Bokmål vs Nynorsk

In Brief

Norwegian has two official written standards, Bokmål and Nynorsk. They express the same language, but use partly different pronouns, word forms, endings, and stylistic conventions: Bokmål jeg snakker dårlig corresponds to Nynorsk eg snakkar dårleg. They are written standards, not labels for two uniform ways of speaking.

Overview

Bokmål and Nynorsk are two regulated ways of writing Norwegian. A written standard is an agreed system of spelling and grammar. A dialect, by contrast, is a regional or social variety that people speak. Norwegians commonly speak their own dialect while writing Bokmål or Nynorsk, so you should not assume that a Nynorsk user speaks “Nynorsk” or that a Bokmål user speaks exactly as Bokmål is written.

Bokmål is historically connected to the Danish-based written language used in Norway and is now the majority standard. Nynorsk was created in the nineteenth century, chiefly through Ivar Aasen’s work with Norwegian dialects, and has a particularly strong presence in western Norway. Both standards appear in education, government, media, literature, and public life. Their legal and social history is complex, but for a learner the immediate task is practical: recognize each system and keep to one standard when writing.

At C2, isolated pairs such as jeg/eg and ikke/ikkje are only the beginning. Confident reading depends on seeing recurring patterns in morphology (how words change their endings), not merely memorizing a list of replacements. Confident writing also requires consistency: a sentence can be understandable while still looking unedited because it combines Bokmål grammar with Nynorsk forms.

How It Works

Start with high-signal words

A few frequent function words—the small grammatical words that connect a sentence—usually reveal the standard immediately.

Meaning	Bokmål	Nynorsk
I	jeg	eg
we	vi	vi or me
not	ikke	ikkje
what	hva	kva
who	hvem	kven
how	hvordan	korleis
why	hvorfor	kvifor
someone / something	noen / noe	nokon / noko
only	bare	berre
now	nå	no

These are reliable orientation points, not a word-for-word conversion algorithm. Both standards permit internal variation, and context determines which vocabulary choice is natural.

Personal and possessive pronouns

Pronouns are words that stand in for people or things. Several common pronouns differ visibly:

Function	Bokmål	Nynorsk
first-person singular subject	jeg	eg
first-person singular object	meg	meg
second-person singular subject	du	du
third-person masculine subject	han	han
third-person feminine subject	hun	ho
first-person plural subject	vi	vi / me
third-person plural subject	de	dei
third-person plural object	dem	dei
my, masculine/feminine/neuter/plural	min, mi, mitt, mine	min, mi, mitt, mine
their	deres	deira

Nynorsk dei can therefore mean either “they” or “them”; sentence position and verb structure show its role. English makes the subject/object contrast explicit in they/them, so this shared Nynorsk form may initially feel unusual.

Nouns: gender and plural endings

A noun names a person, thing, place, or idea. Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender. Nynorsk consistently works with masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns. Bokmål also recognizes all three, but commonly allows feminine nouns to take masculine-style forms: both ei bok – boka and en bok – boken are possible in Bokmål. Standard Nynorsk uses ei bok – boka.

The definite form corresponds roughly to English “the,” but Norwegian normally marks it with an ending on the noun.

Pattern	Bokmål	Nynorsk	Meaning
masculine singular	en gutt – gutten	ein gut – guten	a boy – the boy
feminine singular	ei/en bok – boka/boken	ei bok – boka	a book – the book
neuter singular	et hus – huset	eit hus – huset	a house – the house
masculine plural	gutter – guttene	gutar – gutane	boys – the boys
feminine plural	bøker – bøkene	bøker – bøkene	books – the books
neuter plural	hus – husene/husa	hus – husa	houses – the houses

The pair from the core concept, guttene/gutane, belongs to a broader pattern: many Nynorsk masculine nouns have indefinite plural -ar and definite plural -ane. Do not apply that ending to every noun. Gender and noun class matter, and irregular nouns such as mann – menn – mennene/mennene have to be learned with their forms.

Verbs: infinitives, present forms, and past forms

A verb expresses an action, event, or state. The infinitive is the dictionary-like form, such as English “to speak.” Bokmål infinitives commonly end in -e: å snakke, å kaste, å skrive. Nynorsk allows established infinitive systems: an -a infinitive, an -e infinitive, or a traditional split system in which the ending varies by verb class. A writer should follow one accepted pattern consistently rather than alternate at random.

The present tense makes one major contrast easy to see:

Verb type	Bokmål	Nynorsk	Meaning
common weak verb	vi snakker	vi snakkar	we speak / are speaking
another weak verb	hun/ho kjøper	ho kjøper	she buys / is buying
strong verb	de skriver	dei skriv	they write / are writing
very common irregular	jeg kommer	eg kjem	I am coming / I come
modal	vi må	vi må	we must

A weak verb usually forms its past tense with a dental ending such as -te or -de; a strong verb typically changes its stem vowel. Nynorsk -ar is characteristic of one large weak-verb class, but vi snakkar does not mean every Nynorsk present-tense verb ends in -ar. Compare kjøper and skriv.

Past and perfect forms can also diverge:

Meaning	Bokmål	Nynorsk
I threw	jeg kastet/kasta	eg kasta
she bought	hun kjøpte	ho kjøpte
they wrote	de skrev	dei skreiv
we have arrived	vi har kommet	vi har kome
he has written	han har skrevet	han har skrive

The participle is the verb form used with har in the perfect, as in har skrive “has written.” Nynorsk participles of strong verbs often differ clearly from Bokmål forms.

Adjectives and common word shapes

An adjective describes a noun. The standards share the basic agreement system: the adjective may change for gender, number, and definiteness. Individual adjective forms can nevertheless differ.

Meaning	Bokmål	Nynorsk
bad	dårlig	dårleg
possible	mulig	mogleg
dangerous	farlig	farleg
open, neuter	åpent	ope
small, plural/definite	små	små

The contrast -lig/-leg is frequent, but it is not a license to alter every word ending in -lig. Consult a dictionary that identifies the written standard.

Vocabulary is systematic—but not mechanically interchangeable

Many everyday equivalents differ:

Meaning	Bokmål	Nynorsk
home	hjem	heim
together	sammen	saman
beginning	begynnelse	byrjing
opportunity	mulighet	høve or moglegheit
experience	erfaring/opplevelse	røynsle/oppleving

Nynorsk often favors vocabulary and word-building patterns associated with Norwegian dialects rather than Danish or Low German influence. However, simplistic advice such as “replace every Bokmål word in -else or an-” is unsafe. Modern norms include alternatives, meanings do not always align exactly, and good usage depends on context.

Sentence structure is largely shared

The standards are much closer in syntax than their spelling differences suggest. Syntax means how words are arranged into phrases and sentences. Both normally place the finite verb second in a main clause:

• Bokmål: I dag skriver jeg brevet.
• Nynorsk: I dag skriv eg brevet.
• English: “Today I am writing the letter.”

English keeps the subject before the verb in that sentence; Norwegian moves the verb before the subject when another element occupies the first position. This word-order rule is not a Bokmål–Nynorsk difference. When converting between the standards, preserve the sentence structure unless idiom or style gives a reason to rewrite it.

Examples in Context

Norwegian	English	Note
BM: Jeg vet ikke hva hun heter. NN: Eg veit ikkje kva ho heiter.	I do not know what her name is.	Several high-signal forms change together.
BM: Vi snakker om de nye reglene. NN: Vi snakkar om dei nye reglane.	We are talking about the new rules.	Verb, pronoun, and definite plural differ.
BM: Guttene kommer hjem senere. NN: Gutane kjem heim seinare.	The boys are coming home later.	Masculine plural and vocabulary contrasts.
BM: Det er en dårlig løsning. NN: Det er ei dårleg løysing.	It is a bad solution.	Gender and adjective/noun forms differ.
BM: Hun har skrevet tre bøker. NN: Ho har skrive tre bøker.	She has written three books.	Pronoun and strong participle differ.
BM: Hvorfor kjøpte de ikke huset? NN: Kvifor kjøpte dei ikkje huset?	Why did they not buy the house?	The verb and neuter noun happen to match.
BM: Noen må åpne vinduet. NN: Nokon må opne vindauget.	Someone must open the window.	Indefinite pronoun and noun form differ.
BM: Boken ligger på bordet. NN: Boka ligg på bordet.	The book is on the table.	Nynorsk requires the feminine noun pattern here.
BM: I dag skriver jeg på rapporten. NN: I dag skriv eg på rapporten.	Today I am working on the report.	Both use verb-second word order.
BM: De gamle husene ble solgt. NN: Dei gamle husa vart selde.	The old houses were sold.	Definite neuter plural and passive expression differ.
BM: Kan du fortelle meg hvordan dette virker? NN: Kan du fortelje meg korleis dette verkar?	Can you tell me how this works?	Related verbs and question word have distinct forms.
BM: Vi har kommet fram til samme resultat. NN: Vi har kome fram til same resultat.	We have reached the same result.	Participles and adjective forms differ.

Common Mistakes

Treating Nynorsk as Bokmål with a few swapped words

• Wrong: Eg snakker ikkje om guttene.
• Right: Eg snakkar ikkje om gutane.
• Why: Changing jeg to eg and ikke to ikkje is not enough. Verb and noun morphology must also follow Nynorsk.

Adding -ar to every present-tense verb

• Wrong: Dei skrivar eit brev.
• Right: Dei skriv eit brev.
• Why: -ar belongs to a major weak-verb class, as in snakkar. The strong verb skrive has present skriv.

Using Bokmål’s optional common-gender pattern in Nynorsk

• Wrong: en bok – boken in a Nynorsk text
• Right: ei bok – boka
• Why: Bokmål allows many feminine nouns to use masculine-style forms. Standard Nynorsk maintains the three-gender distinction.

Assuming every apparent cognate has the same form

• Wrong: ein dårlig løysing
• Right: ei dårleg løysing
• Why: The adjective is dårleg, and løysing is feminine. Conversion requires vocabulary knowledge plus agreement.

Mixing accepted alternatives without a plan

• Weak editing: alternating vi and me, or different infinitive systems, merely because all forms were found in a dictionary
• Better: choose forms that belong to a coherent norm and suit the intended voice
• Why: Correct alternatives are not necessarily stylistically neutral in combination. Consistency gives formal prose a stable voice.

Calling a dialect “incorrect Nynorsk”

• Wrong assumption: A speaker who says æ e is trying and failing to use Nynorsk.
• Right understanding: Æ e can be a dialect form, while the same speaker may write Bokmål or Nynorsk.
• Why: Spoken dialect and written standard are different dimensions.

Usage Notes

Norwegian readers tolerate and expect variation, but the type of variation matters. A novelist may deliberately place dialect features in dialogue. A columnist may choose forms that give Nynorsk a regional or traditional flavor. An administrative document, examination answer, or news report normally requires disciplined adherence to one written standard.

Nynorsk is not simply “more dialectal,” and Bokmål is not a transcription of speech around Oslo. Each has an official norm containing alternative forms. Real dialects may resemble one standard in one feature and the other standard in another. For example, a dialect can use a form related to Nynorsk eg while differing from standard Nynorsk in verbs, nouns, or sound patterns.

English speakers should also avoid equating the pair with British versus American English. British and American English are geographical standard varieties with relatively small grammatical differences. Bokmål and Nynorsk coexist within Norway as separately codified written standards, and their morphological contrasts are much more visible.

Capitalization follows normal name conventions: write Bokmål and Nynorsk in English prose, but Norwegian normally uses lowercase bokmål and nynorsk as language names in running text. Abbreviations such as BM and NN are useful in teaching tables, but polished prose usually names the standard directly.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Translation between standards is editing, not substitution

Professional conversion involves more than replacing tokens. A converter must check gender, agreement, verb class, idiom, collocations (words that conventionally occur together), and the tone of the whole passage. Even when a direct equivalent exists, a different sentence may sound more natural in the destination standard.

Passive constructions can reveal stylistic differences

Bokmål readily uses an -s passive, as in Saken behandles i morgen (“The case will be considered tomorrow”). Nynorsk has passive forms too, but often favors bli or verte plus a participle, or an active rewrite: Saka blir/vert behandla i morgon. The exact choice depends on tense, verb, and style. Do not mechanically copy every Bokmål -s form into a Nynorsk document.

Internal variation carries stylistic meaning

Both norms permit choices. Bokmål may use boka or boken, kastet or kasta, and fram or frem in relevant contexts. Nynorsk also offers alternatives, including vi/me and different infinitive systems. Such choices can suggest region, generation, formality, or editorial tradition, although no single form proves a writer’s background. At an advanced level, ask not only “Is this allowed?” but also “Is it consistent with the rest of this text?”

Recognition is a separate skill from production

You may need to read both standards long before you can write both equally well. That is a realistic goal: build a broad receptive vocabulary for the less familiar standard, while maintaining one reliable production norm. C2 competence includes recognizing marked, literary, regional, and older choices without treating every unfamiliar form as a mistake.

Practice Tips

1. Align short parallel texts. Take a public-information paragraph available in both standards. Mark pronouns, noun endings, verbs, and vocabulary in four different colors. Patterns become easier to retain than isolated pairs.
2. Convert, then verify by category. Rewrite five Bokmål sentences in Nynorsk—or the reverse—then make separate passes for gender, plural endings, verb class, pronouns, and lexical choice. A category checklist catches more than rereading for general meaning.
3. Build word families, not one-to-one lists. Learn ein gut – guten – gutar – gutane and å skrive – skriv – skreiv – har skrive as complete sets. Record accepted alternatives only when you know which standard and style they belong to.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Norwegian Dialects — separates spoken regional variation from the two written standards and provides the sociolinguistic background for this contrast.