Danish and Norwegian Spelling

One of the differences between Danish and Norwegian spelling concerns final consonants. In Danish no word can end with a doubled consonant. However, in Norwegian, doubled consonants at the end of the word are possible. Here is a list of words to illustrate the difference:

bus buss (bus)

dug dugg (dew)

dør dørr (door)

hat hatt (hat)

kat katt (cat)

kop kopp (cup)

musik musikk (music)

nat natt (night)

net nett (net)

os oss (us)

Many of the words in the list are similar to the English ones. English words which are similar include cup, door and hat. None of the English words have a doubled consonant, but English allows doubled consonants in words such as cliff, moss and tall.

Unlike Norwegian, Danish does not allow word-final doubled consonants. Swedish, a closely related language, allows word-final doubled consonants. English does also, but not to the same degree as Norwegian and Swedish.