Du har en hund.

You have a dog.

Breakdown of Du har en hund.

• du: you
• ha: to have
• en: a
• hund: the dog

Questions & Answers about Du har en hund.

What does du mean?

Du is the Norwegian personal pronoun for you (singular). It’s used when addressing one person directly in an informal and general context, much like you in English when speaking to a single person.

Why is the verb har used instead of ha?

Har is the present tense of the verb å ha (to have). In Norwegian, you always use har for the present tense, regardless of the subject, so du har translates to you have.

Why do we say en instead of another article?

Norwegian has three grammatical genders for nouns: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Hund (dog) is a masculine noun, so the indefinite article is en. Other nouns might use ei (feminine) or et (neuter).

How do I know hund is masculine?

Many words that refer to living creatures can be masculine, though it's not a universal rule. Over time, you’ll get used to which nouns are masculine, feminine, or neuter. Dictionaries also usually list the gender of each noun.

Is there a difference between en hund and hunden?

Yes. En hund is the indefinite form (meaning a dog), while hunden is the definite form (meaning the dog). The definite form adds -en (or sometimes -en plus other changes) to the end of a masculine noun.