s arm [lit. the arm on Tor].
2. 2) Nouns denoting close relatives:
   • Hun så på broren.
     She looked at [her] brother.
   • Ragnhild og faren kom inn.
     Ragnhild and [her] father came in.
3. 3) ‘Close/personal possession’:
   • Hei, du må ikke glemme veska.
     Hey, don’t (lit. you must not) forget your bag.

Note 1 – Sometimes one finds Anglicisms in translation. Thus, Norwegian cashpoints display the ‘Norwenglish’ text Sett inn ditt kort. The idiomatic Norwegian expression should really be Sett inn bankkortet.

Note 2 – Sometimes, Norwegian uses a possessive pronoun alone where English has to use a longer circumlocution:

Vi har gjort vårt.

We have done our bit (our task).

• Alle bidrar med sitt, og etterpå blir det kaffe og vafler.
  Everybody will contribute with their stuff, and afterwards, there is coffee and waffles.

4.5 Reflexive (and related) pronouns

4.5.1 Reflexive seg

4.5.1.1

If the object refers to the same person or entity as the subject, English can add ‘myself, yourself, himself, herself’, etc. In the first and second person, Norwegian does essentially the same.

I can shave myself, thank you.	Jeg kan barbere meg selv, takk.
You must not cheat yourself.	Du må ikke snyte deg selv.

4.5.1.2

In the third person, however, Norwegian has a pronoun specially designated for reflexive use:

• Han barberte ham.
  He shaved him (= shaved another man.)
• Han barberte seg.
  He shaved (himself). (The reflexive pronoun is not usually translated).

The following examples involve the verb slå, which can mean ‘hit’ or ‘hurt’ among other things:

• Han falt av sykkelen og slo seg.
  He fell off the bike and hurt himself.

In this example, seg refers back to Han (only one person is involved).

• Han bøyde seg fram og slo ham. He leaned over and hit him.

In this example, ham does not refer to the same person as han (two persons are involved).

If we want to express that, unusually, a man has hit himself, we say

Han slo seg selv.

He hit himself.

This may be contrasted with the following example, in which a man hits somebody else, and it is emphasised that the hitter did this on his own:

Han slo ham selv.

He hit him himself.

Selv serves an emphatic purpose here (cf. 4.5.3). The previous example and the one below report the same action, but in the one below there is no particular emphasis on the hitter carrying out the action on his own; this is only stated as a matter of fact:

Han slo ham.

He hit him.

Compare also the contrast between the following:

Romeo elsker bare deg.	Romeo loves only you.
Boris elsker bare seg selv.	Boris only loves himself.

4.5.1.3

Reflexive pronouns cannot be used as subjects; they will usually refer back to the subject:

• Wiltersen meldte seg til tjeneste.
  Weasley reported (himself) available for service.

Note, however, that in a subordinate clause, the reflexive pronoun refers back to the ‘logical subject’, and not necessarily to the grammatical one:

• Wiltersen bad Malfang komme seg vekk og dra dit pepperen gror.
  Weasley asked Malfoy to get lost and go where the pepper grows (i.e. to go to hell).

The ‘logical subject’ of the infinitive komme here is Malfang (although the grammatical subject of the main clause is Wiltersen), so seg refers to Malfang.

Less frequently, seg, typically combined with selv (4.5.3), can refer ‘forwards’:

• Seg selv har han alltid stelt pent med.
  He has always treated himself gently.

The rules for the reflexive vary somewhat in Norwegian dialects, and the rules of Bokmål are sometimes broken.

4.5.1.4

Using seg will often emphasise that the subject is somehow ‘affected’ by the action of the verb. Compare the following:

• Hun fant seg en ny leilighet.
  She found a new apartment for herself (and is affected by it).
• Hun fant en ny leilighet (til oss).
  She found a new apartment (for us) (and she need not be affected).

Kain slo Abel.	Cain hit Abel. (Cain need not be affected.)
Kain slo seg.	Cain hurt himself. (Cain is affected.)

As noted, seg refers back to the subject (grammatical or logical). This means that seg is never used as a subject.

4.5.1.5

When used as a subject complement, seg cannot be used alone; it must be used with the intensifier selv:

• Hun er ikke lenger seg selv.
  She is no longer herself (she has changed).

Note – Fixed expressions with seg include:

• i seg, i og for seg ‘in isolation, per se, strictly’:
• Kortspill kan ikke i seg kalles noen moralsk trussel.
  Card games cannot in themselves be called a moral threat.
• I og for seg er det riktig at Margaret Thatcher ikke var så populær utenom England.
  Strictly speaking, it is right that Margaret Thatcher was not so popular outside of England.

for seg ‘separately’:

• I denne vanskelige saken må hver faktor betraktes for seg.
  In this difficult matter, each factor must be considered separately.

4.5.2 Obligatory reflexive after certain verbs

4.5.2.1

Some verbs require a reflexive pronoun, for example:

skamme seg, ‘be ashamed’; forelske seg, ‘fall in love’; pådra seg (en sykdom), ‘catch (an illness)’

Thus, there is no verb skamme/forelske without a reflexive; it is not possible to skamme/forelske somebody else. See also 5.5.3.

Compare:

Jeg har pådratt meg en lei forkjølelse.	I have caught a nasty cold.
Hun har pådratt seg en lei forkjølelse.	She has caught a nasty cold.

• * Hun har pådratt meg en lei forkjølelse.

4.5.2.2

Even for some verbs where the reflexive is not obligatory, the difference in meaning between a verb with reflexive and the corresponding one without can be quite considerable. Compare:

• snyte seg ‘sneeze, blow one’s nose’ vs. snyte, ‘cheat’
  ha seg ‘enjoy oneself; have sex’ vs. ha, ‘have’
  dra seg, ‘be idle, do nothing’ vs. dra, ‘pull’. Compare also 5.5.3.

4.5.3 Selv ‘self ’

4.5.3.1

Selv (and the less used variant sjøl) translates ‘(it)self, (my)self’ etc. It can be seen as an intensifier; it often makes the meaning more emphatic; it ‘underlines’ the person in question. Compare:

Knytt skolissene dine.

Tie your shoelaces.

and

Knytt skolissene dine selv.

Tie your shoelaces yourself.

Unlike English ‘self’, selv does not inflect for number:

Du kan gjøre jobben selv.

You can do the job yourself.

• De vil bare klage; de vil ikke bidra selv.
  They just want to complain; they do not wish to contribute themselves.

Also when fronted, selv is uninflected:

• Selv kan jeg ikke gjøre noe i denne saken.
  Myself, I cannot do anything in this matter.

Pronouns preceding selv are typically in the accusative:

Du er og blir deg selv.

You are and will be yourself.

Note also that in examples like the one below, English ‘myself’, ‘for myself’ etc. will be worded differently in Norwegian:

For myself, I think that …	Selv mener jeg at …
Jeg for min del/part mener at …	Myself, I think that …

4.5.3.2

When preceding a definite noun, selv can be definite. In such cases, the meaning is rather like English ‘very’:

• Det er selve grunnlaget for rapporten som nå blir trukket i tvil.
  It is the very basis of the report that is now in question.
• Etter tre timers prat kom selve problemet opp.
  After three hours of chatting, the real problem came up.

4.5.3.3

Notice the fixed expressions:

Selveste ‘no less than’:

• Den mannen var selveste paven.
  That man was no less than the pope/the pope himself.

Det sier seg selv ‘that goes without saying’:

• At alle burde lære norsk, sier seg selv.
  It goes without saying that everybody ought to learn Norwegian.

4.5.4 Hverandre ‘each other’

This pronoun is called reciprocal; there is a reciprocity going on in the action:

Bokserne slo hverandre.	The boxers hit each other.
Barna ertet hverandre.	The children teased each other.

The reciprocal pronoun is used more frequently in Norwegian than in English, because English omits ‘each other’ for some ‘naturally reciprocal’ situations:

Romeo and Juliet kissed.	Romeo og Julie kysset hverandre.
They met at the station.	De møtte hverandre på stasjonen.

Hverandre typically serves as object, direct (as in the examples above), or indirect, as in the following:

• Torill og Beate gav hverandre gaver.
  Torill and Beate gave each other presents.

Hverandre can be governed by a preposition:

• Ronny og Harry så på hverandre.
  Ron and Harry looked at each other.

Less frequently, hverandre can be found with inanimates:

• Gassene har nøytralisert hverandre.
  The gases have neutralised each other.

Note – Sometimes, a verb + hverandre can mean roughly the same thing as that verb + the reciprocal verb suffix –s (cf. 5.6.3.1):

De møtte hverandre – De møttes

They met.

Hverandre is a much more common way of expressing reciprocity than is –s, however.

4.6 Quantifiers

As the word indicates, quantifiers specify the quantity of what follows.

4.6.1 Words meaning ‘all’

4.6.1.1 Introduction: All, Alt, Alle ‘all’

These three words usually translate as English ‘all’, but they sometimes translate ‘each’ or ‘every’. The very frequent words alt and alle can be used determinatively or pronominally; the infrequent all can only be used determinatively:

• Alle nordmenn elsker da brunost?
  Surely, all Norwegians love brown cheese?
• Alle tog står på grunn av politisk streik.
  All the trains have stopped because of a ‘political strike’.
• Tønsberg var en liten by der alle kjente alle.
  Tønsberg was a small town where everyone knew everyone.

All mat er god.	All food is good.
(Traditional reproach to children who have complained about the food).

All maten ble spist opp.	All the food was eaten.
Alt bråket har gjort meg lei.	All the noise has made me fed up.
Alt er som det skal.	Everything is as it should be.

If there is another determiner, all/alle/alt will come first (cf. 10.2.2.1(c)):

all den gode maten	all the good food
alle de fine jentene	all those fine girls

Sometimes, alle or alt will be used where English has ‘each/every’. Alle used by itself normally translates as ‘everybody’:

Hvorfor liker alle Angela?

Why does everybody like Angela?

• Butikken er åpen alle dager unntatt søndager.
  The shop is open every day except Sundays.

Note 1 – The fixed expressions alt sammen, alt i hop ‘everything, altogether’; alle sammen ‘all (people) together’; kjære alle sammen, ‘dear all’.

Note 2 – Alle can take a possessive –s, in which case it is mostly used determinatively:

• Det er alles ansvar å skape et godt samfunn.
• It is everybody’s responsibility to create a good society.

Alt and all cannot take a possessive –s.

4.6.1.2 Alle

Pronominal alle typically refers to all people (4.6.1.1). However, if the relevant noun can be inferred from the context, alle may refer to other entities:

• Hvor er det blitt av sauene? De gresser bakom låven, alle sammen.
  Where have the sheep gone? They are all [together] grazing behind the barn.
• Hvorfor er det ingen romaner av Hovland her? Alle er utsolgt.
  Why are there no novels by Hovland here? They are all sold out.

Alle can be followed by a noun in either the definite or the indefinite (plural); there can be a nuance in meaning.

Alle hunder eter kjøtt.	All dogs eat meat.
Alle jentene elsker fotball.	All the girls love football.

The former example with an indefinite noun applies to all dogs in the universe. The latter example with a definite noun is only a statement about all the girls in question. It applies to all members of a subgroup.

If alle is used as subject, the subject complement will be in the plural:

Alle virker sinte.

Everybody seems angry.

4.6.1.3 Alt

Alt will invariably refer to things. It is often used determinatively, preceding neuters:

Alt melet trengs til kakene.	All the flour is needed for the cakes.
Alt håp er ute.	All hope is gone.

• Donald, kjære nevø! Alt ditt er mitt, og alt mitt er mitt.
  Donald, dear nephew! All that is yours is mine, and all that is mine is mine.

However, alt can also be used pronominally, meaning ‘everything’:

• Det var en fin dag; alt gikk bra.
  It was a nice day; everything went well.
• Når alt kommer til alt, …
  (Lit. When everything comes about.) At the end of the day, …

If alt is used as a subject, the subject complement will be in the neuter singular:

Alt føles meningsløst.

Everything feels pointless.

Note that alt can be used even when referring back to a common gender noun if the noun is non-count. (Compare det, 4.2.4.6.)

• Det var ikke noe honning igjen, for Brumm hadde spist opp alt.
  There was no honey left, because Pooh had eaten everything (all of it).

Alt can be followed by a noun in either the definite or the indefinite singular. When it is followed by a noun in the indefinite, we are dealing with a general statement:

Alt øl inneholder vann.

All beer contains water.

When followed by a noun in the definite, reference is made to a subgroup (cf. 4.6.1.2):

Alt ølet vi hadde, er borte

All the beer we had is gone.

Note – Allting ‘everything’ can often be used as a synonym for alt, but allting is informal.

Alt/Allting er bra.

Everything is fine.

However, allting is never followed by a noun, alt often is.

4.6.1.4 All

All used with a (feminine or masculine) count noun will often correspond to English ‘every’:

• Du har all grunn til å være trist.
  You have every reason to be sad.

4.6.1.5 Samtlige ‘all, all of’

Unlike alle, samtlige is very formal. It is only followed by nouns in the indefinite plural.

• Statsministeren har innkalt samtlige statsråder til et hastemøte.
  The Prime Minister has called all ministers to an urgent meeting.
• Samtlige fantastiske romaner vil bli inndratt.
  All fantasy novels will be confiscated.

This word is rarely used as a pronoun.

4.6.1.6 Hele ‘all’, ’the whole’, ‘the entire’

Hele can be used as a determiner, normally followed by a noun in the definite singular.

• Hele dagen satt Langbein og tenkte.
• All day Goofy sat pondering.

Hele familien var i full sving.	All the family was in full swing.
Han sølte øl over hele meg.	He spilled beer all over me.

4.6.2 Words meaning ‘many, much’

The central words here are mange, ‘many’ and mye, ‘much’. Mye is used before non-count nouns, mange before count nouns. Both can be used both pronominally and determinatively (Compare noen and noe, 4.6.3.).

4.6.2.1 Mye ’much, a lot of’

1. (a) Mye is used before mass nouns:
   • Det er mye trøst i en hund.
     There is great consolation in a dog.
   • Det var ikke mye vann igjen i brønnen.
     There was not much water left in the well.

   Mye can also be used in front of a normally countable noun when that noun is used as if it were a non-count noun:

   • Cairn terrier er mye hund i en liten kropp.
     The Cairn Terrier is a lot of dog in a little body.

   Note – In informal language, mye can also occur before countables:

   • Der det er mye jenter, er det også mye gutter.
     Where there are many [lit. much] girls, there will also be many [lit. much] boys.
2. (b) Mye can be used in front of adjectives in the neuter, and unlike English, Norwegian need not add a following word:
   • Det er mye godt å si om ham.
     There are many good things [lit. much good] to say of him.
   • Mor mi har opplevd mye trist.
     My mother has experienced a lot that is sad. [lit. much sad]
3. (c) Mye can also be used alone (pronominally), similarly to English ‘a lot’:
   • Her er det mye jeg har lyst til å si.
     There are many things [lit. much] I’d like to say here.
   • Mye taler for at regjeringen må gå.
     Many things [lit. much] indicate that the cabinet will have to step down.

4.6.2.2 Mange ‘many’

1. (a) As its meaning indicates, mange is used before count nouns in the plural:
   • Mange nordmenn går på ski i påska.
     Many Norwegians go skiing at Easter.
   • Dette har hendt mange ganger.
     This has happened many times.

   If a normally uncountable noun is treated as a countable, mange can precede it:

   • Det er mange øl som passer til pinnekjøtt.
     There are many beers [i.e. kinds of beer] that go well with dried mutton rib.
2. (b) Mange can also be used before an adjective only, which will then be in the plural. Normally, the reference will be to people:
   • Dette gjorde mange unge frustrert.
     This made many young (people) frustrated.
3. (c) Mange can also be used as a pronoun, usually referring to people:
   • Mange sier at Voldemort er underveis.
     Many (people) say that Voldemort is on the move/coming.

   Mange, whether alone or before an adjective only, can also refer to inanimates, if the noun is easily accessible from the context:

   • Veit du om noen hus som er til salgs nå? Ja, mange. Mange dyre og noen billige.
     Do you know any houses that are up for sale now? Yes, a lot. Many expensive ones and some cheap ones.
4. (d) Manges is only found determinatively in set phrases:

   etter manges mening

   in the opinion of many

4.6.2.3 (En) masse ‘lots of’

(En) masse is found primarily in front of non-count nouns and countable inanimate nouns. It is colloquial, especially without the determiner en:

Lammet har (en) masse ull.	The sheep has plenty of wool.
Skrue har (en) masse eiendommer.	Scrooge has lots of properties.

One can occasionally also find masse in front of countable animates:

• Plutselig kommer (en) masse gutter løpende inn.
  Suddenly, a lot of boys come running in.

4.6.3 Noen, noe ‘some, somebody; any, anybody’

4.6.3.1 Usage and inflection of noen, etc

1. (a) These words can be used both determinatively and pronominally. With a determinative function, noen is used both with nouns in the singular and plural, noe normally only with non-count nouns in the singular. Like ingen (4.6.6.2), noen does not usually combine with a neuter in the singular. Noen and noe do not inflect for case, but for gender; noe can be considered the neuter of noen. Compare:

   Det er ikke noe fly.	That is no plane (neuter).
   Det er ikke noen fugl.	That is no bird (common gender)

   The relation between noen and noe is complicated, however. In isolation, they will be interpreted as animate and inanimate respectively:

   Det er noen utenfor.	There is somebody outside.
   Det er noe utenfor.	There is something outside.

2. (b) When used as a determiner, noen is typically used with count nouns in the plural:
   • Da kom det noen gale vitenskapsmenn.
     Then some mad scientists appeared.
   • Noen ganger skremmer du meg faktisk.
     Sometimes you actually scare me.
3. (c) If the sentence is negated, noen is commonly used with count nouns in the singular:
   • Dr. Frankenstein kjenner ikke noen forsker fra Ruritania.
     Dr. Frankenstein does not know any scientist from Ruritania.

   Again, combining noen with a plural noun is common:

   • Dr. Frankenstein kjenner ikke noen forskere fra Ruritania.
     Dr. Frankenstein does not know any scientists from Ruritania.

   (The alternative in the singular, ikke noen forsker, is used only if there has already been talk about one specific scientist.)

4. (d) As a pronoun, noen will normally refer to people (Compare alle, 4.6.1.2, mange 4.6.2.2):

   Noen vil alltid klage.	Some (people) will always complain.
   Det er ikke noen hjemme.	There is nobody (lit. not anybody) home

   If the relevant noun is easily inferred from the context, however, noen can also be used to refer to non-humans:

   • Liker du Bent Hamers filmer? Ja, jeg liker noen.
     Do you like Bent Hamer’s films? Yes, I like some [of them].

4.6.3.2 English ‘some – any’

Norwegian does not show any contrast quite like the English contrast between ‘some’ and ‘any’ (and related words, such as ‘somebody’, ‘something’; ‘anybody’, ‘anything’); normally, both these words translate with noen:

Are there any slices of bread left?	Er det noen brødskiver igjen?
Yes, there are some in the cupboard.	Ja, det er noen i skapet.
They do not know any enforcers.	De kjenner ikke noen torpedoer.
They only know some vicars.	De kjenner bare noen prester.

Noen can also be used to mean ‘anybody whatsoever’:

• Barnet ville ikke dele faren med noen.
  The child did not want to share its father with anybody.
• Hun arbeidet hardere og bedre enn noen mann.
  She worked harder and better than any man.

Note – In English, one may use ‘some’ to convey that the noun in question has excellent qualities (or, ironically, the opposite):

• That is some house you’ve got here!
  She is some woman!

Norwegian uses noe til, for en/ei/et, litt av en/ei/et to express this:

• Det er noe til hus du har her! For et hus du har her.
  Hun er litt av ei dame/Hun er noe til dame/For ei dame.

Note – English ‘any’, meaning ‘whatever’, translates typically as en, et (determinatively) hvem, hva (pronominally) som helst:

• Do you have a book? Any book will do.
  Har du ei bok? Hvilken som helst bok går bra.
• Ask any passer-by in Cleveland …
  Spør en hvilken som helst forbipasserende i Cleveland …
• Anybody could have done this job.
  Hvem som helst kunne gjort denne jobben.
• They are willing to pay us anything.
  De er villige til å betale oss hva som helst.

4.6.4 Noe ‘some, something; a part of; a little’

4.6.4.1

This word is used as both determiner and pronoun. It is used before neuter nouns, and before non-count nouns, regardless of gender:

Har du noe mel å låne bort?	Neuter, non-count
Have you any flour I could borrow?
Det er ikke noe hus.	Neuter, count
That is no house.
Har du noe ull?	Common, non-count
Have you any wool?

Noe can also be used before count nouns, if they are treated as non-count:

Det er noe terrier i denne hunden.

There is some terrier in this dog.

Noe can be used before adjectives:

• Det er noe rart med denne bilen.
  There is something odd (wrong) with this car.

Er det noe nytt?	Is there any news?
Noe så ergerlig!	(Oh) how annoying!

Pronominally, noe can be used alone:

Noe er galt.	Something is wrong.
Er det noe?	Is something the matter?

Note – Noe can also be used to mean ‘slightly’, ‘a little’:

• Argumentasjonen virket noe enkel.
  The argument seemed slightly simplistic.

4.6.4.2

Noenting is a near-synonym of noe, but noenting is informal.

Jeg har ikke hørt noe.	I have not heard anything.
Jeg har ikke hørt noenting.	I have not heard anything.

While noe can precede a noun, noenting cannot. Noenting can, however, precede an adjective, even if this is rare:

• Jeg har ikke hørt noenting nytt, jeg.
  Me, I have not heard anything new/any news.

4.6.5 Somme ‘some’; somt, ‘something’

• See also 2.2.2.3.
• Somme kjerringer er slike.
  Some womenfolk/wives are like that.
• Somme sier at kvinner er fra Mars og menn fra Venus.
  Some say that women are from Mars and men from Venus.
• Somt er bra, somt er dårlig.
  Something is good, something is bad.

Somme can be used as both pronoun and determiner, somt only as a pronoun. Both are rare in present-day Bokmål. Noe/n is used instead.

4.6.6 Ingen ‘nobody’, ‘no’, ‘none’

4.6.6.1

This word can be used both as a pronoun and as a determinative.

• Ingen likte Sniffs nye roman.
  Nobody liked Snoopy’s new novel.
• Ingen barn er like.
  No children are alike.
• Ingen trær vokser inn i himmelen.
  No tree (lit. trees) will grow into the sky, i.e. there is a limit to everything.

When used as a pronoun, ingen is normally used of people (like alle, 4.6.1.2, mange 4.6.2.2, noen, 4.6.3.1 (d)), but not necessarily:

• Ingen liker å få høre sannheten.
  Nobody likes to be told the truth.

Det er ingen hjemme.

There is nobody home.

• Av alle biler jeg har hatt, har ingen vært verre enn denne.
  Of all cars that I have owned, none has been worse than this one

When ingen is used as a subject, there is some vacillation over whether the agreeing complement should be in the singular or plural:

Ingen er bare snill.	Nobody is only kind.
Ingen av dem er bare snille.	None of them is only kind.

4.6.6.2

Used as a determinative, ingen can precede (feminine or) masculine nouns in the singular or, in the plural, nouns of any gender – ingen jente (fem sg); ingen gutt (masc sg); ingen jenter (fem pl); ingen gutter (masc pl); ingen jorder (neut pl).

Ingen does not combine with a neuter in the singular, however. If the noun following is clearly a neuter singular, ikke noe will be used instead. Thus, we find ingen mann, ‘no man’ (masculine or common), but ikke noe tre, ‘no tree’ (neuter). Note that ikke noen mann is also perfectly possible; i.e. the construction with ikke noen (noe) can be used in all genders and both numbers.

Note – An alternative to ikke noe is intet (intet tre), but this is rather literary and rarely used these days.

4.6.6.3

If an object (or a complement) begins with ingen (or intet), it will have to occur before the non-finite verb, if there is one.

• Hun har ingenting sett og ingenting hørt.
  She has seen nothing and heard nothing.
  Object before non-finite verb
• Vi har ingen sommer hatt.
  We have had no summer.
  Object before non-finite verb

If the object begins with ikke, by contrast, it can occur after the non-finite verb, in the ‘normal’ object position cf. 10.7.3.2.

• Hun har ikke sett noe og ikke hørt noe.
  She has seen nothing and heard nothing.
  Object after non-finite verb, normal word order

An object or a potential subject beginning with ingen (etc.) will not occur after an adverbial:

• Hun skrev ingenting ned. Cf. Hun skrev ikke ned noe.
  She wrote nothing down.

4.6.7 Hver ‘each’, ‘every’; enhver ‘each, any’

4.6.7.1

Hver translates into English as both ‘each’ and ‘every’. If used determinatively, it inflects for gender according to the noun it precedes (common gender hver, neuter hvert). It only precedes nouns in the singular.

• Hver eneste dag tenkte Geoff på Katya.
  Every single day Geoff thought about Katya.
• Hvert år kommer det nye epler.
  Each year there are new apples.
• De tok to epler hver.
  They took two apples each.
• Hver tar sin, så tar jeg min.
  Each takes his/hers, so I take mine.

The neuter of hver is hvert:

• Etter hvert kast drakk dartspilleren litt øl.
  After each throw the dart player drank a little beer.

Notice the idiom:

etter hvert

in time, gradually

4.6.7.2

Enhver (neuter ethvert) is less used, and somewhat formal. Enhver is used as a pronoun and as determiner, ethvert in practice only as a determiner:

• Det må enhver kunne forstå.
  That everybody should be able to understand.
• For enhver ansvarlig samfunnsborger er dette uakseptabelt.
  For any responsible citizen, this is unacceptable.
• Dette kan ethvert barn forstå.
  This any child can understand.

Note – for enhver pris, at any cost; noe for enhver smak, something for every taste.

4.6.8 Other quantifiers

4.6.8.1 Få ‘a few’, færre, færrest

Få is fewer than noen (4.6.3), by its meaning. Determinatively, it is used with count nouns:

• Her er noen få utvalgte klassikere.
  Here are a few select (lit. chosen) classics.
• Det var få professorer som brydde seg om studentene den gangen.
  There were few professors caring for the students in those days.

When the relevant noun is not readily available from the context, i.e. when få is used pronominally, it will normally refer to people:

• Mange er kalt, men få er utvalgt.
  Many are called, but few are chosen.

Færre, færrest are the comparative and superlative of få.

Få and færre can be used pronominally:

• Få vil lese boka; færre vil betale for det.
  Few want to read the book; (even) fewer are willing to pay for it.

Unlike færre, færreste requires another determiner.

De færreste er egentlig onde.

Only very few are really evil.

4.6.8.2 Litt, lite ‘a little’, mindre ‘less’, minst ‘least’

The words litt, lite ‘a little’ can both serve as quantifiers:

Vil du ha litt kaffe?	Would you like some coffee?
Ja, jeg tar litt, jeg.	Yes, I’ll have a little.
Det er litt kaffe igjen.	There is a little coffee left.
Det er lite kaffe igjen.	There is little coffee left.

There will be less coffee left if lite is used than if litt is used.

Litt can also be used adverbially, meaning ‘a little, slightly’

Vent litt!

Wait a little!

Both litt and lite are historically related to the adjective liten ‘little, small’, but litt has become an independent word; only lite can be seen as the neuter of liten today (cf. 2.1.3.4).

Also mindre, ‘less’ and minst, ‘least’ can quantify:

• Dessverre drikker han mindre kaffe enn øl.
  Sadly, he drinks less coffee than beer.
• Hun drikker minst akevitt.
  She drinks the least acquavit.

Notice that minst can also mean ‘at least’:

• Hun drikker minst halvannen liter vann om dagen.
  She drinks at least 1.5 litres of water per day.

4.6.8.3 Flere ‘several’, flest

Flere (also fler) and flest may be considered the comparative and superlative forms respectively of mange.

• Det er flere som synger i kor, enn som spiller fotball.
  More (people) sing in a choir than play football.
• Flere statsråder vurderer et opprør.
  Several ministers are considering a revolt.
• De fleste blir tankefulle når døden nærmer seg.
  Most (people) become pensive when death approaches.
• De fleste bilene hadde bulker.
  Most of the cars had dents.
• De (aller) fleste biler har bulker.
  Nearly all cars have dents.

Flere cannot be used after de, while fleste can only be used after de.

• Joanna har flere beundrere enn Phil.
  Joanna has more admirers than Phil.

Notice that flest can follow its noun:

• Nordmenn flest var ikke så begeistret for Trump.
  Most Norwegians were not very enthusiastic about Trump.
  Compare: De fleste nordmenn …

4.6.8.4 Translating English ‘more’, ‘most’

1. (a) ‘More’ and ‘most’ with count nouns translate as flere, flest, de fleste:
   • Jeg kan ikke spise flere kaker.
     I cannot eat any more cakes.
   • Jeg har mange CD-plater, men han har flest.
     I have many CDs but he has most.
   • De fleste mennesker liker kysten.
     Most people like the seaside.
2. (b) ‘More’ and ‘most’ with non-count nouns translate as mer, mest, det meste:
   • Vi bør spise mer frukt og grønnsaker.
     We should eat more fruit and vegetables.
   • Kjøkkenet får mest sol om våren.
     The kitchen gets most sun in the spring.
   • – Er det noe øl igjen? – Vi har drukket det meste.
     ‘Is there any beer left?’ ‘We have drunk most of it.’

4.7 Indefinite pronouns and evasion strategies

4.7.1 Indefinite pronouns: Man, ens and others

Man, en, ‘one’ are sometimes referred to as indefinite pronouns, as they have a rather general meaning. The personal pronouns du, ‘you (sg.)’ and de, ‘they’ can also be used as indefinite pronouns in informal language. See 4.2.4.2, Note 1 and 4.2.4.9, Note 1 respectively.

4.7.1.1 Man, ‘one’

Man is restricted to the nominative; it can only be used as subject:

Man skal ikke plage andre.

One should not bother others.

• For øvrig kan man gjøre hva man vil.
  Apart from that one may do as one pleases.

Slikt noe gjør man da ikke!

Such things are not done!

If one needs a corresponding non-nominative, seg can be used:

Man bør vaske etter seg.

One should clean up after oneself.

4.7.1.2 En, ‘one’

En is mostly found in the nominative:

• En viser til Deres brev av 5. mai.
  We/One refer to your letter dated May 5.

However, en is not restricted to the nominative. It can be found as an object (direct or indirect), and, rarely, after prepositions:

• Det kan gi en hjemlengsel å drikke lunkent øl.
  It may make one homesick to drink lukewarm beer.
• Det er fint å ha en kjæreste som tenker på en.
  It is nice to have a sweetheart that thinks of you (lit. one).

As with man, the reflexive seg combines with the indefinite pronoun en:

En bør vaske etter seg.

One should clean up after oneself.

Note – The determiner/indefinite article en (ei, et) is dealt with in 1.11.

4.7.1.3 Folk

Informally, the noun folk ‘people’ may be used pronominally:

• Sett brødet på benken, så kan folk ta det de vil ha.
  Put the bread on the bench, and then one (lit. people) may take what one wants (they want).
• I nyere tid har man/folk blitt enige om at honning er sunt.
  More recently, one/people agree that honey is good for you.

If folk is used as a subject, its subject complement is normally in the plural, cf. 2.2.3.1.

4.7.2 Personal pronouns and ‘evasion’

In a number of instances, one may feel uncertain about pronominal usage in the third person singular, typically because one does not know the sex of the person referred to. (In English, this is well known from the debate on ‘he’, ‘they’, in examples such as ‘the reader – he’.) In such instances, there are various ‘evasion’ (or avoidance) strategies. Consider the following:

• Tjuven har tatt seg inn gjennom vinduet. Han eller hun har så stjålet hele kakefatet.
  The thief has got in through the window. He or she has then stolen the entire plate of cakes.
• Politiet var i kontakt med bakeren, men denne valgte ikke å anmelde forholdet til å begynne med.
  The police have been in touch with the baker, but the latter chose not to press charges to begin with.
• Seinere satte bakeren kakefatet inn med lim, slik at det ville feste seg til hendene på tjuven. Etter det var det lett for politiet å finne vedkommende.
  Later, the baker glued the plate of cakes, so that it would stick to the thief’s hands. After that, it was easy for the police to find the person concerned.
• Det er ikke så lett å være student i dag. De er utsatt for så mange press og forventninger.
  It is not so easy to be a student today. They are exposed to so many pressures and expectations.
• Det er ikke lett å være lærer, heller. Man/en/du har så ulike studenter.
  It is not so easy to be a teacher, either. One has/You have so many different students.

Vedkommende, han eller hun and denne are rather formal and mostly used in written language. De, man, en are not so stylistically marked; du is rather informal and perhaps best avoided in writing. See also 4.7.1.

If a person has been referred to with a neuter noun, ‘evasion’ becomes particularly acute, since to use the neuter pronoun det about a person seems offensive (4.2.4.3(c)). Such cases are rather rare, since nouns for human beings are typically non-neuter, but here are two examples:

• Vitnet ble bedt om å komme fram, og hun tok plass i vitneboksen.
  The witness was asked to step forward, and she took her place in the witness box.
• Der kommer postbudet, og han smiler fra øre til øre.
  There comes the postie, and he is smiling broadly.

An exception is the word barn, ‘child’, which may be referred to with det. See also 1.2.4.1 Note 1.

4.8 Interrogative pronouns

4.8.1 Hva ‘what’, hvem ‘who’

4.8.1.1

The indeclinable pronouns hva and hvem can usually be translated by English ‘what’ and ‘who’ respectively, and are used in questions and interrogative clauses:

Hva har du tenkt å gjøre nå?	What do you intend to do now?
Hva tenker du på?	What are you thinking about?
Hvem blir president?	Who will be president?
Hvem smilte Smilla til?	Who did Smilla smile at?

Hva and hvem are of neuter and common gender respectively:

Hva er godt?	What is good?
Hvem er god?	Who is good?

The interrogatives hva, hvem may introduce subclauses. If hvem or hva are the subject of the clause, they must be followed by som:

Jeg veit hvem jeg tror på.	hvem is object
I know who I believe in.
De så hva som hendte.	hva is subject
They saw what happened.

See also 9.4.1.2.

• Jeg veit ikke hva jeg skal ha på meg på festen.
  I do not know what to wear at the party.
• Hva hun kan si, slutter aldri å forbause meg.
  What she can say, never ceases to amaze me.
• Gjør hva du vil! Gå hvor du vil!
  Do what you want! Go where you want!

Note – There are many dialectal variants of these pronouns. Instead of hva, one may hear e.g. kva, ka, å, hått, instead of hvem, kem, ken, kven, håkken.

Hva is not used determinatively. English ‘what’ in determinative use can be translated hva for en (ei, et, noen) or hvilken (hvilket, hvilke):

Which hand do you want?

Hvilken/hva for en hånd vil du ha?

See 4.8.4.1–4.8.4.3.

4.8.1.2

Note that hvem can also be used when picking out animates, as in the following example, where English has ‘which’:

• Begge bryterne var sterke, men hvem av dem vant?
  Both the wrestlers were strong, but which of them won?

If the interrogative is immediately followed by an av-phrase, it is more common to use hvilken, etc. in the written language:

• Hvilken/hvem av bryterne kommer til å vinne?
  Which one of the wrestlers is going to win?

English uses ‘one’ after ‘which’, whereas Norwegian does not use en, ‘one’ after hvem or hvilken.

Hva can also be used to indicate that one has not heard what the speaker said, comparable with English ‘I beg your pardon’.

Note – Placed finally, hva can be used in a manner resembling English tag questions.

Det var noe til scoring, hva?

That was some goal, wasn’t it/eh?

4.8.1.3 ‘Whichever’

English ‘whatever, whoever’ can usually be translated with hva (som) enn, hvem (som) enn:

whatever it may take	hva som enn måtte kreves
whoever he may be	hvem han enn måtte være

4.8.1.4

Notice the following fixed expressions:

Hva verre er …	And then, something worse …
Hva mer er …	And besides …
Hva meg/det angår …	As far as I/that is concerned …

Hva can be used to mean approximately the same thing as det som:

Etter hva vi nå vet …	According to what we now know …
Etter det som vi nå vet …	According to what we now know …

4.8.2 Position of interrogatives

The interrogatives are often placed at the front of a sentence, but if there are several interrogatives, not all can come first:

Hva sa hvem på seminaret?

Who said what at the seminar?

In the spoken language in particular, one may find echo-questions where interrogatives do not come first:

• A: Tristan og Isolde, du liksom. Jeg så Tristan kysse Julie på seminaret! B: Tristan kysset hvem på seminaret?
  A: Tristan and Isolde, my foot. I saw Tristan kiss Juliet at the seminar!
  B: Tristan kissed who at the seminar?

Such questions can express surprise, even incredulity.

If, in a question, hva or hvem is governed by a preposition, it will still usually not be preceded by that preposition (cf. ‘Prepositional stranding’, 7.1.3.3).

Hva tenker du på?	What are you thinking about?(Extremely unlikely: På hva tenker du?)
Hvem var du forelsket i?	Who were you infatuated by?

4.8.3 Translating English ‘whose’

In present-day Norwegian, there is no straightforward equivalent to English ‘whose’, as in ‘Whose is this?’. (The word hvis in this sense is found in older literature (Hvis er dette?), but it is now obsolete.) The normal expression today is:

• Hvem er dette sitt? Or: Hvem sitt er dette?

Hvis is obsolete also in determinative use. ‘Whose money is this?’ will by twenty-first-century authors not be rendered as Hvis penger er dette? The normal way of asking this today would be:

• Hvem sine penger er dette?
  Hvem eier disse pengene?

In English, ‘whose’ may also introduce a relative clause:

• Stapleton, whose dog scared poor Sir Charles, was a crook.

Again, hvis used to be possible:

• Stapleton, hvis hund skremte stakkars Sir Charles, var en skurk.

But again, hvis is now obsolete – if less so in this function than as an interrogative. In order to translate from English, some circumlocution may be required:

• Stapleton, som eide den hunden som skremte stakkars Sir Charles, var en skurk.
• A politician whose name everybody knows…
  En politiker alle kjenner navnet på …

4.8.4  Hvilken, hva for en ‘which’

4.8.4.1 Determinative use

Masc./Fem.	Neuter	Plural
hvilken	hvilket	hvilke
hva for en	hva for et	hva for noen

English can use ‘what’ followed by a noun (determinatively), as in ‘What food do you like?’, ‘What plans do we have?’. In Bokmål, one does not normally combine hva + noun, but there are several ways of constructing such questions, e.g. by means of hvilken, hvilket, hvilke; hva for en/noen + noun. Hva for en is used less in writing than hvilken (hvilket, hvilke). There is no genitive form in –s.

Hva for en, hvilken are typically used with count nouns (or non-count nouns used as countables).

• Hvilken tegneserie liker du best? (masc.)
  Which cartoon do you like the most?
• Hva for (en) tegneserie liker du best?
• Hvilken bok vil du ha? (fem.)
  Which book do you want?
• Hva for (ei/en) bok vil du ha?
• Hvilket hus bor Langbein i? (n.)
  Which house does Goofy live in?
• Hva for et hus bor Langbein i?
• Hvilke elever ønsket å komme i hvilke hus? (pl.)
  Which pupils wanted to come into which houses?
• Hva for (noen) elever ønsket å komme i hvilke hus?

Hva for en, hva for noe are very often ‘split’:

Hva liker du for noen biler, da?

What cars do you like, then?

English ‘what’ can also be used to mean ‘what kind of’, corresponding to Norwegian hva for slags, as in:

Hva for slags bil kjører du?

What (kind of) car do you drive?

4.8.4.2 In exclamations

Whereas English uses ‘what’ in exclamations, such as ‘What a day!’, for en (et) is the normal Norwegian translation. Compare:

What a day!

For en dag!

• Å, for en strålende morgen …
  Oh, what a wonderful morning …
• For en idrettsmann han er, Bjørndalen.
  What an athlete he is, Bjørndalen.

It is also possible to use hvilken, but this is more literary:

• Hvilken idrettsmann han er, Bjørndalen.
  What an athlete he is, Bjørndalen.

4.8.4.3 Pronominal use

Hvilken, hva for en are not only used determinatively; they can also serve a pronominal function:

Hvilken vil du ha?	Which one do you want?
Hva for et foretrekker du?	Which one do you prefer?

In the spoken language, one may often find hva for noe where the written language would prefer hva:

Hva er det du sier for noe?	What is that you are saying?
Hva er det for noe?	What is that?

Note – The question words hvorfor, ‘why’; hvordan, ‘how’ are seen as adverbs in this grammar, see 6.2.2.5 and 6.3.5 respectively. On this point, we differ from NRG.

4.8.4.4 In relative clauses: som or hvilket?

The use of hvilket to introduce relative clauses is mainly obsolete, but not in examples like the following, in which hvilket refers back to the whole event denoted by the main clause:

• USA protesterte heftig mot den russiske invasjonen, hvilket vel ikke var uventet.
  The USA objected strongly against the Russian invasion, which was not unexpected.
• Hun bestemte seg for å bli veganer, hvilket gledet hennes far.
  She decided to become a vegan, which delighted her father.

Alternatively, noe som can be used:

• USA protesterte heftig mot den russiske invasjonen, noe som ikke var uventet.
  The USA objected strongly against the Russian invasion, which was not unexpected.
• Hun bestemte seg for å bli veganer, noe som gledet hennes far.
  She decided to become a vegan, something which delighted her father.

Note that som alone cannot be used in such cases.

Both hvilket and noe som in these constructions are fairly formal. A less formal construction here is just to coordinate (USA protesterte, og det var ikke uventet; Hun ble veganer, og det gledet hennes far.)

4.9 Other pronouns and determiners

4.9.1 Begge, både ‘both’

4.9.1.1

Norwegian has two words that translate as English ‘both’, både and begge. Both are indeclinable. When English ‘both’ is followed by ‘and’, in co-ordinations, Norwegian uses the conjunction både (cf. 9.2.2.3).

Både laks og torsk er godt.	Both salmon and cod taste good.
Livet er både vondt og godt.	Life is both good and bad.

• Både broren og søstera var sure.
  Both the brother and the sister were grumpy.

4.9.1.2

When English both can be replaced by ‘the two, both of them’, Norwegian uses begge, which is a pronoun:

• Begge skulle seinere bli enda surere.
  Both would later become even grumpier.
• Jeg er glad i begge, likevel.
  I am fond of (them) both, nevertheless.

Begge can be used determinatively (både cannot):

Begge søsknene var sure.

Both siblings were grumpy.

• Vil du ha honning eller syltetøy? Takk, begge deler!
  Would you like honey or jam? Thank you, both (things), (please)!

If combined with other pronouns/determiners, begge comes first:

• I løpet av dagen har begge de andre imamene våre sykmeldt seg.
  In the course of the day, both our other imams have called in sick.

4.9.1.3

Note, however, de begge, which can only be used when no noun follows (and usually about people), versus begge de, which may be used whether a noun follows or not:

Vi har snakket med dem begge.	We have talked to them both.
Begge de hestene har vunnet mye.	Both horses have won a lot.
Begge de har vunnet mye.	They have both won a lot.
Han passet begge de hestene.	He looked after both the horses.

Begge can take the possessive –s, and is then typically used before a noun, even if it can also be used alone:

• Det er i begges interesse å unngå rettssak.
• It is in the interest of both (parties) to avoid a trial.

Den er begges.

It belongs to them both.

Note: oss begge, de begge, dere begge alongside begge oss, begge dere.

4.9.2 Samme ‘same’

This word is mostly used determinatively, and it can only be used in a definite noun phrase. It can be followed by an indefinite or a definite noun, and it can, but does not have to, be preceded by a determiner. For example, samme dag, samme dagen and den samme dagen all mean ‘the same day’. However, samme dagen is slightly colloquial; samme dag is somewhat literary, den samme dagen is perhaps the ‘neutral’ option.

Samme can be used with nouns irrespective of gender and number:

Den samme hesten vant.	The same horse won.
De samme hestene vant.	The same horses won.

• Det var (det) samme året som vi ble gift.
  That was the same year as we got married.

Samme can be used with count nouns (above) and with non-count:

• Det er samme hat som kommer til uttrykk her.
  It is the same hatred that is expressed here.

Note – the idioms samme for meg, I don’t care’, samme ulla [lit. the same wool] ‘the same kind’

De er av samme ulla.

They are cut from the same cloth.

4.9.3 Annen ‘other’

4.9.3.1

This word agrees in gender, number and definiteness, with the noun to which it is juxtaposed:

Common	Neuter	Definite/Plural
en annen mann	et annet hus	den andre mannen
		det andre huset
		andre menn
		de andre bøkene

• Trans. another man, another house, the other man, the other house, other men, the other books

4.9.3.2

Annen can be used pronominally, but it can also be used determinatively:

Henrik og en annen vant.	Henrik and another won.
Henrik og en annen gutt vant.	Henrik and another boy won.

Note – The alternative feminine form anna and the alternative neuter form anna are both very rare in Bokmål.

Used after another determiner, annen may often correspond to English ‘else’ or ‘different’:

• Det var noe annet jeg ville snakke med deg om.
  There is [lit. was] something else I wanted to talk to you about.
• Og nå over til noe helt annet.
  And now for something completely different.

Used after another pronoun/determiner, annen and andre can take a possessive –s (annet cannot):

• Det var en annens glass du nettopp tømte.
  It was another’s glass you just emptied.
• Det er alltid de andres feil.
  It is always the others’ (somebody else’s) fault.

Andre can (unlike annen) also take a possessive –s without a preceding determiner:

• Andres barn har han alltid funnet feil ved.
  Other people’s children he has always found fault with.

Note the fixed expressions:

• Den enes død, den andres brød.
  One man’s death is what another man lives by.
• På den ene side, på den annen side.
  On the one hand, on the other hand.

4.9.3.3

Translating English ‘another’ can sometimes be difficult. Note the following:

When English ‘another’ combines with expressions of quantity, Norwegian uses en … til, ‘one more’ or enda en … , ‘another one …’:

• I had to wait another half an hour.
  Jeg måtte vente en halvtime til/Jeg måtte vente enda en halvtime.

The English idiom ‘one another’ usually translates as hverandre (cf. 4.5.4):

They like one another a lot.

De liker hverandre godt.

4.9.4 Egen ‘own’

The neuter of egen is eget (–n is dropped before the neuter suffix –t in eget as in annet, but nowhere else), the plural/definite is egne. It can serve as an ‘intensifier’:

Dette er vår egen hytte/bil.	This is our own cabin/car.
Dette er vårt eget hus.	This is our own house.

• Dette er våre egne nyskrevne tekster.
  These are our own recently written texts.

Note – There is also an adjective egen (neuter egent), which means ‘peculiar, difficult, stubborn’: Han virker nokså egen ‘He seems rather difficult.’

4.9.5 Sånn, slik ‘such’

These words are near-synonyms, but sånn is much more used in Bokmål and often perceived as being less formal than slik. They are difficult to classify, grammatically, but they can be used adverbially: Ikke gjør det sånn/slik! ‘Don’t do it like that!’

However, they can also be used determinatively, and then they typically inflect for gender and number:

En sånn bil bør vi ha.	Such a car we should have. (masc.)
Ei sånn klokke vil jeg ha.	I want such a watch. (fem.)
Et sånt hus ønsker jeg meg.	Such a house I wish. (neuter)
Sånne biler og klokker er fine.	Such cars and houses are fine. (pl.)

• Slike jenter, det vil gamle Norge ha.
  Such girls, that is what old Norway wants! (Bjørnson) (pl.)

Sånn and slik are used only in the indefinite singular and plural (not in the definite singular).

In principle, sånt is the neuter of sånn:

Et sånt samfunn vil vi ikke ha.

Such a society we do not want.

In practice, however, sånn as determinative is often used uninflected also in the neuter, though this is not recommended in writing:

Vi kan ikke ha et sånn samfunn.

We cannot have such a society.

When used predicatively, sånn does not inflect for number or gender:

De er sånn (*sånne).	They are like that.
Barnet er sånn (*sånt).	The child is like that.