Language/Norwegian-bokmal/Grammar/Personal-pronouns

Norwegian Bokmål → Grammar → Personal pronouns

As a beginner learning Norwegian Bokmål, it is essential to understand the usage of personal pronouns, as these words are an integral part of constructing sentences in the language. In this lesson, we will cover the forms and usage of personal pronouns in Norwegian Bokmål.

Consider exploring these related pages after completing this lesson: Academic writing and research skills & Personal Pronouns.

Forms of Personal Pronouns

Norwegian Bokmål has several different forms of personal pronouns, each with their specific use in language. Here is a table presenting Norwegian Bokmål's different personal pronouns:

Norwegian Bokmål	Pronunciation	English
Jeg	yei	I
Du	doo	You (singular)
Han	hahn	He
Hun	hoon	She
Det	deit	It
Vi	vi	We
Dere	deir-eh	You (plural)
De	deh	They

Usage of Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are primarily used as sentence subjects, sentence objects, possessive adjectives, and possessive pronouns in Norwegian Bokmål. Here's a brief explanation of each usage:

• Sentence subjects: In a sentence, the subject is the person or thing doing the action. In Norwegian Bokmål, personal pronouns can be used as sentence subjects. For example: "Jeg spiser en brødskive" (I am eating a sandwich).
• Sentence objects: In a sentence, the object is the person or thing receiving the action. Personal pronouns can also be used as sentence objects in Norwegian Bokmål. For example: "Kona mi ga meg en klem" (My wife gave me a hug); "Jeg elsker deg" (I love you).
• Possessive adjectives: Possessive adjectives indicate ownership of something. In Norwegian Bokmål, personal pronouns can be used as possessive adjectives. For example: "Min bil" (my car); "Deres hund" (your dog, plural).
• Possessive pronouns: Possessive pronouns are the same as possessive adjectives but can replace the noun of ownership. For example, "Boken min" (my book) can be replaced by "min" (mine).

It's essential to note that Norwegian Bokmål has both masculine and feminine gendered words, so personal pronouns referring to people need to be gender-specific.

Practice Exercises

To solidify your understanding of personal pronouns, try these exercises:

1. Complete the following sentence with the correct personal pronoun: "_______ er glad for å se deg" (I am happy to see you). 2. Translate the following sentence to Norwegian Bokmål: "We are eating pizza." 3. Write a sentence using "dere" as the sentence object.

Conclusion

In this lesson, we learned about the forms and usage of personal pronouns in Norwegian Bokmål. Personal pronouns are essential in constructing sentences in Norwegian Bokmål, and it's crucial to understand their usage to speak and write the language effectively. Keep practicing, and eventually, the usage of personal pronouns will become intuitive, and you'll be speaking Norwegian Bokmål without even realizing it.

Impressive work on finishing this lesson! Explore these additional pages to enhance your understanding: Formal writing and communication & Modal verbs.

Other Lessons

• Pronouns
• 0 to A1 Course
• Give your Opinion
• Nouns
• Infinitive and present participle forms
• Relative clauses
• Conditional Mood
• Adjectives
• Formal writing and communication