Hankjønn

Hankjønn, or the masculine gender, is a grammatical category used for certain Norwegian nouns. In the traditional three-gender system, nouns are classified as hankjønn (masculine), hunkjønn (feminine), or intetkjønn (neuter). In Bokmål, many nouns are taught and described using a two-gender framework (common and neuter), so hankjønn may be less prominent in everyday speech. Nevertheless, the term remains standard in grammar descriptions and is a clear category in Nynorsk, where the three-gender system is more consistently maintained.

Nouns that belong to hankjønn typically take the indefinite article en (or ein in some dialects) and form the definite by adding a suffix, for example en gutt becomes gutten (the boy) and en mann becomes mannen (the man). Adjectives preceding hankjønn nouns usually appear in the masculine form, as in en stor gutt (a big boy). The use and inflection of hankjønn nouns follow rules that also show how gender interacts with number and definiteness in Norwegian.

Usage varies between Norwegian varieties. In modern Bokmål, the practical distinction between genders is often expressed through a two-gender system, with many nouns treated as common gender. In Nynorsk, hankjønn is more clearly maintained as part of the three-gender framework. Overall, hankjønn remains a fundamental concept for describing how certain Norwegian nouns appoint masculine grammatical agreement.