Generelle

Generelle is a grammatical form found in several Scandinavian languages, functioning as the plural or definite plural form of the adjective meaning general. In Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, adjectives agree with the noun they modify in number and definiteness, so generelle appears before plural nouns to convey the sense of “general” as in broad or non-specific characteristics.

In practice, generelle is used to describe general principles, general rules, or general information. For example, in Norwegian you might see de generelle prinsippene (the general principles), and in Danish, generelle oplysninger (general information). In Swedish, phrases such as generella principer or generella regler serve similar purposes. The underlying idea is to set apart a broad category or characteristic from particular instances.

The etymology of generelle traces back to the Latin root generalis, passing through the Romance and Germanic languages into the Scandinavian family. The form reflects standard inflection patterns where the adjective takes a plural ending to match plural nouns, while definiteness is typically indicated by the article or noun form rather than by altering the adjective.

Because generelle is tied to grammatical inflection rather than to a fixed concept, its meaning remains primarily contextual: it signals that the noun it modifies belongs to a general, non-specific class rather than to a particular item. See also general, generality, and language-specific adjective inflection.