Jeg har fire bøker.

I have four books.

Breakdown of Jeg har fire bøker.

• jeg: I
• ha: to have
• boken: the book
• fire: four

Questions & Answers about Jeg har fire bøker.

Why is there no article before the words in bold (fire bøker)?

Norwegian drops the indefinite article after numbers. So you say en/ei bok for one book, but with a numeral you use the indefinite plural: to/tre/fire bøker. No article is used before the noun when a number is present.

Why is the plural bøker and not something like boker?

Bok has an irregular plural with vowel change (o → ø) plus the ending -er. The main forms:

• Indefinite singular: en/ei bok
• Definite singular: boka (feminine) / boken (common gender)
• Indefinite plural: bøker
• Definite plural: bøkene

What’s the difference between bøker and bøkene?

• bøker = books (indefinite): Jeg har fire bøker (I have four books).
• bøkene = the books (definite): Jeg har de fire bøkene (I have the four books). If you mean “four of the books (that we’ve been talking about),” say Jeg har fire av bøkene.

How do you pronounce the sentence?

Approximate/IPA (Urban East Norwegian):

• Jeg ≈ “yai” /jæɪ/
• har ≈ “har” with a broad a (as in “father”) /hɑːr/
• fire ≈ “FEE-reh” /ˈfiːrə/
• bøker ≈ “BUR-kehr” with ø like French “eu” in “peur” /ˈbøːkər/ The letter ø is like German “ö.” The g in jeg is silent. Dialects vary (e.g., many say eg, je, or æ for jeg).

Does the verb har change with the subject?

No. Present tense is the same for all persons:

• jeg/du/han/hun/vi/dere/de har Past: hadde. Past participle: hatt (e.g., Jeg har hatt fire bøker før).

Is the word order fixed? Can I say something like “Jeg fire har bøker”?

Use Subject–Verb–Object in a simple statement: Jeg har fire bøker. “Jeg fire har bøker” is wrong. Also remember Norwegian main clauses are V2 (the finite verb is in second position), so with a fronted element: I dag har jeg fire bøker.

How do I ask “Do you have four books?” in Norwegian?

Use verb-first word order and no “do”-support: Har du fire bøker?
For “How many books do you have?”: Hvor mange bøker har du?

How do I negate it? Is Jeg har ikke fire bøker the same as “I don’t have any books”?

• Jeg har ikke fire bøker = I don’t have four (I have a different number). For zero, use:
• Jeg har ikke noen bøker or Jeg har ingen bøker (I don’t have any books). For “only,” use bare: Jeg har bare tre bøker.

Should jeg be capitalized like English “I”?

No. jeg is not capitalized in the middle of a sentence. It’s capitalized here only because it starts the sentence: Jeg har …

How do adjectives work with numbers here?

Adjectives take plural -e in the indefinite after a numeral:

• Jeg har fire store bøker (I have four big books). With definite plural, you add the article de and keep -e:
• Jeg har de fire store bøkene.

Is bok masculine or feminine? Which article should I use?

In Bokmål, bok is traditionally feminine, but you can treat many feminine nouns as common gender. Both are accepted:

• Indefinite singular: ei bok (feminine) or en bok (common)
• Definite singular: boka (feminine) or boken (common)
• Plurals: bøker/bøkene (same regardless) In everyday speech, ei bok/boka is very common; in more formal writing you’ll see en bok/boken too.

How do I say “I have four of the books” versus “I have the four books”?

• “Four of the books”: Jeg har fire av bøkene.
• “The four books”: Jeg har de fire bøkene (specific, known set of four).

Do Norwegians use har the same way English uses “have” for age or states?

• Age uses er, not har: Jeg er 20 år (I am 20 years old).
• Some states use har: Jeg har det bra (I’m doing well), Jeg har tid (I have time), Jeg har lyst til å … (I feel like/want to …).

If I mean “I’m carrying/bringing four books,” is Jeg har fire bøker the best choice?

For “have with me,” use ha med:

• Jeg har med (meg) fire bøker (I’m bringing/have four books with me). Jeg har fire bøker usually suggests general possession, not necessarily on your person.]

Do numerals change form? Does fire ever inflect?

Cardinal numerals like fire don’t inflect. The ordinal is fjerde (fourth). For the number 1, you may write én (with accent) to stress the numeral and distinguish it from the article en: Jeg har én bok, but Jeg har en bok can mean “a book.”