In this article, we will go through when you should use capital and lowercase letters and when not in Norwegian.
When to use capitalized letters
The first word in a sentence should be capitalized after a complete stop, a question mark, or an exclamation mark.
Jeg studerer norsk. (I am studying Norwegian.)
Hvor er du? (Where are you?)
First, middle, and last names should all be capitalized.
Læreren heter Jan Erik Kapstad Christensen. (The teacher’s name is Jan Erik Kapstad Christensen.)
Mamma, kan jeg besøke Håkon? (Mom, can I visit Håkon?)
The first letter in a fundamental state agency should be capitalized:
Stortinget (the Parliament)
Høyesterett (the Supreme Court)
When we have a complete sentence after a colon, we start the complete sentence with a capital letter:
Spørsmålet jeg stiller meg selv er: Når kommer han hjem? (The question I ask myself is: When will he return home?)
Etter et par uker i Norge forstod hun: Nordmenn elsker å spise brød! (After a couple of weeks in Norway she understood: Norwegians love to eat bread!)
The names of nations and cities should be capitalized.
Jeg bor i Oslo. (I live in Oslo.)
Sommeren i Norge er fantastisk! (The summer in Norway is great!)
When to use lowercase letters:
Nationalities should not be capitalized.
Han er kinesisk. (He is Chinese.)
Er hun norsk? (Is she Norwegian?)
Languages should not be capitalized.
Kan du snakke norsk? (Can you speak Norwegian?)
Han ønsker å lære seg kinesisk. (He wants to learn Chinese.)
The months of the year are not capitalized.
Han har bursdag i juli. (He has a birthday in July).
Jeg liker april bedre enn mars. (I like April better than March.)
Weekdays are not capitalized.
Kommer du på fredag? (Do you come on Friday?)
Skal du på jobb på mandag? (Will you go to work on Monday?)
Don’t capitalize holidays.
Hvor skal dere være i julen? (Where are you going to be during Christmas?)
Vi skal på hytten i påsken. (We are going to the cabin during the Easter.)
Periods, time periods, and historical events should sometimes not be capitalized and sometimes be capitalized.
svartedøden (the Black Death)
middelalderen (the Middle Ages)
But you say:
Golfkrigen (the Gulf War)
Vietnamkrigen (the Vietnam War)
Titles and vacancies should not be capitalized.
Dette gjelder også for underskrifter og visittkort. For example:
statsminister (Prime Minister)
advokat (lawyer)
Some international standardized abbreviations should always start with a lowercase letter, also when they are at the beginning of a sentence:
dB- desibel (decibel)
kHz – kilohertz (kiloherz)
pH – hydrogenpotensial (potential of hydrogen)
Family names that start with “von,” “van,” “de” etc., always start with lowercase.
For example, van Gogh, von der Lippe, etc.
Religions should not be capitalized, but many religious names should start with capitalized letters.
De første tilhengerne av buddhismen var fattige munker. (The first followers of Buddhism were poor munks.)
Hva vil det si å være kristen? (What does it mean to be a Christian?)
But you say:
Gud (God).
Den hellige ånd (The Holy Spirit)
Buddha
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