Sentence syntax - Norwegian

From one point of view, the shape of a Norwegian declarative clause can be depicted as follows. The subject precedes all verbs, objects immediately follow the main verb and precede any oblique arguments or adverbials; when there are two objects, the indirect object is the NP occurring closest to the main verb. Items in boldface are obligatory.

 Subject Modals ha Modals bli Vmain Indirect object  Direct object  Oblique Adverbials

Of the verbal categories here shown, 'Modals' comprise the auxiliaries ville, skulle, måtte, burde, kunne. In the positions indicated for 'Modals', these can occur alone or in combination. Ha is called the perfect auxiliary, and bli the passive auxiliary. The order among these items is rigid. Vmain subsumes full verbs and copulas. Of copulas there are two, være and bli (distinct from the passive auxiliary). For all of these verb categories, there are six possible forms of inflection; for their full conjugational realizations, see Verb Conjugation, while below we exemplify with one of the conjugational patterns, the -et-pattern:

infinitive (often a form ending in -e)

imperative (a form relating to an e-infinitive by dropping the -e)

present (a form relating to an e-infinitive by adding -r)

past (a form relating to an e-infinitive by adding -t)

past participle (a form identical to the past form)

present participle (a form relating to an e-infinitive by adding -nde),

Of these forms, the present and the past are called finite forms, while the infinitive and the participles are called non-finite forms. The choice among these categories is tightly connected to the sentence schema shown above:

- The first verb in a sentence is finite, whichever one among the verb categories is the first one.

- The verb immediately following a modal is in infinitive form.

- The verb immediately following the auxiliary ha or the auxilary bli is in the past participle form.

The constituent order is rigid also among the other items. Case is marked only on personal pronouns, with a subject – non-subject distinction.

Relative to the above schema, adverbial elements, in addition to the final position, can also occur adjacent to the finite verb. At this point there is a distinction between main and subordinate declarative clauses: in a main clause, the adverbial comes after the finite verb, in subordinate clauses before the finite verb.

Embedded finite clauses have the same structure, except that adverbials then precede the finite verb. Tense sits on the first verb, and adverbials have the option of occurring right after the finite verb.