Reddit reviews Norwegian: An Essential Grammar (Routledge Essential Grammars)

Norwegian shares some with both Swedish and Danish, so it's a nice pick for understanding at least a bit of those. It's also quite easy for English speakers to learn, on par with Swedish and maybe just a touch easier.

For learning resources, check the sidebars of specific subreddits like /r/norsk and /r/svenska, and/or ask in there. But for Norwegian I really like Norwegian: An Essential Grammar, and I used the Pimsleur course.

First of all, you'll find that there are two different writing standards for Norwegian, Bokmål and Nynorsk. You will almost certainly want to learn Bokmål, the most common. There are also a wide range of regional dialects; you will almost certainly want to learn Standard Østnorsk. It's nothing to worry about, as Bokmål and Østnorsk are almost always the ones taught to foreigners, but do be aware that you will find Norwegian that doesn't conform to what you've learnt.

As for somewhere to start, I'd suggest Norwegian on the Web, a basic introductory course covering grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary, built up little by little in each of ten chapters. To have a minimal understanding of pronunciation you will need to read up to at least chapter 6; for grammar at least chapter 8.

I know you say you can't really sink money into it, but in my opinion the most valuable book, if you were to buy one, is Norwegian: An Essential Grammar. Most of your Norwegian learning can be done on the Internet, but I've not really found another decent reference for more complex Norwegian grammar. That can wait, though.

You'll probably also be recommended Teach Yourself Norwegian at some point, but in my honest opinion I don't think that's a particularly good book, especially considering the free courses you can find online. Just make sure to use a course from a reputable source — there are guides written by non-natives that are misleading or just plain wrong.

Once you get past the level expected for courses, you can try having a go with actual Norwegian text and speech, perhaps beginning with resources for people who are still learning Norwegian, like Klar Tale and SkoleTV.

Lykke til!

Hi there, This book is the one I'm using. I would also switch all your online accounts to bokmål (if possible) and perhaps install a Norwegian proxy so you can watch dagbladet and nrk videos.

These two sentences mean the exact same thing, and they absolutely are both standard Norwegian, although you would definitely hear the second one being used the most in spoken Norwegian.

 

As for commas, the first one should indeed have a comma before for as it is a coordinating conjunction (as are og and men, among others), although there should be no comma in front of the fordi in the second sentence, as it is a subordinating conjunction. I suggest you go read up on the differences coordinating and subordinating conjunctions (including subordinating clauses).

 

If you're willing to spend a bit of money, two good books I would recommend are Norwegian: An Essential Grammar or Norsk grammatikk.

I recommend this book, it has done wonders for me.

Also, Duolingo does explain the grammar (not very extensively, admittedly), are you reading the blurbs each skill has?