Numbers in Norwegian

How numbers work in Norwegian

Norwegian has separate words for 0 to 12: null, en, to … elleve, tolv. From 13 to 19 the numbers end in -ten: tretten, fjorten, femten, seksten, sytten, atten, nitten. Seven has two accepted forms: sju and syv.

The tens end in -ti: tjue, tretti, førti, femti, seksti, sytti, åtti, nitti. The unit is attached without a space: tjueen, trettifem, nittini.

Until 1951 Norwegian, like Danish and German, put the unit first: enogtjue (21), femogtretti (35). You will still hear this from older speakers and it is not wrong, but courses teach the newer ten-first order.

Hundre and tusen are often said without ett: hundre, tusen, to hundre, to tusen. A million is en million, plural to millioner.

The ordinals up to ten are første, andre, tredje, fjerde, femte, sjette, sjuende (or syvende), åttende, niende, tiende.

Halv counts towards the next hour: halv fire means 3:30, not 4:30. Between 20 and 40 minutes past, Norwegians count from halv: ti på halv tre (ten to half three) is 2:20, ti over halv ni (ten past half nine) is 8:40. Near the full hour you say over (past) and på (to): fem over sju, kvart på fire.

Conversation uses the 12-hour clock; official times, radio and timetables use the 24-hour clock: fjorten tjue. You will hear klokken as well as klokka.