Jeg kjenner personen.

• Jeg = I
• kjenner = know / am acquainted with
• personen = the person

So the natural English meaning is I know the person.

In Norwegian, the definite article is often attached to the end of the noun.

• en person = a person
• personen = the person

So instead of putting a separate word like English the in front, Norwegian usually adds a definite ending.

Here, -en is the definite singular ending for this noun.

Kjenne is the infinitive form, meaning to know or to be acquainted with.

Kjenner is the present tense:

• å kjenne = to know
• jeg kjenner = I know

A useful thing to remember is that Norwegian verbs do not change according to the subject the way they do in English:

• jeg kjenner = I know
• du kjenner = you know
• vi kjenner = we know

The verb form stays the same.

Norwegian has more than one verb that can translate as to know.

The most important difference is:

• kjenne = know a person, place, or something through familiarity
• vite = know a fact or piece of information

So:

• Jeg kjenner personen = I know the person
• Jeg vet hvem personen er = I know who the person is

You normally do not say Jeg vet personen.

Usually, it means I know that person in the sense of being familiar with them or acquainted with them.

Depending on context, it can sometimes suggest familiarity rather than deep personal closeness. If you specifically want to say I recognize the person, Norwegian often uses:

• Jeg kjenner igjen personen = I recognize the person

So kjenner by itself is usually broader and more like know than specifically recognize.

This is the normal word order for a simple statement in Norwegian:

• Subject + verb + object

So here:

• Jeg = subject
• kjenner = verb
• personen = object

This is very similar to English:

• I know the person

Norwegian does change word order in some other sentence types, especially because of the verb-second rule, but this basic sentence follows the most common pattern.

Person is usually treated as a masculine noun in Bokmål:

• en person = a person
• personen = the person

That is why the definite singular form is personen.

If you are learning Bokmål, this is the form you should use.

Yes, it is completely grammatical and natural.

It works best when the person has already been identified in the conversation, just like in English. For example:

• Hvem er han?
• Jeg kjenner personen.

In some real-life situations, a Norwegian speaker might choose a more specific word if they know whether they mean him, her, or a named person. But Jeg kjenner personen is still a correct and natural sentence.

The pronunciation of jeg varies quite a bit by dialect.

In many common pronunciations, it sounds roughly like:

• yai
• sometimes closer to yay

The spelling is fixed, but the spoken form changes depending on region and speaking style. That is very normal in Norwegian.

The beginning kj sound can be tricky for English speakers.

A practical beginner idea is:

• kjenner sounds roughly like HYEN-ner or sometimes a soft SHEN-ner, depending on the speaker

The exact Norwegian kj sound does not match a normal English sound perfectly, and many native speakers pronounce it differently depending on dialect and age.

The most important thing at first is to recognize the word and not worry if your pronunciation is not perfect right away.