Norwegian Language has 29 Letters | 5 Vowels, 3 Special Letters (æ, ø, å) and 20 Consonant Letters

Q: How many letters are in Norwegian?

The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters : 5 basic vowels (a, e, i, o, u), 3 special letters (æ, ø, å), and 20 consonants. The special letters æ, ø, å come at the end of the alphabet.

Q: What are the Norwegian special letters æ, ø, å?

The Norwegian special letters are æ, ø, and å . These represent unique vowel sounds : æ sounds like "a" in "cat", ø sounds like "u" in "fur", and å sounds like "o" in "awe". They are placed at the end of the Norwegian alphabet after z.

Q: What is the difference between Bokmål and Nynorsk?

Norwegian has two official written forms : Bokmål (used by about 85-90% of the population) and Nynorsk (used by about 10-15%). Both use the same 29-letter alphabet but have different vocabulary, grammar, and spelling conventions.

Q: Where is Norwegian spoken?

Norwegian is spoken primarily in Norway . It is also understood by speakers of Danish and Swedish due to the high degree of mutual intelligibility among Scandinavian languages.

Q: How many people speak Norwegian?

Norwegian is spoken by approximately 5.3 million native speakers and about 5.4 million total speakers worldwide, making it one of the North Germanic languages.

Norwegian (norsk) is a North Germanic language that evolved from Old Norse in the Scandinavian branch. It is spoken primarily in Norway, with two official written forms: Bokmål and Nynorsk.

Today, Norwegian is spoken by approximately 5.3 million native speakers^[1] and about 5.4 million total speakers worldwide. It is the official language of Norway with Bokmål being the dominant written form^[2], with language standards maintained by the Språkrådet (Norwegian Language Council)^[3].

The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters – 5 basic vowels, 3 special letters (æ, ø, å), and 20 consonants. Norwegian has a pitch accent system and shares many similarities with Danish and Swedish. The language also features distinctive phonological characteristics.

Below is the breakdown of all letters and characters used in Norwegian.

Norwegian Vowels (Lowercase)

Norwegian Vowels (Uppercase)

Norwegian Consonants (Lowercase)

Norwegian Consonants (Uppercase)

;

–

—

(

)

[

]

{

}

€

How many letters are in Norwegian?

What are the Norwegian special letters æ, ø, å?

What is the difference between Bokmål and Nynorsk?

Where is Norwegian spoken?

How many people speak Norwegian?

References:

[1] Ethnologue. "Norwegian Language (NOR) - L1 & L2 Speakers, Status, Map". Retrieved from https://www.ethnologue.com/language/nor/
[2] Norwegian Language Council. "Article 1 - Official Language of Norway". Official authority establishing Norwegian as national language (URL no longer accessible)
[3] Språkrådet. "Norwegian Language Council - Official Authority". Retrieved from https://www.sprakradet.no/