Quantifiers: mye, mange, noen, alle — Norwegian Grammar

Quantifiers tell how much or how many: much, many, some, all, none. Several of them come in pairs, and the choice depends on whether the noun can be counted.

mye or mange

(much, a lot of) goes with things that are not counted; (many) goes with plural nouns. (money) takes even though its form is plural.

Var det mye trafikk?
Was there a lot of traffic?
Det finnes mange jobber.
There are many jobs.
Jeg har ikke mye penger.
I don't have much money.

litt, få, noen få

means "a little" with things that are not counted. means "few", and means "a few".

Har du litt tid?
Do you have a little time?
Det er få turister her.
There are few tourists here.
Nei, bare noen få.
No, just a few.

noen and noe

means "some" or "any" with plurals and with masculine and feminine nouns; on its own it means "someone" or "some people". goes with neuter and uncountable nouns, and on its own it means "something" or "anything".

Jeg har noen ideer.
I have some ideas.
Noen tror ikke på det.
Some people don't believe it.
Trenger du noe?
Do you need anything?
Kan du noen tyske ord?
Do you know any German words?

ingen and ingenting

means "no" or "nobody", and means "nothing".

Jeg har ingen venner.
I have no friends.
Ingen er billigere.
Nobody is cheaper.
Det finnes ingenting det ikke kan gjøre.
There is nothing it can't do.

all, alt, alle

goes with uncountable nouns, on its own means "everything", and means "all" with plurals or, on its own, "everyone".

Hvor er all maten?
Where is all the food?
Noen ganger går alt galt.
Sometimes everything goes wrong.
Alle vet om dette problemet.
Everyone knows about this problem.
Jeg liker alle filmer.
I like all films.

hver and hvert

(each, every) goes with masculine and feminine nouns, and with neuter nouns. The noun stays singular.

Hver ettermiddag spiller jeg basketball.
Every afternoon I play basketball.
Vi reiser til Italia hvert år.
We travel to Italy every year.

begge

means "both", and the noun after it is definite.

Begge føttene mine gjør vondt.
Both my feet hurt.

more: mer and flere

becomes and ; becomes and .

Ta litt mer kake.
Have a little more cake.
Vi trenger flere stoler.
We need more chairs.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Norwegian course

56 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 29. A few of them, with the words “Quantifiers: mye, mange, noen, alle” is about in bold:

Hvor latterlig. Dere tar feil begge to.
How ridiculous. You are both wrong.
Lesson 163
Jeg bor i en landsby med mange kyr.
I live in a village with many cows.
Lesson 487

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