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.
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? |
| gå | 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. |
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.
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.
Best Norwegian books for your level (A1 to C1) →
Not sure of your level? Take the Norwegian CEFR test (A1 to C2) →
How long does it take to learn Norwegian? See the timeline →
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.
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.
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.
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.