Norwegian spelling keeps letters that pronunciation long ago dropped. The good news is that these silences are systematic, not random — they cluster into a handful of clear classes, and once you know the classes you can predict the silence in words you have never seen. The single highest-value class is the silent -t in det and the neuter definite ending -et, because those forms are everywhere and sounding the t instantly marks a beginner. This page sorts the silent letters into rules of thumb you can actually use.
Silent final/post-vocalic d
A d after a vowel at the end of a word is normally silent. The vowel before it is simply pronounced (usually long), and the d is dropped.
| Spelling | Pronounced | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| god | /guː/ ("goo") | good |
| med | /meː/ ("meh") | with |
| ned | /neː/ ("neh") | down |
| bord | /buːr/ ("boor") | table |
| blid | /bliː/ ("blee") | cheerful |
| hard | /hɑːr/ ("haar") | hard |
god
good — /guː/, the d is completely silent; do NOT say 'good'
med
with — /meː/, sounds like 'meh', no d
bord
table — /buːr/, the d is silent (the r survives)
Silent g in the -ig ending
The very common adjective/adverb ending -ig is pronounced as a bare /i/ — the g is silent.
viktig
important — /ˈvikti/, ends in 'ee', no g: 'VIK-ti'
billig
cheap — /ˈbilːi/, 'BIL-li', silent g
deilig
lovely / delicious — /ˈdæɪli/, 'DÆY-li', silent g
This is a productive ending (countless words end in -ig), so the payoff is large: once you internalise "-ig = -ee", a whole vocabulary class falls into place. Note also the conjunction og (and), which is pronounced /ɔ/ ("aw") — the g is silent there too — even though the look-alike også (also) keeps an audible /ɔ(ɡ)sɔ/ in careful speech.
og
and — /ɔ/, just 'aw'; the g is silent in this everyday word
Silent h in hv- and hj-
In the clusters hv- and hj-, the h is silent. The hv- group is especially worth grouping together because it contains the high-frequency question words.
| Spelling | Pronounced | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hva | /vɑː/ ("vah") | what |
| hvor | /vuːr/ ("voor") | where |
| hvem | /vɛm/ ("vemm") | who |
| hvilken | /ˈvilkən/ | which |
| hjem | /jɛm/ ("yemm") | home |
| hjelp | /jɛlp/ ("yelp") | help |
| hjul | /jʉːl/ ("yool") | wheel |
hva
what — /vɑː/, starts with a v-sound, the h is silent
hvor
where — /vuːr/, 'voor', no h
hjem
home — /jɛm/, starts with a y-glide; hj = 'y'
gjøre
to do / make — /ˈjøːrə/, 'YØ-reh'; gj- starts on the y-glide, g silent
So hv- is pronounced as if it began with v, and hj- as if it began with j (which in Norwegian is the "y" sound). English speakers, used to aspirating h in what and who, naturally try to breathe an h into hva and hvor; resist it completely. The same silent-g pattern shows up in the cluster gj-, where the g is silent and the word starts on the "y"-glide, and in lj-, where the l is silent: gjøre (to do) is /ˈjøːrə/ ("YØ-reh") and ljå (scythe) is /joː/ ("yaw"). These are fewer than the hv- words but follow the same logic — a silent first consonant in a fixed cluster.
Silent t: det and the neuter definite -et
This is the class to overlearn. The pronoun/article det (it / that / the) is pronounced /deː/ ("deh") — the final t is silent. And the neuter definite suffix -et (the marker that turns hus "a house" into huset "the house") is pronounced /ə/ with a silent t.
det
it / that — /deː/, 'deh'; the t is silent (this is one of the ten most common words in Norwegian)
huset
the house — /ˈhʉːsə/, 'HOO-seh'; the -t of -et is silent
eplet
the apple — /ˈeːplə/, 'EP-leh'; silent -t
været
the weather — /ˈvæːrə/, 'VÆ-reh'; silent -t
Because det and neuter -et words appear in nearly every sentence, pronouncing those t*s is the single most reliable "tell" of a beginner. Mastering the silence early pays off constantly — and it has a knock-on benefit: it trains your ear, so when a native says *huset as "HOO-seh" you do not mishear it as a different word. (The spelling still keeps the t — see the definite-suffix page for how the suffix is written.)
A note on spelling
Every one of these letters is silent but still written, and it still matters for spelling. God keeps its d, the question words keep their hv-, viktig keeps its g, and huset keeps its t. Drop the letter in writing and you have a spelling error, even though you were right not to pronounce it. The silence is a fact about sound, not about spelling.
Common Mistakes
❌ god said as English 'good'
Incorrect — sounding the silent d
✅ god = /guː/
'goo' — the d is silent
❌ med said as 'medd'
Incorrect — sounding the d
✅ med = /meː/
'meh', no d
❌ viktig said as 'VIK-tig' with a hard g
Incorrect — sounding the g in the -ig ending
✅ viktig = /ˈvikti/
'VIK-ti', g silent
❌ hva said as 'hwah' with an aspirated h
Incorrect — English h-instinct; hv- has no h-sound
✅ hva = /vɑː/
'vah' — starts on v
❌ det said as 'det' / huset said as 'HOO-set'
Incorrect — sounding the silent -t; the #1 beginner tell
✅ det = /deː/ ('deh'), huset = /ˈhʉːsə/ ('HOO-seh')
The final t of det and of neuter -et is silent
Key Takeaways
- Silent d after a vowel: god "goo", med "meh", bord "boor".
- Silent g in the -ig ending: viktig "VIK-ti", deilig "DÆY-li"; and in og "aw".
- Silent h in hv-/hj-: hva "vah", hvor "voor", hjem "yemm".
- Silent t in det ("deh") and the neuter definite -et (huset = "HOO-seh") — overlearn this; it is the loudest beginner accent in Norwegian.
- The letters stay in the spelling even though they are silent.
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- Norwegian Pronunciation: OverviewA1 — A high-level map of the Norwegian (Bokmål) sound system for English speakers — the vowels, the kj/skj fricatives, retroflex flapping, silent letters, and pitch accent — built on the one truth that Bokmål is a spelling standard, not a pronunciation standard.
- Question Words: hva, hvem, hvor, hvorfor, hvilkenA1 — The Norwegian hv- question words — what, who, where, why, how, when, which — with the silent h, inversion after fronting, hvor for 'how' before adjectives, and hvilken's agreement.
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