The 100 Most Common Norwegian Words

These are the 100 most common Norwegian words, ranked by how often they appear in real Norwegian text and speech, drawn from published word-frequency research. Frequency-first learning works: a small core of high-frequency words does most of the work in everyday sentences, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	og	oh	and
2	i	ee	in
3	å	oh	to
4	det	deh	it
5	som	sohm	that / which (relative)
6	en	ehn	one
7	være	VAA-reh	be
8	på	poh	on
9	av	ahv	of
10	for	for	for
11	med	meh	with
12	til	til	to
13	den	den	that
14	ikke	IK-keh	not (negation)
15	ha	hah	have
16	om	ohm	about
17	han	hahn	he
18	hun	hoon	she
19	de	dee	they
20	jeg	yay	I
21	du	doo	you
22	vi	vee	we
23	man	mahn	people
24	så	soh	so
25	men	men	but
26	seg	say	self
27	fra	frah	from
28	eller	EL-ler	or
29	kunne	KUN-neh	can
30	si	see	say
31	komme	KOM-meh	come
32	gjøre	YUR-eh	do
33	se	seh	see
34	vite	VEE-teh	know
35	år	ohr	year
36	tid	teed	time
37	dag	dahg	day
38	mye	MEE-eh	much
39	bra	brah	good
40	når	nohr	when
41	nå	noh	now
42	også	OHK-soh	too
43	alle	AH-leh	all
44	hva	vah	what
45	få	foh	get
46	gå	goh	go
47	stor	stoor	large
48	ny	new	new
49	menneske	MEN-nes-keh	person
50	etter	ET-ter	after
51	skulle	SKUL-leh	shall / should
52	ville	VIL-leh	want / will
53	bli	blee	become
54	måtte	MOHT-teh	must
55	ta	tah	take
56	denne	DEN-neh	this
57	annen	AHN-nen	other
58	mer	mair	more
59	her	hair	here
60	der	dair	there
61	da	dah	then / when (past)
62	bare	BAH-reh	only
63	enn	en	than
64	noen	NOO-en	someone / some
65	ingen	ING-en	no one / none
66	min	meen	my
67	din	deen	your
68	ved	veh	at / by
69	under	UN-der	under
70	over	OH-ver	over
71	ut	oot	out
72	opp	op	up
73	tenke	TENG-keh	think
74	tro	troo	believe
75	mene	MEH-neh	think (be of the opinion)
76	trenge	TRENG-eh	need
77	begynne	beh-YUN-neh	begin
78	gi	yee	give
79	stå	stoh	stand
80	ligge	LIG-geh	lie (be located)
81	finne	FIN-neh	find
82	spørre	SPUR-reh	ask
83	snakke	SNAHK-keh	speak / talk
84	gang	gahng	time (occasion)
85	barn	barn	child
86	liv	leev	life
87	land	lahn	country
88	verden	VAIR-den	world
89	hjem	yem	home
90	hus	hoos	house
91	del	dehl	part
92	to	too	two
93	første	FURSH-teh	first
94	mange	MAHNG-eh	many
95	samme	SAHM-meh	same
96	gammel	GAHM-mel	old
97	liten	LEE-ten	small
98	lang	lahng	long
99	aldri	AHL-dree	never
100	kanskje	KAHN-sheh	maybe

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Ranked by lemma frequency in published Norwegian corpus research; proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

Turn this list into flashcards Learn Norwegian online How spaced repetition works

Frequently asked questions about Norwegian words

How many Norwegian words do you need for a basic conversation?

Frequency research shows the 1,000 most common words cover roughly 85 percent of everyday speech, and the top 100 alone appear in almost every sentence. You can manage simple exchanges with a few hundred words; this list is the foundation to build on.

What is the fastest way to memorize these 100 words?

Spaced repetition: review each word just before you would forget it, at growing intervals. It moves vocabulary into long-term memory far faster than rereading a list. Turn the 100 words into flashcards and review a small batch daily; the whole list fits into two to three weeks.

Are 100 words enough to speak Norwegian?

No. One hundred words let you recognize the skeleton of most sentences, but not hold a real conversation. They are the right starting point: after this list, grow toward the most common 1,000 words and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this Norwegian word list come from?

From published Norwegian word-frequency research: lemma-ranked corpus lists cleaned for learners, with proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Rankings are approximate, since real usage varies by region and register, but the core is stable across corpora.