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Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned.

Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned.
I have an exam in Norwegian next month.

Breakdown of Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned.

jeg
I
ha
to have
i
in
neste
next
måneden
the month
norsk
Norwegian
eksamenen
the exam
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Questions & Answers about Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned.

Why does Norwegian use har eksamen (literally have exam) instead of a verb like ta (take) or gjøre (do)?

Norwegian uses the fixed expression å ha eksamen for talking about exams in general:

  • Jeg har eksamen neste måned. – I have an exam next month.
  • Hun har eksamen i dag. – She has an exam today.

You can also say å ta eksamen, but that focuses more on the act of sitting / taking the exam at that moment:

  • Jeg skal ta eksamen i norsk neste måned. – I’m going to take the Norwegian exam next month.

Å gjøre eksamen is not idiomatic in this context.

Why is there no article in Jeg har eksamen i norsk? Why not Jeg har en eksamen i norsk?

With certain nouns, Norwegian often leaves out the article when you talk about a general activity, state or period. Eksamen is one of these.

  • Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned.
    = I’m in an exam period / I’ll be having (a) Norwegian exam(s).

If you say:

  • Jeg har en eksamen i norsk neste måned.

you emphasize one specific exam, often in contrast to others:

  • Jeg har en eksamen i norsk og to i matematikk.
    I have one exam in Norwegian and two in maths.

So:

  • No article (har eksamen) → general exam situation/period.
  • With article (har en eksamen) → count one particular exam.
What does the preposition i mean in eksamen i norsk, and could I use på instead?

In eksamen i norsk, i links the exam to the subject:

  • eksamen i norsk – an exam in the subject Norwegian.

Using på changes the meaning:

  • eksamen på norsk – an exam in the Norwegian language (the exam is conducted in Norwegian; your answers must be in Norwegian), regardless of the subject.

So:

  • eksamen i norsk → Norwegian as a school subject.
  • eksamen på norsk → the language used in the exam is Norwegian.

Both are correct, but they say different things.

Why is norsk not capitalized here, when Norwegian is capitalized in English?

In Norwegian, names of languages, nationalities, and adjectives derived from countries are written with a lowercase initial letter:

  • norsk, engelsk, tysk, fransk
  • en nordmann (a Norwegian person)

So:

  • English: Norwegian, English, German
  • Norwegian: norsk, engelsk, tysk

Countries themselves are capitalized (e.g. Norge, England), but the language norsk is not.

Is norsk here a noun (“Norwegian language”) or an adjective?

In eksamen i norsk, norsk functions as a noun meaning the subject / language Norwegian.

Compare:

  • Jeg lærer norsk. – I’m learning Norwegian (the language).
  • Jeg liker norsk mat. – I like Norwegian food.

In the second sentence, norsk is an adjective (Norwegian describing mat).
In your sentence, it stands alone after i and refers to the subject, so it’s a noun.

Can I move neste måned to the beginning and say Neste måned har jeg eksamen i norsk?

Yes, that is perfectly correct and very natural:

  • Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned.
  • Neste måned har jeg eksamen i norsk.

Both mean the same thing.

The important word-order rule is that in a main clause, the finite verb (har) must be in second position:

  • Neste måned har jeg eksamen i norsk.
    1. Adverbial: Neste måned
    2. Verb: har
    3. Subject: jeg
    4. The rest of the sentence

Sentences like Jeg neste måned har eksamen i norsk sound wrong in standard Norwegian because the verb is no longer in second position.

Is the word order Jeg har neste måned eksamen i norsk acceptable?

That word order sounds unnatural in standard Norwegian.

Typical positions are:

  • Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned. (time at the end)
  • Jeg har neste uke eksamen i norsk. (time right after the verb)
  • Neste måned har jeg eksamen i norsk. (time at the start)

Putting neste måned between har and eksamen is generally avoided in this kind of short, neutral sentence. Native speakers nearly always place the time expression either:

  1. Just after the verb, or
  2. At the very end of the clause, or
  3. At the very beginning of the sentence.
Why is it neste måned and not neste måneden?

With words like neste (next) and forrige (previous/last), Norwegian normally keeps the noun in the indefinite form:

  • neste måned – next month
  • forrige uke – last week
  • neste år – next year

So you do not say:

  • ✗ neste måneden
  • ✗ forrige uken (in neutral Bokmål; you’d normally say forrige uke)

The definite form (måneden) is used in other contexts, e.g.:

  • Måneden er snart over. – The month is almost over.
Can I say i neste måned, like “in the next month”?

I neste måned is grammatically possible, but in modern everyday Norwegian it sounds formal or old-fashioned in this context.

Neutral, natural choices are:

  • neste måned – next month
  • i mai, i juni – in May, in June (with the actual month name)

So:

  • Prefer: Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned.
  • Possible but marked/old-fashioned: Jeg har eksamen i norsk i neste måned.
Why is the verb har in the present tense when the exam is in the future? Could I say skal ha instead?

Norwegian often uses the present tense for scheduled future events, especially when there is a clear time expression:

  • Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned.
  • Jeg reiser til Oslo i morgen. – I travel / I’m travelling to Oslo tomorrow.

You can also say:

  • Jeg skal ha eksamen i norsk neste måned.

Both are correct. The differences are small:

  • har eksamen – slightly more neutral; the exam is on the schedule.
  • skal ha eksamen – can feel a bit more like “I’m going to have / I’m scheduled to have an exam”.

In everyday speech, har eksamen with a future time adverbial is very common.

Can I say norskeksamen or norsk eksamen instead of eksamen i norsk?

Yes, you will see different forms, but they are not all equally natural:

  1. norskeksamen (one word, compound)

    • Very natural and common as a specific exam name:
      • Jeg har norskeksamen neste måned.

  2. eksamen i norsk

    • Neutral descriptive phrase:
      • Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned.

  3. norsk eksamen (two words)

    • Less common in this sense; it can sound a bit vague, like “a Norwegian-style exam” rather than “an exam in Norwegian as a subject”.

So the best options are:

  • Jeg har norskeksamen neste måned.
  • Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned.
Can I omit i norsk and just say Jeg har eksamen neste måned?

Yes, that is perfectly correct:

  • Jeg har eksamen neste måned. – I have an exam next month.

In that case, you’re not specifying the subject. Listeners will either:

  • already know which exam you mean from context, or
  • assume you’re talking about your exam period in general.

Adding i norsk just tells us which subject the exam is in.

How do you pronounce Jeg har eksamen i norsk neste måned?

Pronunciation varies by dialect, but a common Eastern Norwegian pronunciation is roughly:

  • Jeg – like yai or yei [jæi]
  • har – hahr [hɑːr]
  • eksamen – ek-SAH-men [eˈksɑːmən]
  • i – like English ee [iː]
  • norsk – norshk with a retroflex rs [nɔʂk]
  • neste – NES-te [ˈnɛstə]
  • måned – MOH-neh(d) [ˈmoːnə(d)]

Said together, it flows something like:

[jæi hɑːr eˈksɑːmən iː nɔʂk ˈnɛstə ˈmoːnəd]

In normal speech it will be quite smooth, with some sounds reduced slightly depending on the speaker.