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Agreement in Norwegian noun phrases

For a broader exposition of the noun and noun phrase, see The Noun Phrase - Norwegian.

In the pattern:

               Det(erminer)	Adj(ective)	N(oun)

all three items have to agree with each other with respect to gender, number and definiteness (and when only two occur, they of course need to agree). So, if one item is masculine gender, they all are:

    a     Det [Masc]		Adj [Masc]		N [Masc]

If one item is feminine gender, they all are:

    b     Det [Fem]	        Adj [Fem]	        N [Fem]

And if one item is neuter gender, they all are:

    c     Det [Neut]	        Adj [Neut]	        N [Neut]

For number it is the same thing - if one item is singular, they all are, and likewise if one of them is plural:

    d     Det [Sing]		Adj [Sing]		N [Sing]
or
    e     Det [Plur]	        Adj [Plur]	        N [Plur]

The third marked property is that of definiteness, and if we distinguish just between 'definite' and 'indefinite', then the same 'all-with-one' patterns obtain:

    f     Det [Definite]		Adj [Definite]		 N [Definite]
or
    g     Det [Indefinite]	        Adj [Indefinite]	 N [Indefinite]

The exact way in which these properties are expressed differs: Nouns per se have one of the three genders (see Gender in Norwegian nouns), but you cannot see from the bare stem of a noun which gender it has. Number is expressed by an ending for plural vs no marking for singular. Definiteness is expressed partly by an ending on the noun, partly by a freestanding determiner (see Definite determiners in Norwegian); some determiners and quantifiers count as indefinite, some as definite (on exactly why, see The Noun Phrase - Norwegian). These items sometimes reflect the gender of the noun as well. Moreover, there is normally at most one inflectional 'morph' per word which signals any of these properties, and so this morph can signal more than one of the properties simultaneously.

Thus, the way in which an item 'has' gender, number or definiteness varies a lot across Det, Adj and N, but in a bird's eye perspective, one can still keep the pattern now explained in mind. We here list examples of the combinations that are possible from this bird's eye perspective:

Masculine+Singular+Indefinite (a+d+g):  en snill gutt ('a kind boy')

Feminine+Singular+Indefinite ( b+d+g): ei snill jente ('a kind girl')

Neuter+Singular+Indefinite (c+d+g):  et stort hus ('a big house')

Masculine+Singular+Definite (a+d+f): den snille gutten ('the kind boy')

Feminine+Singular+Definite (b+d+f):  den snille jenta ('the kind girl')

Neuter+Singular+Definite (c+d+f):  det store huset ('the big house')

Masculine+Plural+Indefinite (a+e+g): noen snille gutter ('some kind boys')

Feminine+Plural+Indefinite (b+e+g): noen snille jenter ('some kind girls')

Neuter+Plural+Indefinite (c+e+g): noen store hus ('some big houses')

Masculine+Plural+Definite (a+e+f): de snille guttene ('the kind boys')

Feminine+Plural+Definite (b+e+f): de snille jentene ('the kind girls')

Neuter+Plural+Definite (c+e+f): de store husene ('the big houses')

We then illustrate the example sentences such that you can see exactly which morphs carry which information - see the specifications in blue. As mentioned, there is at most one inflectional 'morph' - that is, word-part - per word which signals any of the properties mentioned. When it does, this morph can thus signal more than one of the properties simultaneously. For instance, in the first example below, en is marked as INDEF.SG.MASC, thus for all the properties in question, whereas the other markings only show for some of INDEF, SG, and MASC. Note that the latter are however compatible with the full marking on "en".

en snill gutt.

en

INDEFSGMASC

ART

snill

kindINDEFSG

ADJ

gutt

boyMASC

N

ei snill jente.

ei

INDEFFEMSG

ART

snill

kindINDEFSG

ADJ

jente

girlFEM

N

et stort hus.

et

INDEFNEUTSG

ART

stort
stor	t
large	INDEFNEUTSG
ADJ

hus

houseNEUT

N

den snille gutten.

den

DEFMASCSG

DET

snille
snill	e
kind	DEF
ADJ

gutten
gutt	en
boyMASC	DEFMASCSG
N

den snille jenta.

den

DEFFEMSG

DET

snille
snill	e
kind	DEF
ADJ

jenta
jent	a
girlFEM	DEFFEMSG
N

det store huset.

det

DEFNEUTSG

DET

store
stor	e
large	DEF
ADJ

huset
hus	et
houseNEUT	DEFNEUTSG
N

noen snille gutter.

noen

PLINDEF

QUANT

snille
snill	e
kind	PL
ADJ

gutter
gutt	er
boyMASC	INDEFPLMASC
N

noen snille jenter.

noen

somePLINDEF

QUANT

snille
snill	e
kind	PLINDEF
ADJ

jenter
jente	r
girl	INDEFPL
N

noen store hus.

noen

somePLINDEF

QUANT

store
stor	e
	PL
ADJ

hus

NEUTPLINDEF

N

de snille guttene.

de

PLDEF

DET

snille
snill	e
kind	PLDEF
ADJ

guttene
gutt	ene
boyMASC	PLDEF
N

de snille jentene.

de

PLDEF

DET

snille
snill	e
kind	PLDEF
ADJ

jentene
jent	ene
girlFEM	PLDEF
N

de store husene.

de

PLDEF

DET

store
stor	e
large	PLDEF
ADJ

husene
hus	ene
houseNEUT	PLDEF
N

We now comment on the forms that can fill the slots exemplified:

Determiners

Determiners as a category comprise articles, demonstrative pronouns and quantifiers. Some of these items are listed below, in the required forms relative to the specification of the noun:

Occurring with a masculine noun

when ‘indefinite singular’: en (article), noen (quantifier, countable), noe (quantifier, non-countable), hver (univ. quantifier), all (quantifier, non-countable)

when ‘indefinite plural’: noen (quantifier), alle (univ.quantifier), ), begge (univ. quantifier for two), disse (demonstrative)

when ‘definite singular’ : den (article or demonstrative), all (quantifier, non-countable), denne (demonstrative)

when ‘definite plural’.: de (article or demonstrative), alle (univ.quantifier), begge (univ. quantifier for two), disse (demonstrative)

Occurring with a feminine noun

– same as for masculine, except for using indefinite singular ei rather then en.

Occurring with a neuter noun

when ‘indefinite singular’: et (article), noe (quantifier, countable), noe (quantifier, non-countable), hvert (univ. quantifier), alt (quantifier, non-countable)

when ‘indefinite plural’: noen (quantifier), alle (univ.quantifier), ), begge (univ. quantifier for two), disse (demonstrative)

when ‘definite singular’ : det (article or demonstrative), alt (quantifier, non-countable), dette (demonstrative)

when ‘definite plural’.: de (article or demonstrative), alle (univ.quantifier), begge (univ. quantifier for two), disse (demonstrative)

The constellations where a (definite) article or demonstrative occurs together with a definite form of the noun (singular or plural) is generally referred to as ‘double definiteness’. Since these manifestations of 'definiteness' can in principle occur independently of each other, we need to distinguish between noun-definiteness and det-definiteness, the former residing in the definite noun suffix, the latter in a definite article, a demonstrative or - to be seen below - a genitive.

Adjectives

When an adjective occurs in the ‘definite’ pattern, it has a so-called weak form, ending in –e.

In the strong form, i.e., when occurring in the indefinite pattern, the adjective has the following inflections:

with a masculine singular noun: no ending

with a feminine singular noun: no ending

with a neuter singular noun: -t

with a plural noun, any gender: -e

(As may be be noted, weak form and strong plural form are identical.)

Adjectives ending in -a generally have no ending in all forms.