Flashcards

Free Norwegian flashcards

The fastest words to learn are the ones you see most. This deck lists the 60 most common Norwegian words, each with a clear English meaning and a real example sentence. Study them below, or download the deck for Anki or Quizlet.

Quick answer

The best Norwegian flashcards to learn first are the words you meet most often. This free deck pairs the 60 most common Norwegian words, like hus, bil, bok, with a plain English meaning and a real example sentence for each. Download it as a CSV for Anki or Quizlet, or learn the words in context by reading.

CSV columns are word, translation, example (with a header row). Ready to import into Anki, Quizlet, or any spaced-repetition app.

60 most common Norwegian words · Updated July 2026

Norwegian Meaning Example
hus house Vi bor i et stort hus.
bil car Han kjører en rød bil.
bok book Jeg leser en interessant bok.
vann water Kan jeg få et glass vann?
mat food Maten smaker veldig godt.
dag day Ha en fin dag!
natt night God natt, sov godt.
venn friend Han er min beste venn.
familie family Jeg elsker familien min.
barn child Barnet leker i hagen.
kvinne woman Kvinnen jobber på sykehuset.
mann man; husband Mannen leser avisen.
by city; town Oslo er en fin by.
land country; land Norge er et vakkert land.
skole school Barna går på skole hver dag.
arbeid work; job Han har mye arbeid i dag.
penger money Jeg har ikke nok penger.
tid time Vi har ikke mye tid.
år year Jeg bodde her i tre år.
gate street Butikken ligger i denne gaten.
være to be Jeg vil være lykkelig.
ha to have Vi har en katt.
gjøre to do; to make Hva gjør du nå?
to go; to walk Vi går til skolen sammen.
komme to come Kan du komme hit?
se to see Jeg ser deg.
si to say; to tell Hva sa du?
vite to know Jeg vet ikke svaret.
ville to want; will Jeg vil reise til Norge.
kunne can; to be able to Kan du hjelpe meg?
spise to eat Vi spiser middag klokken sju.
drikke to drink Hun drikker kaffe hver morgen.
snakke to speak; to talk Snakker du norsk?
bo to live; to reside Jeg bor i Bergen.
like to like Jeg liker denne sangen.
stor big; large Det er et stort hus.
liten small; little Katten er veldig liten.
god good Dette er en god idé.
dårlig bad Været er dårlig i dag.
ny new Jeg har kjøpt en ny telefon.
gammel old Han bor i et gammelt hus.
fin nice; fine Du har en fin bil.
vakker beautiful Naturen her er vakker.
lett easy; light Denne oppgaven er lett.
vanskelig difficult Norsk grammatikk kan være vanskelig.
varm warm; hot Kaffen er fortsatt varm.
kald cold Vannet er kaldt.
lang long Veien er veldig lang.
kort short Filmen var kort.
glad happy; glad Jeg er glad for å se deg.
og and Han og jeg skal reise sammen.
men but Jeg vil gjerne komme, men jeg har ikke tid.
eller or Vil du ha te eller kaffe?
ikke not Jeg forstår ikke.
jeg I Jeg heter Anna.
du you Hvor bor du?
han he Han er lærer.
hun she Hun snakker fransk.
vi we Vi bor i Norge.
med with Jeg går på tur med hunden.

Learn Norwegian faster by reading, not just drilling

Flashcards fix words in memory; reading teaches you to use them. Lingo7 lets you read real books in Norwegian with sentence-aligned translation and native-narrated audio, and save any word to review later. Free to start.

How to use these flashcards

The deck is built from high-frequency words, the ones that make up most of everyday Norwegian. Learning them first gives you the biggest return per card, because you will meet them again and again the moment you start reading or listening.

Flashcards work best with spaced repetition: review a card, and if you knew it, wait longer before seeing it again. Anki and Quizlet both do this automatically. Download the CSV, import it, and review a few minutes a day. Keep the example sentence on the card so you learn how the word actually behaves, not just its dictionary gloss.

One honest limit: flashcards build recognition, but you learn to use a word by meeting it in real context. Pair this deck with reading. When a word you drilled shows up in a story, it stops being a flashcard and becomes part of the language. That pairing is what reading in Lingo7 is built for.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best flashcards to learn Norwegian?

Start with the most frequent words. A few thousand high-frequency Norwegian words cover the majority of everyday text, so each of those cards pays off far more than a rare one. This deck gives you the top 60 to begin with, each with a meaning and an example sentence, so you learn the word in context rather than in isolation. When a card sticks, meet the word again in a real book to lock it in.

How do I import these Norwegian flashcards into Anki?

Click Download CSV to save the deck, then in Anki choose File, Import and select the file. Map the first column to the front (the Norwegian word) and the second to the back (the meaning); the third column holds an example sentence you can add to the back too. The first row is a header, so tell Anki to ignore it or delete that one card. For Quizlet, use Copy for Quizlet and paste into the import box with Tab between term and definition.

Are flashcards enough to learn Norwegian?

Flashcards are excellent for building recognition and drilling the first few thousand words, but on their own they teach words out of context. You learn to use Norwegian, not just recognize it, by reading and hearing the words in real sentences. The efficient combination is flashcards for raw vocabulary plus reading for context, collocation and grammar. That is exactly what Lingo7 is built around.

How many Norwegian words do I need to know to read a book?

Roughly 2,000 to 3,000 common words cover most everyday Norwegian text, and around 5,000 gets you comfortably through many novels. You do not need all of them before you start: with sentence-aligned translation you can begin reading real Norwegian at a couple of thousand words and pick up the rest from context. This deck is a fast way to front-load the most useful 60.