Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Singular
1st pers.:
2nd pers.:
3rd pers.:
SUBJ. FRM.
jeg
du
hun
han
hen
det/den
OBJ. FRM.
meg
deg
henne
ham
hen
det/den
(I - me)
(you - you)
(she - her)
(he - him)
unspecified gender
(it - it)
Plural
1st pers.:
2nd pers.:
3rd pers.:
SUBJ. FRM.
vi
dere
de
OBJ. FRM.
oss
dere
dem
(we - us)
(you - you)
(they - them)
Subject or object form?
The subject is the person or thing performing the action.
The object is the person or thing that si the target of the action.
Eg.: Jeg spiser (I eat)
Jeg elsker henne (I love her)
Eg.: Jeg spiser ost (I eat cheese)
Hun elsker meg (She loves me)
Den or det?
When referring to things in the singular, den is used when pointing back to masculine or feminine nouns, while det is used for neuter nouns.
e.g.:
Stolen står på gulvet
Den står på gulvet
Boka ligger på gulvet
Den ligger på gulvet
Bordet står på gulvet
Det står på gulvet
In the plural, de is used for all genders.
e.g.:
Stolene står på gulvet
De står på gulvet
Bøkene ligger på gulvet
De ligger på gulvet
Bordene står på gulvet
De står på gulvet
Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are used with transitive verbs (i.e., verbs that require an object) and when the object is the same as the subject. In the 1st and 2nd person, the reflexive pronouns are identical to the object form, while in the 3rd person, both singular and plural, the reflexive pronoun is seg.
subject object
Hun vasker seg
(reflexive form because the kitten is both the
subject and the object)
subject object
Hun vasker henne
(here we cannot use the reflexive form as the object differs from the subject)
1.
2.
3.
Jeg vasker meg
Du vasker deg
Hun vasker seg
Han vasker seg
Det/den vasker seg
Singular
(I am washing myself)
(You are washing yourself)
(She is washing herself)
(He is washing himself)
(It is washing itself)
1.
2.
3.
Vi vasker oss
Dere vasker dere
De vasker seg
(We are washing ourselves)
(You are washing yourselves)
(They are washing themselves)
Plural
While the meaning is quite straightforward in the examples above, there are other cases where the meaning may not be as transparent - especially when translating from English. Here are some examples:
Hun gleder seg til sommeren.
Kan jeg sette meg her?
De legger seg klokka 11.
(She is looking forward to the summer.)
(Can I sit down here?)
(They are going to bed at 11.)
Note that sentence adverbs (ikke, dessverre, alltid etc.) are usually placed after the reflexive pronoun - unless there is a preposition involved.
De legger seg alltid klokka 11.
but:
Hun tar alltid av seg skoene.