Norwegian builds the possessive almost exactly the way English does — you stick an -s on the owner — with one difference that trips up nearly every English speaker on the very first attempt: there is no apostrophe. It is Olas bil, not "Ola's bil". That single missing punctuation mark is one of the most stubborn transfer errors there is, precisely because the construction looks so familiar. This page covers the -s genitive, the one place an apostrophe is allowed, and — just as importantly — the everyday spoken alternatives that Norwegians actually reach for instead.
The -s genitive: attach it directly, no apostrophe
To say "X's Y", add -s straight onto the owner's name or noun, with nothing in between, and put the owner first:
Olas bil står utenfor.
Ola's car is parked outside.
Har du sett Maris nye leilighet?
Have you seen Mari's new apartment?
Norges hovedstad er Oslo.
Norway's capital is Oslo.
The owner can be a common noun too, not just a name. When it is, the owner noun is normally in its definite form, and it carries the -s on the end of that definite form:
Barnets leke lå igjen på gulvet.
The child's toy was left lying on the floor.
Jentas sykkel ble stjålet i går.
The girl's bicycle was stolen yesterday.
Selskapets resultater var bedre enn ventet.
The company's results were better than expected.
There is a second, crucial rule hiding in those sentences. The thing being possessed — the head noun — stays indefinite and takes no article: Olas bil (literally "Ola's car"), never "Olas bilen" and never "den Olas bilen". English does the same thing ("Ola's car", not "Ola's the car"), so this part is intuitive; just remember that the genitive -s on the front cancels any article on the head noun.
When you DO use an apostrophe: names ending in s, x, z
Here is the single exception, and it is the mirror image of the English habit. If the owner's name already ends in -s, -x, or -z, you cannot add another -s — you just add an apostrophe to mark the genitive:
Anders' hus ligger nede ved sjøen.
Anders' house is down by the sea.
Lars' bil er den røde der borte.
Lars' car is the red one over there.
Marx' teori om kapitalen er pensum i år.
Marx's theory of capital is on the syllabus this year. (academic)
So the apostrophe in Norwegian appears only after a final s/x/z, and never before the -s the way English writes it. This is the exact reverse of the English instinct: in English the apostrophe comes before the possessive -s (Ola's), in Norwegian it only ever comes after a name's own final s (Anders'). If you internalise just one thing from this page, make it this contrast.
The everyday alternative: the til-phrase
The -s genitive is correct and common, but in spoken and informal Norwegian it often feels a touch bookish for ordinary, concrete possession. What Norwegians say far more often is a til-phrase: the thing owned (in its definite form) + til + the owner. Literally "the car to Ola":
Bilen til Ola står utenfor.
Ola's car is parked outside. (everyday/informal)
Har du sett den nye leiligheten til Mari?
Have you seen Mari's new apartment? (informal)
Sykkelen til jenta ble stjålet i går.
The girl's bicycle was stolen yesterday. (informal)
Notice the difference in form: in the til-construction the head noun is definite (bilen, leiligheten, sykkelen) — the opposite of the -s genitive, where the head noun is indefinite (Olas bil). That flip is the most common stumble once learners discover til.
When should you pick which? A rough but reliable guide:
| Construction | Form of head noun | Register / feel |
|---|---|---|
| Olas bil | indefinite (bil) | neutral, written, formal, set phrases |
| bilen til Ola | definite (bilen) | everyday speech, informal |
The -s genitive dominates in writing, in fixed expressions (Norges hovedstad, livets mening — "the meaning of life"), in titles, and in abstract relations. The til-phrase dominates in relaxed conversation about ordinary objects. Both are fully correct; choosing the spoken til form in casual talk is a quick way to sound less like a textbook.
Hva er meningen med livet?
What is the meaning of life? (set expression — genitive-style abstract, here with med)
Boka til læreren lå igjen i klasserommet.
The teacher's book was left in the classroom. (informal til-phrase)
The colloquial sin-genitive
There is a third construction you will hear constantly in speech, especially in everyday and slightly folksy registers: the sin-genitive, owner + the reflexive possessive (sin/si/sitt/sine) + the thing owned. It agrees in gender and number with the thing possessed:
Per sin bil er nyere enn min.
Per's car is newer than mine. (colloquial — sin agrees with the masculine bil)
Mari si hytte ligger ved fjorden.
Mari's cabin is by the fjord. (colloquial — si agrees with the feminine hytte)
Barna sine leker lå overalt.
The children's toys were everywhere. (colloquial — sine agrees with plural leker)
The sin-genitive is widespread in speech and in many dialects, and you should recognise it, but it is marked as informal and is avoided in careful formal writing — where the plain -s genitive (Pers bil, Maris hytte) is expected instead. Use it to understand people; reach for Pers bil or bilen til Per when you write.
Common Mistakes
Adding an English apostrophe before the -s. This is the number-one transfer error, and it is worth drilling until it is automatic. Norwegian writes the genitive -s with no apostrophe.
❌ Per's bil står utenfor.
Incorrect — Norwegian uses no apostrophe before -s.
✅ Pers bil står utenfor.
Per's car is parked outside.
Putting an apostrophe before -s on a common noun. The same error reappears with nouns, not just names.
❌ barnet's leke
Incorrect — no apostrophe; the -s attaches directly.
✅ barnets leke
the child's toy
Adding -s to a name that already ends in s. A name like Lars or Anders cannot take another -s; it takes an apostrophe only.
❌ Larss bil / Lars's bil
Incorrect — a name ending in -s takes just an apostrophe.
✅ Lars' bil
Lars' car
Leaving an article on the thing owned. The genitive cancels the article on the head noun; it stays indefinite.
❌ Olas bilen er ny.
Incorrect — the head noun must be indefinite after a genitive: Olas bil.
✅ Olas bil er ny.
Ola's car is new.
Mixing the two constructions' forms. In a til-phrase the head noun is definite, not indefinite.
❌ bil til Ola
Incorrect — the til-construction needs the definite head noun: bilen til Ola.
✅ bilen til Ola
Ola's car
Key Takeaways
- The genitive is a bare -s with no apostrophe: Olas bil, Norges hovedstad, barnets leke.
- The thing owned stays indefinite and takes no article after a genitive: Olas bil, never "Olas bilen".
- An apostrophe appears only after a name ending in s/x/z: Anders' hus, Lars' bil, Marx' teori — never before the -s.
- Everyday speech prefers the til-phrase (bilen til Ola), where the head noun is definite; the sin-genitive (Per sin bil) is common but informal.
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- Possessive Pronouns: min, din, hans, vårA2 — The full possessive paradigm — agreeing min/mitt/mine and frozen hans/hennes/deres — plus standalone use ('den er min') and the famous sin-vs-hans puzzle, where Norwegian distinguishes 'his own' from 'his (someone else's)' with a dedicated word English simply lacks.
- til: To, Until, Of, ForA2 — til covers direction (til Oslo), the everyday spoken possessive (boka til Kari), time limits (til klokka tre), recipients (en gave til mor), and a set of fixed phrases — with the noun-form rules English speakers miss.
- The Apostrophe-S ErrorA2 — Why Norwegian writes the genitive with a bare -s and no apostrophe (Olas bil, not Ola's bil), the one case where an apostrophe is required (names ending in s/x/z: Anders'), and the spoken 'til' alternative that avoids the whole question.
- Plural FormationA1 — Most Norwegian nouns make their plural by adding -er and -ene (bil → biler → bilene), but many one-syllable neuter nouns add nothing at all (hus → hus → husene) — the trap that catches every English speaker.