The regular agreement pattern — bare form, -t for neuter, -e for plural — covers most Norwegian adjectives (see Adjective Agreement). But a handful of important, high-frequency adjectives break it, and the breakages aren't random: they fall into a few predictable classes. The most chaotic is liten ("small"), which is suppletive — it borrows forms from a completely different stem. Then there are adjectives that refuse the neuter -t (the -ig/-lig and -sk types), adjectives that drop a vowel in the plural and definite (gammel → gamle), and adjectives that simply never change at all (bra, moderne, rosa). Knowing which class an adjective belongs to is the whole game. This page maps them.
liten — the suppletive one
liten ("small") is the single most irregular adjective in Norwegian. It doesn't just add endings; it switches stems. Memorise the full paradigm as a unit — there's no shortcut:
| Context | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine singular | liten | en liten bil |
| Feminine singular | lita (or liten) | ei lita hytte |
| Neuter singular | lite | et lite hus |
| Plural (all genders) | små | små biler |
| Definite ("the small …") | lille (sg.) / små (pl.) | den lille bilen, de små bilene |
The two surprises are små (the plural is a different word entirely, with å) and lille (the definite singular, again a different stem). No other adjective behaves like this.
De har en liten hund og to små katter.
They have a small dog and two small cats. (liten singular, små plural)
Den lille jenta i rød jakke er datteren min.
The little girl in the red jacket is my daughter. (definite: den lille)
Vi bor i et lite hus med en liten hage.
We live in a small house with a small garden. (neuter lite, masculine liten)
The -ig and -lig adjectives: no neuter -t
Here is where learners coming from Danish or Swedish — or just over-applying the rule — go wrong. Adjectives ending in -ig or -lig do not add the neuter -t. The neuter form is identical to the bare form. So it's et viktig møte, never "et viktigt møte" (which looks Danish/Swedish and is simply wrong in Norwegian).
Det var et veldig hyggelig besøk.
It was a very pleasant visit. (hyggelig, no -t: NOT 'hyggeligt')
Dette er et viktig spørsmål.
This is an important question. (viktig, no -t)
Vi hadde et deilig måltid på den nye restauranten.
We had a lovely meal at the new restaurant. (deilig, no -t)
The reason is phonological: a -t after the already-cluster-final -ig/-lig would be awkward, and Norwegian (unlike Danish and Swedish) resolved this by simply leaving these adjectives bare in the neuter. They still take the regular -e in the plural, though:
Det var mange viktige saker på møtet.
There were many important matters at the meeting. (plural -e: viktige)
The -sk adjectives and nationalities: no neuter -t
A second class skips the neuter -t: most adjectives ending in -sk, including all the nationality adjectives. So it's et norsk flagg, not "norskt." (For nationalities specifically, see Nationality Adjectives.)
Det norske flagget er rødt, hvitt og blått.
The Norwegian flag is red, white and blue. (norsk: no neuter -t)
Hun snakker med en tydelig fransk aksent.
She speaks with a clear French accent. (fransk: no -t)
Det er et praktisk problem.
It's a practical problem. (praktisk: no -t)
(A few short, native -sk adjectives like frisk "healthy/fresh" do take -t — et friskt pust "a breath of fresh air." But the large -isk/nationality group does not. When in doubt with -isk and nationalities, leave the -t off.)
Syncope: gammel → gamle, sulten → sultne, vakker → vakre
Adjectives ending in unstressed -el, -en, -er drop the e of that syllable when an ending is added — a process called syncope. The bare and neuter forms keep the vowel; the plural and definite -e forms swallow it:
| Adjective | Bare | Neuter -t | Plural/definite -e |
|---|---|---|---|
| old | gammel | gammelt | gamle (not gammele) |
| hungry | sulten | sultent | sultne |
| beautiful | vakker | vakkert | vakre |
De bor i et gammelt hus med to gamle epletrær i hagen.
They live in an old house with two old apple trees in the garden. (neuter gammelt, plural gamle)
Barna var sultne etter en lang dag på skolen.
The children were hungry after a long day at school. (plural sultne, not 'sultene')
Det var en vakker dag, og vi så mange vakre fjell.
It was a beautiful day, and we saw many beautiful mountains. (vakker → vakre)
Note also that the double consonant in gammel/vakker collapses to single in the syncopated form: gammel → gamle, vakker → vakre.
Double-consonant neuter: grønn → grønt, tynn → tynt
A small spelling rule in the other direction: adjectives ending in a double consonant simplify it before the neuter -t (you don't write three letters in a row). So grønn → grønt, tynn → tynt, trygg → trygt:
Gresset er grønt og himmelen er blå.
The grass is green and the sky is blue. (grønn → grønt)
Papiret er så tynt at du kan se gjennom det.
The paper is so thin you can see through it. (neuter papir → tynt)
Short irregular stems: blå, grå, ny, fri
A few very short adjectives have their own quirks. blå ("blue") and grå ("grey") take -tt in the neuter (the vowel is long, so the consonant doubles): blått, grått. Their plural can be blå or blåe, grå or gråe. ny ("new") gives neuter nytt and plural nye; fri ("free") gives fritt and frie:
Jeg kjøpte et nytt, blått teppe.
I bought a new, blue blanket. (nytt, blått)
Vi har en fri dag i morgen — endelig fritt!
We have a free day tomorrow — free at last! (fri → fritt)
Indeclinable adjectives: bra, ekte, moderne, rosa
Finally, a whole class of adjectives never changes — same form in masculine, feminine, neuter, singular, plural, definite, everything. This includes:
- common everyday ones: bra (good), ekte (real/genuine), stille (quiet), kry (proud/cocky)
- borrowed/foreign adjectives, often ending in a vowel: moderne (modern), sjalu (jealous), rosa (pink), lilla (purple), diverse (various)
- adjectives ending in -s: felles (common/shared), stakkars (poor/pitiable), gratis (free of charge)
- present participles used as adjectives, in -ende: spennende (exciting), kommende (coming), levende (living)
Det er en bra bok og et bra hus — bra endrer seg aldri.
It's a good book and a good house — 'bra' never changes.
Hun kjøpte to rosa kjoler og en moderne sofa.
She bought two pink dresses and a modern sofa. (rosa and moderne invariant)
Vi har et felles ansvar for de levende organismene.
We have a shared responsibility for the living organisms. (felles, levende invariant)
Stakkars katt — den har ikke spist på hele dagen.
Poor cat — it hasn't eaten all day. (stakkars invariant)
The unifying logic: an adjective that already ends in -e, -a, -s, -u or -ende has nowhere natural to attach the -t and -e endings, so Norwegian just freezes it. bra is the only really common one without such an ending; learn it as a special case.
Common Mistakes
The errors cluster around three habits: regularising liten, adding -t to the no-t classes, and inflecting the indeclinables.
❌ Vi bor i et litet hus.
Incorrect — neuter of liten is irregular: lite, not 'litet'.
✅ Vi bor i et lite hus.
We live in a small house.
❌ Det var et viktigt møte.
Incorrect — -ig/-lig adjectives take NO neuter -t. (This is Danish/Swedish, not Norwegian.)
✅ Det var et viktig møte.
It was an important meeting.
❌ Vi heiste et norskt flagg.
Incorrect — -sk/nationality adjectives take no neuter -t.
✅ Vi heiste et norsk flagg.
We raised a Norwegian flag.
❌ Det var et brat hotell.
Incorrect — bra is indeclinable; it never takes -t or -e.
✅ Det var et bra hotell.
It was a good hotel.
❌ Vi så to gammele hus.
Incorrect — gammel syncopates and simplifies: gamle, not 'gammele'.
✅ Vi så to gamle hus.
We saw two old houses.
Key takeaways
- liten is suppletive: liten / lita / lite / små (plural, with å) / lille (definite). No shortcuts.
- -ig / -lig adjectives take no neuter -t: et viktig møte, et hyggelig hus — never viktigt/hyggeligt.
- -sk and nationality adjectives take no neuter -t: et norsk flagg, et praktisk problem.
- Syncope: gammel → gamle, sulten → sultne, vakker → vakre in plural/definite; double consonant simplifies in the neuter (grønn → grønt).
- Indeclinable class never changes: bra, ekte, moderne, rosa, felles, stakkars, and -ende participles.
Now practice Norwegian
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- Adjective Agreement: -, -t, -eA1 — A Norwegian adjective changes shape to match its noun — bare with masculine/feminine singular (en stor bil), -t with neuter singular (et stort hus), -e with every plural (store biler) — and it agrees after 'to be' too, which English never does.
- The Definite Form: den store bilenA2 — After den/det/de, a demonstrative, a possessive, or a genitive, a Norwegian adjective takes the invariable definite -e regardless of gender or number — so the neuter loses its -t (det STORE huset, never 'det stort huset'), and possessives trigger it too (min store bil).
- Nationality AdjectivesA2 — Norwegian nationality words — norsk, svensk, amerikansk and the people-nouns nordmann, svenske, amerikaner — are all written lowercase, unlike their English equivalents, and the irregular nordmann/nordmenn covers every Norwegian.
- Danish Influence and Danisms in BokmålC1 — Bokmål descends from written Danish — the legacy of four centuries of union — so its backbone is Danicised: this page maps the Danish substrate (vocabulary doublets like efter/etter historically, the be-/for-/an- loan prefixes from Low German via Danish, the -et participle, soft and silent consonants, spellings reformed away from Danish), shows how conservative Riksmål-style Bokmål leans ever closer to Danish, and gives you the recognition skill that lets you date and place a Norwegian text on a Norwegian–Danish continuum.
- Adjectives: OverviewA1 — Norwegian adjectives have just three written shapes — bare, -t, and -e — and this page maps where each one goes: indefinite predicate, indefinite attributive, and definite attributive.