Published 17 September 2026
A student asked us this in a trial lesson last month: “I found a Norwegian textbook, and half the example sentences don’t look like the app I’ve been using. Did I learn the wrong language?” She hadn’t. She had simply run into Norwegian’s open secret — there isn’t one written Norwegian. There are two, and almost every beginner only needs to know about one of them.
Two written standards, one spoken language
Bokmål and Nynorsk are not dialects of spoken Norwegian — spoken Norwegian varies enormously by region regardless of which one you write. They are two official written standards, both taught in schools, both used in government documents, and both protected by law. Bokmål grew out of Danish, the language of administration during the centuries Norway was under Danish rule, gradually adapted toward Norwegian pronunciation and vocabulary. Nynorsk was built in the 1800s from a patchwork of rural Norwegian dialects specifically to give the country a written standard that owed nothing to Danish. Both are still evolving, and both are still very much alive — this is not a case of one being modern and the other historical.
Bokmål is what almost everyone actually writes
Roughly 85 to 90 percent of Norwegians write Bokmål day to day. It’s the default in most cities, in most national media, and in the great majority of published books. Norskprøve and the Bergenstest — the exams that matter for residency, citizenship and university admission — are set in Bokmål. If you’re learning Norwegian for a practical reason with a deadline attached, this is very likely your answer, and you don’t need to read any further to make the decision.
Nynorsk matters in specific places, not everywhere
Nynorsk is the official written form in roughly a quarter of Norwegian municipalities, mostly along the western coast and in parts of the interior — areas where the local dialects sit closer to Nynorsk’s roots than to Bokmål’s. Every Norwegian pupil studies both forms at school regardless of which one their region uses day to day, which is why a Norwegian text you encounter — a novel, a government form, a road sign — might be in either. Learn Nynorsk specifically if you’re moving to a municipality that uses it as its primary written form, studying Norwegian formally at a level that requires both, or drawn to the literary tradition — a meaningful share of Norway’s most celebrated authors wrote or write in Nynorsk.
You don’t need to choose a side, just a starting point
This isn’t a rivalry you need to pick in — it’s closer to choosing which of two accepted spellings to learn first, knowing you’ll eventually recognise both. Nearly every course, every exam preparation resource, and every tutor on this site works from Bokmål by default, because it covers the exams and the everyday reading material the overwhelming majority of learners actually need. If your situation calls for Nynorsk specifically, say so before you book — the grammar overlaps substantially with Bokmål, but the vocabulary and spelling differences are real enough that mixing the two in early lessons slows you down rather than helping.
Once you’re comfortable reading Bokmål, picking up enough passive Nynorsk to follow a menu, a newspaper or a form takes far less effort than learning it from nothing — most of what changes is spelling patterns and a smaller set of distinct words, not the underlying grammar.
Where to start
If you haven’t told us already, let us know whether you’re learning for Norskprøve or general use or specifically for the B1 exam, and we’ll confirm you’re working from the standard your situation actually needs — which, for most people booking a trial lesson, turns out to be a question that’s already answered.