Quantifiers are the words that say how much or how many: some, none, all, each, many, much, few, both. Norwegian's set is small and high-frequency, but two things trip up English speakers: the count-vs-mass split (noen for things you can count, noe for stuff you can't), and a sneaky syntactic rule that forbids ingen ("no/none") after an auxiliary verb. Get those two right and the rest is straightforward vocabulary.
"Some / any": noen vs noe
English uses one word, "some" (and "any"), for both some books and some milk. Norwegian splits it by whether the noun is countable or a mass:
- noen — with count nouns in the plural, and in questions/negatives ("any"): noen bøker "some books," noen venner "some friends."
- noe — with mass / uncountable nouns, and for abstract "something": noe melk "some milk," noe tid "some time."
| Form | Use with | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| noen | countable plural | noen bøker | some / any books |
| noe | mass / uncountable | noe melk | some / any milk |
| noen | "someone" / "anyone" | noen | somebody |
| noe | "something" / "anything" | noe | something |
Har du noen bøker jeg kan låne?
Do you have any books I can borrow? (count plural → noen)
Er det noe melk igjen i kjøleskapet?
Is there any milk left in the fridge? (mass → noe)
Det er noen som ringer på døra.
There's someone ringing the doorbell. (noen = somebody)
Vil du ha noe å drikke?
Would you like something to drink? (noe = something)
The reason for the split is that noen historically carries plural/count force (it can even mean "a few"), while noe points at an undivided quantity of stuff. Norwegian keeps that distinction visible where English has flattened it.
"No / none": ingen, intet, ingenting — and the auxiliary trap
Ingen is the negative quantifier "no / none / nobody." It agrees a little: ingen (masculine/feminine and plural), ikke noe / intet (neuter, the bare intet being literary):
Ingen kom på festen — det var litt trist.
Nobody came to the party — it was a bit sad.
Vi har ingen problemer med det.
We have no problem with that.
Now the rule almost no textbook spells out. ingen cannot stand after a finite auxiliary verb (har, vil, kan, skal…). In a simple present or past it's fine — Jeg ser ingen "I see nobody." But the moment there's an auxiliary plus a main verb, ingen is barred from its object slot, and Norwegian forces the split ikke … noen / ikke noe:
| Simple tense | With an auxiliary |
|---|---|
| Jeg ser ingen. ✅ | Jeg har ikke sett noen. ✅ |
| ("I see nobody.") | (not "Jeg har sett ingen." ✗) |
| Han leste ingen bøker. ✅ | Han har ikke lest noen bøker. ✅ |
Jeg har ikke sett noen hele dagen.
I haven't seen anyone all day. (perfect → ikke … noen, never 'har sett ingen')
Vi har ikke fått noe svar ennå.
We haven't had any answer yet. (mass → ikke … noe)
This isn't a style preference — Jeg har sett ingen is simply ungrammatical to a native ear. The deeper reason is that ingen wants to sit high in the clause (next to the verb that carries the tense), and an auxiliary already occupies that position, so the negation gets "unpacked" into ikke + noen. When in doubt with a perfect or modal, reach for ikke noen / ikke noe.
"All": all, alt, alle
"All" agrees by gender and number:
- all — masculine/feminine mass: all maten "all the food."
- alt — neuter mass / abstract "everything": alt arbeidet "all the work," alt "everything."
- alle — plural count "all / everybody": alle barna "all the children," alle "everybody."
Alle barna sov da vi kom hjem.
All the children were asleep when we got home. (plural → alle)
Han spiste opp all maten på tallerkenen.
He ate up all the food on his plate. (mass m/f → all)
Alt jeg vil ha, er litt ro.
All I want is a little peace. (abstract → alt)
Note that all/alt/alle are followed by the definite noun (alle barna, all maten) — the suffix stays, just as it does after demonstratives.
"Each / every": hver, hvert
Hver (masculine/feminine) and hvert (neuter) mean "each / every." Unlike the others, they take a singular indefinite noun — no article, no suffix:
Vi reiser til Norge hver sommer.
We travel to Norway every summer. (hver + bare singular)
Hvert barn fikk en liten gave.
Each child got a small present. (neuter → hvert)
The t in hvert is silent in speech but must be written. Choosing hver vs hvert follows the noun's gender exactly like en vs et.
"Many / much / few": mange, mye, få
These also split by count vs mass — the same logic as noen / noe:
- mange — many (count plural): mange mennesker "many people."
- mye — much (mass): mye snø "much snow."
- få — few (count plural): få muligheter "few opportunities."
- lite / litt — lite = "little" (not much, mass, with a negative flavour); litt = "a little, a bit" (a small positive amount).
Det var mange mennesker på torget i dag.
There were many people in the square today. (count → mange)
Det har falt mye snø i natt.
A lot of snow has fallen overnight. (mass → mye)
Kan jeg få litt melk i kaffen?
Can I have a little milk in my coffee? (litt = a bit)
Vi hadde lite tid, så vi måtte skynde oss.
We had little time, so we had to hurry. (lite = not much)
"Both": begge
Begge means "both" and takes a definite noun or a pronoun: begge bilene "both cars," begge to "both of them."
Begge barna mine går på samme skole.
Both my children go to the same school. (begge + definite)
Common Mistakes
Using noe (mass) where noen (count) is needed. With a countable plural, it must be noen.
❌ Har du noe bøker?
Incorrect — 'books' is count plural: 'noen bøker'.
✅ Har du noen bøker?
Do you have any books?
Using noen with a mass noun. Milk, water, time — noe, not noen.
❌ Vil du ha noen kaffe?
Incorrect — coffee is mass: 'noe kaffe'.
✅ Vil du ha noe kaffe?
Would you like some coffee?
Putting ingen after an auxiliary. With a perfect or modal, split into ikke … noen.
❌ Jeg har sett ingen i dag.
Ungrammatical — needs 'Jeg har ikke sett noen i dag.'
✅ Jeg har ikke sett noen i dag.
I haven't seen anyone today.
Wrong agreement on all / alle. Plural count needs alle, not all.
❌ All barna sov.
Incorrect — plural count: 'alle barna'.
✅ Alle barna sov.
All the children were asleep.
Giving hver a definite or plural noun. Hver takes a bare singular.
❌ hver dagen / hver dager
Incorrect — 'hver' takes a bare singular: 'hver dag'.
✅ hver dag
every day
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- Mass Nouns, Count Nouns and QuantityB1 — How Norwegian splits its quantity words by countability — mye/litt vs mange/få, noe vs noen — why mass nouns resist the plural and the indefinite article, the measure phrases (en kopp kaffe, et glass vann), and the serving-coercion that lets you order to kaffe.
- ingen vs ikke noenB1 — ingen ('no/none/nobody') is a one-word negative that works as a simple subject or object (Ingen kom; Jeg så ingen), but it is BARRED after a finite auxiliary or modal — there you must unpack it into ikke … noen/noe (Jeg har ikke sett noen, never 'har sett ingen'). The same split governs ingenting/ikke noe, ingen steder/ikke noe sted.
- Determiners and Definiteness: OverviewA1 — A map of the whole Norwegian determiner system — where definiteness lives on the end of the noun (bilen), where it doubles up in front (det store huset), and why English speakers keep hunting for a single word for 'the' that does not exist.