Adjektive: unbestimmte Form

Adjectives: the indefinite form

An English adjective keeps one shape: a big car, a big house, big cars. A Norwegian adjective takes an ending that matches the noun it describes. After en, ei or et (and with no article at all) the pattern is short and regular:

Noun	Ending	Example	English
en-word (masculine)	no ending	en stor bil	a big car
ei-word (feminine)	no ending	ei stor hytte	a big cabin
et-word (neuter)	-t	et stort hus	a big house
plural, any gender	-e	store biler, store hus	big cars, big houses

So the gender you learn with each noun pays off twice: it gives you the article and the adjective ending. fint vær (fine weather), en fin dag (a fine day), fine dager (fine days).

After "er": the same endings

The adjective agrees even when it stands after the verb, which English speakers tend to forget:

• Bilen er ny. - The car is new.
• Huset er nytt. - The house is new.
• Bøkene er nye. - The books are new.

An adjective that ends in a stressed vowel doubles the -t: ny → nytt, blå → blått.

Adjectives that do not add -t

• Most adjectives ending in -ig: et billig hotell (a cheap hotel), et hyggelig sted (a nice place).
• Adjectives of nationality and many others in -sk: et norsk flagg, et typisk eksempel.
• Adjectives that already end in -t: et svart hus.

Adjectives in -el, -en and -er lose the unstressed vowel when they take -e: gammel → gamle (old), sulten → sultne (hungry), vakker → vakre (beautiful). In the neuter gammel becomes gammelt: et gammelt hus (an old house), like the stave churches in Heddal.

Liten (small) is irregular in every form and has its own topic: en liten gutt, ei lita jente, et lite hus, små barn.