Norwegian (Bokmål) style guide¶
Write natural Bokmål with the house voice and the terminology used in the product. Bokmål and Nynorsk are separate written standards: do not produce one by replacing a few words in the other. Check spelling and inflection in Bokmålsordboka. Use the shared localization review for factual accuracy, accessibility and testing.
Address and meaning¶
Address the reader as du, with deg and the appropriate possessive. Use vi when the organization really performs the action; name an application when its behavior matters. Neither a fictitious human speaker nor an actorless sentence improves accuracy. Use calm, direct language in errors and warnings, and allow more rhythm in marketing without adding claims.
Prefer familiar words, but preserve the relationship they express. Kan expresses possibility or permission, bør a recommendation, and må a requirement. Do not turn should into must merely to shorten an instruction. Mulighet does not always mean permission; hjelp does not always replace information. Use the technical term when the reader needs the distinction.
Translate the complete meaning. Datamaskinnavn is a computer name, not the reader's name. A request for personal and domain information must retain both categories. Keep qualifications such as midlertidig, supported versions, limitations and the cause of a failure. A natural rewrite may change the sentence structure without changing those facts.
Choose an idiom only when it carries the same meaning and tone. Preserve quantities, promises and real geographic or product names. Use clearly fictional sample people and organizations when appropriate; do not turn a supplier's old examples or cultural generalizations into rules. Avoid mechanical short-word substitutions and arbitrary syllable limits.
People and ownership¶
Use precise, inclusive role names such as administrator or møteleder when those are the actual roles. Preserve permissions and whose data is involved. Administratorer med nødvendig tilgang kan endre passordene til andre brukere. retains both the access condition and other users' ownership. Changing a password and entering an existing password are different actions.
Use a person's stated pronouns. For an unspecified person, a role name, direct address or hen can avoid an unnecessary gender assumption. Hen is used as subject and object; the possessive is hens. Both Bokmål and Nynorsk accept these forms. See Språkrådet on hen. Do not change a singular person into a group if that changes the instruction.
Possessives commonly follow a definite noun: kontoen din, filene dine. A preceding possessive can emphasize contrast: din konto. Keep the owner clear, including the difference between sin and hans, hennes or hens when another person is involved.
Ordinary s-genitives have no apostrophe: Noors mappe, EUs regler. After a name ending in s, x or z, use only an apostrophe: Thomas’ mappe. Lowercase letter-by-letter abbreviations have exceptions; consult Språkrådet's apostrophe guidance. For arbitrary names, mappen til {name} avoids constructing an ending from unknown text. It still needs a clear, verified owner.
Articles, agreement and variables¶
Keep a consistent set of accepted Bokmål forms. This page uses en fil, filen, lagret and å åpne. Valid feminine and -a variants are not inherently wrong; check each noun or verb rather than imposing one ending on the entire language.
| Context | Example |
|---|---|
| Indefinite file | en ny fil |
| Definite file | den nye filen |
| Plural files | de nye filene |
| Indefinite document | et nytt dokument |
| Definite document | det nye dokumentet |
| Plural documents | de nye dokumentene |
| File count | 1 fil; 2 filer |
| Document count | 1 dokument; 2 dokumenter |
Articles do not always match English. Som administrator can name a role without an article. Do not rewrite one object as several merely to avoid choosing its article. Mass nouns also need their actual construction; neither an indefinite nor a definite form is a universal repair.
Adjectives and participles need separate checks. Filene er lagret. describes a result without a plural participle ending; Filene er tilgjengelige. has an agreeing adjective. Participles used as adjectives can behave differently from verbal participles. Even De er interessert. is normal Bokmål. Do not force every form into either universal agreement or universal non-agreement; see Språkrådet's explanation.
Localize a complete message around each variable. If {filename} is a filename, Filen «{filename}» er lagret. supplies a known grammatical noun. A token that can contain a folder, account or interval needs another construction or real variants. Parenthetical endings such as hver(t) {0} are unsuitable output: use hver dag, hver uke or hvert år for the corresponding interval.
Test zero, one, several and any supported fractional counts in the actual message system. Do not append an English plural s or reuse a definite plural as the ordinary count form. Keep token names, escaping and parser syntax exact, and test long names, punctuation and narrow layouts. Follow the shared message guidance.
Compounds and abbreviations¶
Norwegian normally joins compound words: filnavn, skriftstørrelse, brukerkonto. Use a linking letter where the established word requires it; do not derive one from English spacing. Rewrite a long compound as a phrase when that makes the relationship clearer.
Use a hyphen in constructions such as USB-port, A4-format and e-post. An ordinary quantity, such as 10 filer, is not a compound. Abbreviations can take inflectional endings with a hyphen: PC-en, PC-er, PC-ene. Do not apply the pattern indiscriminately to abbreviations that have become ordinary words. See Språkrådet on hyphens.
Explain an unfamiliar abbreviation on first use when readers need it. Established prose abbreviations include f.eks., bl.a. and osv.; writing them out can be clearer in short guidance. Preserve the approved case of technical names and identifiers, including OpenType, UTF-8 and kB. Not every acronym is uppercase, and capitalization does not determine pronunciation.
Instructions and message states¶
Start a procedural step with the action: Åpne filen., Velg en mappe., Lagre filen. Use the literal label of an existing control, even when its grammar differs from a newly written instruction. A label need not be a complete sentence; a recovery instruction must make the next action clear.
| State | Example |
|---|---|
| Command | Lagre filen. |
| In progress | Lagring av filen pågår. |
| Complete | Filen er lagret. |
| Past failure | Filen kunne ikke lagres. |
| Current limitation | Filen kan ikke lagres. |
Keep past failures distinct from present limitations and completion distinct from progress. Add a known cause and useful recovery when available. Do not invent a cause, promise a successful retry or omit the responsible application when it helps the reader. Minne and lagringsplass describe different resources; ugyldig and mangler describe different problems.
Use active wording when it clarifies who acts. Passive wording is useful when the actor is unknown or irrelevant. For warnings, state the consequence and the condition that triggers it. Choose Merk, Tips or Advarsel according to purpose; do not append an exclamation mark automatically. Follow interface feedback.
Choose prepositions for the Norwegian construction. Preserve movement versus location and cause versus purpose. A short adverb may follow å, as in å ikke lagre filen; do not enforce an English-style split-infinitive ban. Placement can change the scope of negation, so read the complete sentence. Språkrådet discusses both orders.
Capitalization and punctuation¶
Use sentence case for new headings and controls. Keep weekdays, months and language names lowercase in ordinary prose. Preserve an existing product or control's exact case and ellipsis. Keep Norwegian letters in capitals: ÆØÅ, ÅPNE. Use formatting to distinguish a label from surrounding prose.
Use commas according to the construction. A preceding subordinate clause takes a comma: Når filen er lagret, kan du lukke vinduet. A simple list has navn, størrelse og dato. Do not insert a comma after every introductory phrase or between every pair of actions. Consult Språkrådet's comma rules when clause boundaries are unclear.
Use «…» for typographic quotations, while preserving straight quotes in literal code. Keep punctuation close to the preceding word. Use a colon where the sentence introduces an explanation or list. Complete sentences take full stops; fragments in a parallel list need consistent treatment. A numbered list remains a numbered list, with its normal markers.
Prefer a colon to a parenthetical dash. Space a dash used for an aside, but keep a range unspaced: sidene 3–6. Do not confuse the range dash with a mathematical minus. Preserve a literal control's ellipsis; do not add one merely to make a command look more polite.
Numbers and spacing¶
Use a decimal comma in ordinary values: 12,5, 0,5. Group large numbers with spaces, as in 10 250,75; grouping a four-digit number is optional. Use nonbreaking spaces where the group should stay together. Keep a space before units and percent signs: 12,5 mm, 50 %, −18 °C. See Språkrådet on spacing and percent signs.
Use digits for measurements, dynamic counts and exact interface values. Keep units, currencies and magnitude unchanged. An amount such as 1 250 kr must not silently become another currency. Retain required formats for years, versions, identifiers and machine input: 1.2.0 is a version, not a decimal value.
Make dates clear: 13. september 2026. Numeric ordinals take a full stop. Use a consistent time format and retain the time zone where needed. Write og for and in ordinary Norwegian prose, while retaining literal ampersands and other symbols in names, formulas and code. Nonbreaking spaces and mathematical signs are not inherently unsuitable online; test their rendered and spoken behavior.
Keyboard wording and speech¶
Use key names for the actual platform and keyboard layout. Piltaster, venstrepil, høyrepil, pil opp and pil ned are local terms; other keys may be labeled Retur or Enter. Verify shortcut combinations, access keys, focus behavior and any numeric-keypad requirement in the product. An old shortcut catalog cannot establish current behavior.
For input-independent guidance, use Velg when selecting is the intended action. Retain Klikk, dragging or another specific gesture when the task depends on that input. Provide meaningful accessible names rather than replacing all symbols or all device-specific wording mechanically.
Use natural Norwegian speech and approved pronunciations of names. Read every character needed to reproduce a URL, version or command, including a meaningful punktum. Match narration to the action without forcing a new sentence at every screen change. Follow the shared audiovisual guidance.