Jeg har tretti bøker.

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Breakdown of Jeg har tretti bøker.

• ha: to have
• boken: the book
• tretti: thirty

Questions & Answers about Jeg har tretti bøker.

What does each word in Jeg har tretti bøker mean?

• Jeg = I
• har = have (present tense of å ha = to have)
• tretti = thirty
• bøker = books (indefinite plural of bok = book)

So the sentence is literally I have thirty books.

Why is it har for I have, and not a special form like has in English?

Norwegian verbs do not change with the subject in the present tense.

So:

• jeg har = I have
• du har = you have
• han/hun har = he/she has
• vi har = we have
• dere har = you (plural) have
• de har = they have

It is always har, no matter who is doing the action. There is no separate form like English has.

How do you pronounce jeg?

In standard Eastern Norwegian (often taught to learners):

• jeg is usually pronounced roughly like yai in English (IPA: /jæi/ or /jai/).

However, in different dialects you may hear:

• je (like ye in yes)
• jæ
• eg

In writing for Bokmål, you will most often see jeg, even though the spoken form varies by region.