A normal relative clause hangs off a noun: the man *who came, boka **som jeg leste. A *free relative (also called a headless relative) has no such noun — the relative clause itself does the job of the noun: Whoever said that is lying, What you need is sleep. Here English uses special words — whoever, whatever, what — that fold the missing noun and the relative pronoun into one. Norwegian does it differently, and the difference hides a trap that catches almost every English speaker: Norwegian builds free relatives out of a little pronoun + som, and when the free relative is the subject of its own clause, that som becomes obligatory in a way English never prepares you for.
The building blocks: den / det / de + som
Norwegian assembles a free relative from a demonstrative-like pronoun plus the relative word som:
| Norwegian | English | Refers to |
|---|---|---|
| den som | the one who / whoever | a person (singular) |
| det som | what / that which | a thing / a whole idea |
| de som | those who / the ones who | people (plural) |
The logic is transparent once you see it: den/det/de is the empty "noun" (the one, the thing, the ones) and som is the relative that attaching the clause to it. English whoever literally unpacks to the one who — and Norwegian keeps those two pieces visibly separate.
Den som ler sist, ler best.
He who laughs last, laughs best. (whoever laughs last)
Det som teller, er at du prøvde.
What counts is that you tried.
De som kom for sent, fikk ikke plass.
Those who came late didn't get a seat.
det som = English "what"
This is the single most useful equation on this page. When English uses "what" to mean the thing that — not the question word — Norwegian uses det som:
Det som plager meg, er at ingen sa noe.
What bothers me is that nobody said anything.
Jeg forstår ikke det som skjedde i går.
I don't understand what happened yesterday.
Fortell meg det som er sant, ikke det du tror jeg vil høre.
Tell me what's true, not what you think I want to hear.
Notice the last example: det som er sant (subject — som present) but det du tror (object — som dropped). That contrast is the heart of the next section.
English has no separate word for this what; it just says what. So English speakers reach for a bare hva — and that is wrong in a statement. Hva is the question word; what as a relative is det som / det. (We return to hva som below, where it really does belong.)
The som trap: subject vs object
A free relative contains a hidden gap — the spot where the missing noun would have stood inside the clause. Where that gap sits decides whether som is obligatory:
- If the gap is the subject of the relative clause → som is obligatory.
- If the gap is the object → som can be dropped (exactly like ordinary relatives).
This is not a new rule. It is the same drop rule you already know from pronouns/relative-som: a relative som is mandatory as a subject and optional as an object. Free relatives simply reuse it.
Det som teller, er innsatsen.
What counts is the effort. (gap = subject → som required)
Jeg tar det du anbefaler.
I'll take what you recommend. (gap = object → som dropped)
Jeg tar det som er billigst.
I'll take whichever is cheapest. (gap = subject → som required)
In det du anbefaler, you is already the subject of the clause and the gap is the object of anbefaler ("you recommend [it]") — so som drops, just as in boka du anbefaler (the book you recommend). In det som teller, the gap is the subject of teller — so som stays. Same noun-less det, opposite som, decided entirely by the gap.
hva som: free relatives inside questions and reports
There is one place where Norwegian uses hva — not det — in a headless clause: after verbs of knowing, asking, wondering, and seeing, where English would use what in an indirect question.
Jeg vet ikke hva som skjedde.
I don't know what happened.
Hun spurte hva som var galt.
She asked what was wrong.
Ingen forsto hva som hadde gått feil.
Nobody understood what had gone wrong.
And here is the trap that the brief flags: when hva is the subject of the embedded clause, you must add som — hva som, never bare hva. This is the same subject-som rule again, now inside an embedded question (see syntax/embedded-questions). English what needs no helper word, so English speakers consistently drop the som and write Jeg vet ikke hva skjedde — which is ungrammatical.
When hva is the object of the embedded clause, there is no extra som:
Jeg vet ikke hva du mener.
I don't know what you mean. (hva = object → no som)
Si meg hva du vil ha.
Tell me what you want. (object → no som)
So both det and hva obey one rule: subject gap → som; object gap → no som. The only difference is register and context — hva som belongs to questions and reports (know, ask, wonder), while det som is the all-purpose "the thing that" of statements.
The -som helst series: "any … at all"
Add helst to a question word + som and you get the free-choice "any … you like / at all" series. These are fixed and worth memorizing as a block:
| Norwegian | English |
|---|---|
| hvem som helst | anyone (at all) |
| hva som helst | anything (at all) |
| hvor som helst | anywhere |
| når som helst | anytime / at any moment |
| hvilken som helst | any (one you like) |
Hvem som helst kan lære seg dette.
Anyone can learn this.
Du kan ringe meg når som helst.
You can call me anytime.
Velg hvilken som helst farge du vil.
Pick any colour you like.
Note that helst alone means "preferably/rather" (Jeg vil helst gå — "I'd rather walk"), so the meaning of the set phrase is not fully predictable from the parts — treat X som helst as a unit.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jeg vet ikke hva skjedde.
Incorrect — when hva is the subject of the embedded clause, som is obligatory.
✅ Jeg vet ikke hva som skjedde.
I don't know what happened.
❌ Det teller, er innsatsen.
Incorrect — a subject free relative still needs som.
✅ Det som teller, er innsatsen.
What counts is the effort.
❌ Hva jeg trenger, er søvn.
Incorrect — 'what' as a relative in a statement is det som, not bare hva.
✅ Det jeg trenger, er søvn.
What I need is sleep. (gap = object of trenger → no extra som)
❌ Den som du anbefaler, tar jeg.
Incorrect — for a thing use det, not den (den is for people); and the gap here is an object.
✅ Det du anbefaler, tar jeg.
I'll take what you recommend.
❌ Hvem som helst person kan komme.
Incorrect — for 'any (one)' before a noun, use hvilken som helst, not hvem som helst.
✅ Hvilken som helst person kan komme.
Any person at all can come.
Key Takeaways
- Build free relatives from den/det/de + som: den som (whoever), det som (what), de som (those who).
- English relative "what" = Norwegian det som (subject gap) or det (object gap) — never a bare hva in a statement.
- The subject-som rule is the trap: a subject gap forces som (det som teller, hva som skjedde), an object gap lets you drop it (det du anbefaler).
- In indirect questions, the same rule gives hva som for a subject and hva for an object.
- The -som helst phrases (hvem som helst, hva som helst, når som helst, hvilken som helst) are fixed "any … at all" expressions.
Now practice Norwegian
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- Relative ClausesB1 — How to build relative clauses with som — when it is mandatory, when you can drop it, why ikke moves in front of the verb, and how preposition stranding works.
- Embedded and Indirect QuestionsB2 — How indirect questions take subordinate (no-inversion) word order, use om for embedded yes/no, and require som when the wh-word is the subject (jeg vet ikke hvem som ringte).
- Relative Pronouns: som and derA2 — Norwegian collapses English's who/whom/which/that into a single relative word, som — invariant for people and things alike, droppable as an object but never as a subject (boka jeg leste vs mannen som kom).
- det and den: Expletive vs ReferentialB2 — Norwegian has two different dets: a referential pronoun pointing at a neuter noun or a whole idea (huset? det er stort), and an expletive dummy that fills an empty slot with no referent at all (det regner, det er fint å se deg).