Feminine Gender in Norwegian

The use of feminine gender in Norwegian varies from one dialect to another. In the dialect of Bergen, it is not used at all. In west Oslo, many speakers also never use feminine gender. In these cases, only the common and neuter genders are used. In other dialects, however, feminine gender is often used.

For the vast majority of Norwegians, feminine gender is common in the following words:

bygd (town)
dame (lady)
geit (goat)
hytte (cottage)
jente (girl)
kone (wife)
ku (cow)
myr (marsh)
stue (living room)
øy (island)

The definite article for nouns with feminine gender is -a. For example, the sentence I like the cottage is Jeg liker hytta. For speakers who do not use feminine gender, the suffix is -en. This is the same suffix that is used for nouns with common gender. With this suffix, the sentence I like the cottage is Jeg liker hytten.

Most Norwegians use three genders- common, neuter and feminine. However, the use of feminine gender varies from one dialect to another. In Oslo, it is used far more in the east than in the west.