The Norwegian Alphabet Explained

Norwegian uses the familiar Latin alphabet with three additional letters. Here’s how Norway’s 29-letter alphabet works, how to pronounce its distinctive vowels and what to type when your keyboard lacks them.

At first glance, written Norwegian looks reassuringly familiar to English speakers. Most of the letters are the same and many words are relatively easy to sound out.

However, the Norwegian alphabet contains 29 letters rather than the 26 used in English. The three additional letters—Æ, Ø and Å—appear at the end of the alphabet and represent sounds used throughout the Norwegian language.

Learning these letters may not be the most exciting part of studying Norwegian, but it is an important early step. They appear frequently in everyday words, personal names and place names across Norway.

The 29 Letters of the Norwegian Alphabet

The complete Norwegian alphabet is:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Æ Ø Å

The lower-case letters are:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z æ ø å

The same alphabet is used for both of Norway’s written language standards, Bokmål and Nynorsk.

One important detail is the position of the final three letters. Æ, Ø and Å are not treated as versions of A or O. They are separate letters that come after Z in Norwegian alphabetical order.

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That means a place such as Ålesund appears close to the end of an alphabetical list, not alongside places beginning with A.

Letters Mostly Used in Foreign Words

Although all 29 letters belong to the alphabet, some appear far less frequently in words of Norwegian origin.

The letters C, Q, W, X and Z are primarily found in names, loanwords and other words adopted from foreign languages. Examples include camping, quiz, watt, xylofon and pizza.

Over time, some imported words acquire a more Norwegian spelling. Others retain their original letters, especially international terms and brand names.

The Nine Norwegian Vowels

Norwegian has nine vowel letters:

A, E, I, O, U, Y, Æ, Ø and Å

This is an important difference from English. In Norwegian, Y is always considered a vowel alongside the eight other vowel letters. All nine can represent either a long or a short vowel sound.

For English speakers, Æ, Ø and Å attract the most attention because they are unfamiliar letters. However, the Norwegian sounds represented by Y, U and O can be just as challenging to master.

How to Pronounce Æ

The letter Æ is the easiest of the three additional letters for many English speakers.

It is approximately like the a in the English words bad or cat, although the precise sound depends on the word, vowel length and Norwegian dialect.

Common examples include:

• vær—weather
• lære—to learn
• nær—near
• være—to be

The upper-case version is Æ, while the lower-case version is æ.

How to Pronounce Ø

The letter Ø has no exact equivalent in standard English, so comparisons with English words can be misleading.

Some people compare Ø with the vowel sound in turn, but this depends heavily on the speaker’s English accent. It is better to listen to native Norwegian speakers and copy the shape and sound directly.

Common examples include:

• øl—beer
• søt—sweet
• brød—bread
• kjøpe—to buy

How to Pronounce Å

The letter Å is approximately like the vowel sound in saw or awful for many British English speakers.

Common examples include:

• gå—to walk or go
• båt—boat
• år—year
• språk—language

Once again, this is only an approximation. The exact sound can change according to vowel length, the surrounding letters and the speaker’s dialect.

Do Not Forget the Norwegian Y

Although Y is familiar to English speakers, its Norwegian pronunciation is very different.

There is no precise English equivalent. One way to practise is to begin making an “ee” sound while rounding your lips as though you were saying “oo”.

You will hear the sound in words such as:

• by—city
• ny—new
• dyr—animal or expensive, depending on context
• hyggelig—pleasant or nice

This sound can take time to master, but listening and repetition will help far more than relying on written explanations.

Long and Short Norwegian Vowels

Every Norwegian vowel can be pronounced as either a long or short sound.

As a general rule, a vowel followed by two consonant letters or a consonant cluster is short. In other situations, the vowel is normally long. There are exceptions, but the rule is a useful starting point.

The classic example is the difference between tak and takk:

• tak means roof and contains a long vowel
• takk means thank you and contains a short vowel

The additional K does more than change the spelling. It changes the length of the vowel and therefore the pronunciation of the entire word.

Norwegian dialects vary considerably, so you will hear differences in pronunciation throughout the country. Treat these rules as a guide rather than assuming that every Norwegian speaks in exactly the same way.

Writing Æ, Ø and Å Without a Norwegian Keyboard

When possible, you should use the correct Norwegian letters. Modern computers and phones make it relatively easy to switch keyboard layouts or insert special characters.

When the letters are unavailable, the traditional replacements are:

• æ = ae
• ø = oe
• å = aa

For example:

• sær becomes saer
• sør becomes soer
• sår becomes saar

These replacements are widely understood and are still useful when dealing with older computer systems or international forms.

However, there is no perfect universal system. For email addresses and similar technical uses, a Norwegian standard has recommended replacing Æ, Ø and Å with A, O and A. The traditional combinations AE, OE and AA also remain common. Språkrådet recommends retaining the proper Norwegian letters in ordinary English-language texts whenever possible.

When entering someone’s name, an address or official information, always check the spelling rather than choosing a replacement yourself.

Why Some Norwegian Names Still Use AA

Before 1917, the Å sound was generally written as aa in Norwegian, following the Danish spelling tradition.

The spelling reform of 1917 introduced Å in place of AA in ordinary Norwegian spelling. However, many personal names, Norwegian family names and historical names retained their traditional forms.

That is why you may encounter names such as Haakon, Aasen or Paal. These are not necessarily internationalised versions of Håkon, Åsen or Pål. In many cases, AA is the name’s official and traditional spelling.

King Haakon 7., for example, is officially written with a double A because that was the spelling he used himself. Språkrådet notes that Norwegian Riksmål formally moved away from AA in 1917, although the older spelling remains in many names.

The history of Æ, Ø and Å stretches much further back. The Latin alphabet was adapted during the Middle Ages to represent sounds used in the Nordic languages. Æ and Ø developed from combinations of existing Latin letters, while Å was later adopted after AA had been used for several centuries.

Accent Marks in Norwegian

Norwegian occasionally uses accent marks, but letters such as É and Ô are not separate members of the alphabet.

The acute accent is most commonly seen in imported words ending with a stressed E:

• allé—avenue
• kafé—café
• idé—idea
• komité—committee

In most ordinary Norwegian words, these accents are optional. They can also clarify meaning, as in én, meaning the number one, compared with en, meaning a or an.

Other marks include the grave accent in the Nynorsk word òg, meaning also, and the circumflex in fôr, meaning animal feed or lining.

Accent marks can generally be omitted from ordinary words, although they must be retained in certain personal and geographical names.

Learning the Norwegian Alphabet

Memorising the alphabet will not make you fluent in Norwegian, but it will make everything that follows easier.

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Pay particular attention to Æ, Ø, Å and Y, together with the difference between long and short vowels. Most importantly, listen to Norwegian speakers rather than depending entirely on comparisons with English.

Once the unfamiliar letters begin to look and sound natural, Norwegian signs, menus, maps and place names will become much easier to understand.