Similarities between Norwegian and English

118 Norwegian words
that are Quite Similar to
their English Equivalents

www.Norwenglish.Bnorsk.no

Many Norwegian Words are Similar to their English Equivalents

Below, you can find a list of 118 Norwegian words that are quite similar to their English equivalents. This is in no way an exhaustive list; there are many more words that are quite similar in Norwegian and English. So, why are there so many similarities between Norwegian and English? There are basically two reasons for this:

Both Norwegian and English are part of the Germanic language family, and as such are closely related. Other Germanic languages include German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish and Icelandic.
Throughout history, various European languages have influenced each other quite significantly: There are quite a few Norwegian words that originated from English, and English includes a few loanwords from Norwegian - and there are quite a few English words that originated from modern Norwegian´s predecessor Old Norse. Additionally, both Norwegian and English include a lot of words that originated from other European languages such as French, Latin, Greek and Spanish. For example, the Norwegian word program and its English equivalent programme (British) / program (North American) both originated from a Greek word.

In the list below you will find 118 words that are spelled and pronounced somewhat similarly in Norwegian and English. Please note, however, that the usage of the words may vary a little between the two languages, so that the usage of an English word listed below may differ slightly from the usage of the Norwegian word listed next to it.

Nouns:

- a berry - et bær
- a boat - en båt
- a bush - en busk
- a cake - ei kake
- a cat - en katt
- a cow - ei ku
- a day - en dag
- a door - ei dør
- a fish - en fisk
- a glass - et glass
- a goat - ei geit
- a hammer - en hammer
- a horse - en hest
- a house - et hus
- a morning - en morgen
- a night - en natt
- a plant - en plante
- a sea - en sjø
- a stone - en stein
- a tree - et tre
- a window - et vindu
- a worm - en orm
- grass - gress
- paper - papir
- water - vann

Verbs:

to bathe - å bade
to clap - å klappe
to come - å komme
to drift - å drive
to drink - å drikke
to feel - å føle
to float - å flyte
to have - å ha
to hear - å høre
to lick - å slikke
to like - å like
to listen - å lytte
to mean - å mene
to say - å si
to see - å se
to sit - å sitte
to sleep - å sove
to stand - å stå
to steal - å stjele
to swim - å svømme
to thank - å takke
to think - å tenke
to wake up - å våkne
to wash - å vaske
to weigh - å veie

Adjectives:

- blue - blå
- brown - brun
- finished - ferdig
- good - god
- gray/grey - grå
- green - grønn
- high - høy
- low - lav
- orange - oransje
- red - rød
- rich - rik
- rotten - råtten
- salty - salt
- sick - syk
- sleepy - søvnig
- slim - slank
- sour - sur
- strong - sterk
- sweet - søt
- thick - tykk/tjukk
- tired - trøtt
- violet - fiolett
- white - hvit
- wise - vis
- young - ung

Numbers:

- one - en
- two - to
- three - tre
- four - fire
- five - fem
- six - seks
- seven - syv/sju
- eight - åtte
- nine - ni
- ten - ti
- eleven - elleve
- twelve - tolv
- thirteen - tretten
- fourteen - fjorten
- fifteen - femten
- sixteen - seksten
- seventeen - sytten
- eighteen - atten
- nineteen - nitten
- twenty - tjue
- thirty - tretti
- one hundred - ett hundre
- one thousand - ett tusen
- one hundred thousand - ett hundre tusen
- one million - en million

Days of the week:

Monday - mandag
Tuesday - tirsdag
Wednesday - onsdag
Thursday - torsdag
Friday - fredag
Sunday - søndag

Months:

January - januar
February - februar
March - mars
April - april
May - mai
June - juni
July - juli
August - august
September - september
October - oktober
November - november
December - desember

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The menu below displays the most important free resources available at www.Bnorsk.no.
Most of these resources are in the Norwegian language, although a few of them include brief introductions or explanations in English.