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⚖️ Norwegian grammar: Mye and mange, lite and få: much, many, little, few — rule, table and examples
Level A2
The rule
mange is used with things you can count (plural): mange epler, mange venner. mye is used with things you cannot count: mye melk, mye tid, mye penger. In the same way få (few, countable): få biler; lite (little, uncountable): lite sukker. Comparison: mange → flere → flest, mye → mer → mest, få → færre → færrest, lite → mindre → minst. Question: “Hvor mange egg?” but “Hvor mye melk?”. Note: penger is uncountable in Norwegian — mye penger, mindre penger.
Table
| Norwegian | English |
|---|---|
| mange epler | many apples |
| mye melk | a lot of milk |
| få biler | few cars |
| lite sukker | little sugar |
| flere / mer | more |
| færre / mindre | fewer / less |
| hvor mange? | how many? |
| hvor mye? | how much? |
Examples
- Vi trenger mange egg og mye mel.
We need many eggs and a lot of flour. - Hvor mye koster det? – Ikke mye, bare tjue kroner.
How much does it cost? – Not much, just twenty kroner. - I dag er det færre folk og mindre kø.
Today there are fewer people and a shorter queue. - Hvor mange epler vil du ha?
How many apples do you want? - Jeg har mindre tid enn før, men flere venner.
I have less time than before, but more friends.
Try it yourself
1. Vi trenger ____ egg til kaka.
lite · mange · mest · mye
Show the answer
Answer: mange
2. Hvor ____ melk skal vi kjøpe?
flere · få · mange · mye
Show the answer
Answer: mye
3. Hvor ____ barn har du?
lite · mange · mer · mye
Show the answer
Answer: mange
4. Han har ikke ____ tid i dag.
flere · få · mange · mye
Show the answer
Answer: mye
5. Det er ____ biler på veien om natta. Det er stille.
få · lite · mange · mye
Show the answer
Answer: få
6. Kan du ta ____ sukker i kaffen? Jeg liker det ikke søtt.
få · færre · lite · mange
Show the answer
Answer: lite
More grammar topics
FAQ
How does “Mye and mange, lite and få: much, many, little, few” work in Norwegian?
mange is used with things you can count (plural): mange epler, mange venner. mye is used with things you cannot count: mye melk, mye tid, mye penger. In the same way få (few, countable): få biler; lite (little, uncountable): lite sukker. Comparison: mange → flere → flest, mye → mer → mest, få → færre → færrest, lite → mindre → minst. Question: “Hvor mange egg?” but “Hvor mye melk?”. Note: penger is uncountable in Norwegian — mye penger, mindre penger.
How can I practise “Mye and mange, lite and få: much, many, little, few”?
Open the exercise in Komiks·Lab: 20 fill-in-the-gap tasks with instant feedback, and comics where the rule is used in real dialogues.