Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Hun er allerede gift, men han er fortsatt singel. - She is already married, but he is still single.

In main clauses, Norwegian normally keeps the verb in second position (the V2 rule). After the verb, common adverbs like allerede, ikke, ofte, snart often come next.

So:

Hun er allerede gift. = She is already married.
- Hun (subject)
- er (verb – second position)
- allerede (adverb)
- gift (adjective / predicate)

You can also say Hun er gift allerede, which is correct but puts a bit more emphasis on allerede (“she’s married already, wow / so soon / earlier than expected”).

Why is gift used for “married”? Does it change form for gender or plural?

Here gift is an adjective meaning married. It is indeclinable in this meaning: it keeps the same form for masculine, feminine, neuter, and plural.

Examples:

Han er gift. – He is married.
Hun er gift. – She is married.
De er gift. – They are married. (as a couple or as people, depending on context)
Disse menneskene er gift. – These people are married.

You do not add endings like -t or -e here (gifts, gifte etc. are wrong for “married”).

Does gift really also mean “poison”? How do I know which meaning is intended?

Yes, Norwegian gift can mean both:

married (adjective)
poison (noun, en gift)

You tell them apart by grammar and context:

As an adjective:
- Hun er gift. – er
  - adjective. Clearly “married”.
As a noun:
- Dette er en gift. – article en
  - noun. Here it must mean “a poison”.

In your sentence, gift comes after er and describes the subject hun, so it’s the adjective “married”.

What is the nuance of fortsatt? Is it just “still”?

Fortsatt usually translates as still in the sense of continuing to be in the same state as before.

So:

Han er fortsatt singel. – He is still single. (He was single before, and that hasn’t changed.)

Some rough comparisons:

fortsatt – “still (continuing)”:
- Jeg bor fortsatt i Oslo. – I still live in Oslo.
enda – can mean “still” in some contexts, but is also used as even (in comparisons) or to mean yet (often with negatives or questions):
- Er han ikke ferdig enda? – Isn’t he finished yet?
- Enda bedre. – Even better.
stadig – more like “continually / over and over / increasingly” depending on context:
- Han kommer stadig for sent. – He keeps coming late / is constantly late.

In your sentence, fortsatt is the most natural choice for “still (single)”.

Can I put fortsatt somewhere else in the sentence, like Han er singel fortsatt?

Yes, that’s possible, and it’s idiomatic:

Han er fortsatt singel. – neutral, very common.
Han er singel fortsatt. – also fine; often with a slight emphasis on fortsatt (as in “still, even now”).

What you generally shouldn’t say in a simple main clause is:

✗ Han fortsatt er singel. – sounds wrong in standard Norwegian; the finite verb normally stays in second position in main clauses.

Why is singel spelled with -el and not like English single?

Norwegian singel is a loanword from English single, but it has been adapted to Norwegian spelling and pronunciation rules:

Spelling: singel (no g
- l combination like English)
Usual meaning in everyday speech: single (not in a romantic relationship / not married)

Pronunciation is typically close to SIN-gel, with a short i and a schwa-like second syllable: [ˈsɪŋəl].

Is singel the same as ugift and enslig, or is there a difference?

They overlap, but there are differences in nuance:

singel – focused on relationship status (romantic / dating).
- Common, informal, modern:
  - Jeg er singel. – I’m single (not in a relationship).
ugift – literally unmarried. Legal/formal / neutral.
- Han er ugift. – He is unmarried. (Neutral, more about marital status than dating.)
enslig – single / alone, often used in more formal or bureaucratic contexts, or to stress living alone / being without a partner or family:
- En enslig mor. – A single mother.
- En enslig mann. – A man living alone / single man (context matters).

In your sentence, singel matches best, because we’re contrasting relationship status: gift (married) vs singel (single).

Why is it men han er fortsatt singel and not og han er fortsatt singel?

men means but – it introduces a contrast.
og means and – it just adds information, with no contrast implied.

The sentence highlights a contrast:

Hun er allerede gift, men han er fortsatt singel.
– She is already married, but he is still single. (Opposite situations.)

If you said og instead, it would sound like you are simply listing two neutral facts, without emphasizing the difference.

Why is the verb er in second position in both clauses?

Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule: the finite verb usually comes in the second slot, regardless of what is in first position.

First clause:

Hun er allerede gift.
- 1st element: Hun (subject)
- 2nd element: er (finite verb)
- Rest: allerede gift

Second clause (after the conjunction men, which doesn’t count as the first element in V2):

men han er fortsatt singel.
- 1st element: han (subject)
- 2nd element: er (finite verb)
- Rest: fortsatt singel

This is standard word order in Norwegian main clauses.

Could I say Hun allerede er gift, like in English “she already is married”?

In a normal main clause, that word order is wrong in Norwegian. Because of the V2 rule, you want:

Hun er allerede gift. (correct)
✗ Hun allerede er gift. (incorrect in standard Norwegian)

However, you can get Hun allerede er gift as part of a longer sentence where Hun allerede er gift is in a subordinate clause:

Jeg vet at hun allerede er gift. – I know that she is already married.

Here at makes it a subordinate clause, and in subordinate clauses the verb is not forced to be in second position, so allerede er is fine.

Is there any special reason why hun and han are used here, and not something like hen?

hun = she
han = he

These are the standard third-person singular gendered pronouns.

A gender-neutral pronoun hen has been proposed and is understood by many, but:

It’s not (yet) the default in standard Bokmål writing.
It’s more common in certain contexts (LGBTQ+ discussions, progressive writing, etc.).

In ordinary, neutral sentences about a specific woman and man, you would use hun and han, as in your example.

Is men (but) related to menn (men), or are they totally different words?

They are completely different words that just look and sound similar:

men – conjunction, means but.
menn – plural of mann, means men (adult males).

Pronunciation:

men (“but”) – usually [men], short e.
menn (“men”) – also [men], but with a longer consonant n; in fast speech they are often hard to distinguish, so you rely on context.

In your sentence, grammar makes it clear that men is a conjunction, not a noun.

How would I negate this sentence? For example: “She is not already married, but he is still single.”

The basic negation word is ikke (“not”). It usually goes right after the verb in a main clause.

One natural version:

Hun er ikke gift ennå, men han er fortsatt singel.
- = She is not married yet, but he is still single.

A closer structure to your original might be:

Hun er ikke allerede gift, men han er fortsatt singel.

This is grammatically fine, but a bit unusual in meaning; it sounds like you’re denying the idea that she was already married (focus on allerede), rather than simply saying she’s not married yet. In practice, Norwegians more often say ikke gift ennå.

How would I say “They are already married, but we are still single” using the same pattern?

Following the same structure:

De er allerede gift, men vi er fortsatt single.

Breakdown:

De – they
er – are
allerede gift – already married
men – but
vi – we
er fortsatt single – are still single

You’ll also see singel used in plural as single (with -e) in Bokmål: vi er fortsatt single is common.

Any important pronunciation tips for this sentence?

Very briefly:

Hun – approx. HOON, but with Norwegian u/ʉ (fronted “oo” sound).
er – like air but shorter: [ær] or [er], depending on dialect.
allerede – stress on -re-: al-le-RE-de (≈ ah-leh-REH-deh).
gift – [jɪft], almost like “yift” (the g before i becomes a y sound).
men – like English men.
han – similar to English “hun” in hungry; hahn.
fortsatt – FORT-satt, with rt pronounced somewhat like a retroflex t in many dialects.
singel – SIN-gel, short i, weak final vowel e.

Putting it together naturally:
Hun er allerede gift, men han er fortsatt singel.
Try to keep the rhythm smooth, with a small pause before men.