User:Njardarlogar/Nynorsk vs Bokmål
This page is intended to show some of the main differences between Nynorsk and Bokmål.
Grammatical gender
[edit]Differences in bold font.
- Number of genders
- Nynorsk: 3 grammatical genders are mandatory: feminine, masculine, neuter
- Bokmål: 2 grammatical genders are mandatory: masculine, neuter - feminine is optional
- In practice, the feminine gender is considerably less used in Bokmål than in Nynorsk
- There is also less difference between the masculine and feminine genders in Bokmål; see the grammar of nouns below
Grammar
[edit]Nouns
[edit]- Masculine nouns
Nynorsk:
- båt - båten - båtar - båtane
Bokmål:
- båt - båten - båter - båtene
- Feminine nouns
Nynorsk:
- liste - lista - lister - listene
- dronning - dronninga - dronningar - dronningane
Bokmål:
- liste - lista - lister - listene
- dronning - dronninga - dronninger - dronningene
Notice that Bokmål always uses the same suffix for both masculine and feminine nouns, while Nynorsk varies between two different suffixes.
Vocabulary
[edit]The comparison of the vocabularies is complicated by the fact that a majority of words (roots) are allowed in both Bokmål and Nynorsk; while at the same time, the actual usage of the vocabulary can be quite different between the two. This list includes only two types of differences:
- Different roots
- Difference in word construction (e.g. different affixes)
| Nynorsk | Bokmål | Translation | Notes | Linguistics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| kjærleik | kjærlighet | love | kjærleik is also allowed in Bokmål; but primarily used poetically | -leik vs -het, plus an extra -lig in Bokmål |
| råka, treffa | treffe, råke | [to] hit | the root råk- is used considerably more frequently in Nynorsk than in Bokmål | different roots |
| nyhende, nyheit | nyhet | news | both Nynorsk forms are frequently found; Bokmål only has one form | hende (noun) vs -het (suffix) |
| personlegdom | personlighet | personality | -dom vs -het (plus the variations -leg vs -lig) | |
| sjølvsagt | selvsagt, selvfølgelig | of course | two Bokmål forms, only one Nynorsk form | |
| me, vi | vi | we | two Nynorsk words, only one Bokmål word | different roots |
| utviding | utvidelse, utviding | expansion | two Bokmål forms, only one Nynorsk form | -ing vs -else |