Numbers appear constantly in everyday Norwegian — prices, addresses, phone numbers, times, dates, and ages. They also come up in the Norskprøven reading and listening sections, where you may need to understand or write a number quickly. This guide covers everything from 1 to 1,000,000, plus ordinal numbers, dates, times, and practical usage tips.
Cardinal Numbers 1–20
| Number | Norwegian | Pronunciation note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | en / ett | en for common gender nouns, ett for neuter |
| 2 | to | Rhymes with "too" |
| 3 | tre | Like "treh" |
| 4 | fire | "fee-reh" |
| 5 | fem | Like "fem" |
| 6 | seks | Like "sex" |
| 7 | sju / syv | Both are correct; sju is more common in speech |
| 8 | åtte | "OT-teh" |
| 9 | ni | Like "knee" |
| 10 | ti | Like "tee" |
| 11 | elleve | "EL-leh-veh" |
| 12 | tolv | "tolv" (the l is pronounced) |
| 13 | tretten | "TRET-ten" |
| 14 | fjorten | "FYOOR-ten" |
| 15 | femten | "FEM-ten" |
| 16 | seksten | "SAY-sten" |
| 17 | sytten | "SIT-ten" |
| 18 | atten | "AT-ten" |
| 19 | nitten | "NIT-ten" |
| 20 | tjue / tyve | tjue is standard in modern Bokmål; tyve is older but still heard |
Tens: 20–90
| Number | Norwegian |
|---|---|
| 20 | tjue |
| 30 | tretti |
| 40 | førti |
| 50 | femti |
| 60 | seksti |
| 70 | sytti |
| 80 | åtti |
| 90 | nitti |
Compound numbers above 20 are formed by saying the tens first, then the units: tjueen (21), tjueto (22), trettifire (34), femtisju (57). They are written as one word.
Hundreds and Thousands
| Number | Norwegian |
|---|---|
| 100 | hundre |
| 200 | to hundre |
| 500 | fem hundre |
| 1,000 | tusen |
| 2,000 | to tusen |
| 10,000 | ti tusen |
| 100,000 | hundre tusen |
| 1,000,000 | en million |
Examples of compound numbers: tre hundre og femti (350), to tusen og tjueto (2,022), ni tusen fire hundre og syttiseks (9,476).
Norwegian uses a period (or space) as the thousands separator and a comma as the decimal separator — the opposite of English. So 1.000 means one thousand, and 3,5 means three and a half.
Ordinal Numbers
Ordinal numbers (first, second, third…) are used for dates, floors of a building, rankings, and ordered lists.
| Number | Ordinal | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | første | first |
| 2 | andre / annen | second |
| 3 | tredje | third |
| 4 | fjerde | fourth |
| 5 | femte | fifth |
| 6 | sjette | sixth |
| 7 | sjuende / syvende | seventh |
| 8 | åttende | eighth |
| 9 | niende | ninth |
| 10 | tiende | tenth |
| 20 | tjuende | twentieth |
| 21+ | tjueførste, tjueandre… | twenty-first, twenty-second… |
Dates
Norwegian dates are written and said with the day first, then the month: den 17. mai (the 17th of May). The ordinal number is used for the day.
| Written | Spoken | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1. januar | den første januar | 1st January |
| 17. mai | den syttende mai | 17th May (Norway's National Day) |
| 24. desember | den tjuefjerde desember | 24th December |
Months in Norwegian: januar, februar, mars, april, mai, juni, juli, august, september, oktober, november, desember. They are not capitalised in Norwegian.
Telling the Time
Norwegian tells time using a 12-hour system in conversation (and a 24-hour system in timetables and formal contexts). The key difference from English is that the half-hour refers forward to the next hour, not back to the last one.
| Norwegian | English |
|---|---|
| klokka er to | it is two o'clock |
| kvart over to | quarter past two |
| halv tre | half past two (literally: half three) |
| kvart på tre | quarter to three |
| ti på halv tre | twenty past two (literally: ten to half three) |
| ti over halv tre | twenty to three (literally: ten past half three) |
The half-hour rule is the most common source of confusion for English speakers. Halv tre means half past two — not half past three. Think of it as "halfway to three." Once this clicks, the system becomes logical.
Prices
Prices in Norwegian are straightforward: the number followed by kroner (or kr in writing). Amounts under one krone use øre (cents), though these are rarely used in everyday speech since Norway rounded prices to the nearest krone.
Det koster to hundre og femti kroner. — It costs 250 kroner.
Det er på tilbud for åtti kr. — It is on offer for 80 kr.
Phone Numbers
Norwegian phone numbers are eight digits. They are typically read out in pairs: 45 67 89 10 is read as førtifem — sekstisju — åttini — ti. Norwegian mobile numbers begin with 4 or 9; landlines begin with the area code.
Numbers in the Norskprøven
Numbers come up in several ways in the exam. In the listening section, you may hear a price, a time, a date, or a phone number and need to write it down or select the correct answer. In the writing section, you may need to write a date, give a time, or mention a quantity. Practise writing numbers as words (not digits) since the writing section expects written Norwegian, not numerals.