Proper Nouns in Norwegian

Proper nouns (or names) and common or generic nouns are the two main types of nouns in Norwegian. Common nouns include non-specific people, places, things, or ideas.

Proper Nouns

In Norwegian, proper nouns are written with a capital letter at the beginning, just like in English.

Here are some examples of proper nouns in Norwegian:

Oslo (the capital of Norway )
Stavanger (a city in Norway)
Hanne (woman’s name)
Lise (woman’s name)
Håkon (man’s name)
Viktor (man’s name)
Nettavisen (online newspaper)
Dagens Næringsliv (Norwegian financial newspaper);
Telenor (company)
Hydro (company)
Spania (Spain)
Italia (Italy)

 

Proper nouns – definite or plural form

Proper nouns in Norwegian differ from common nouns in that they do not usually have a definite or plural form, though this does happen occasionally.

For example:
Toyotaen (the Toyota)
Teslaen (the Tesla)

 

Proper nouns – s genitive form

Norwegian proper nouns often have an –s genitive form:

Håkons mor (Håkon’s mother)
Viktors datamaskin (Viktor’s computer)
Norges Rederiforbund (the Norwegian Shipowners Association)
Norges Fotballforbund (the Norwegian Football Association)