Modern Norwegian

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Modern Norwegian (moderne norsk) is the Norwegian language from about 1525/1536 to today. It began during the late Middle Norwegian period, around the Danish-Norwegian union and the Protestant Reformation. It is usually split into Early Modern Norwegian (roughly 1536–1848) and Newer Modern Norwegian (1848–present).

Compared with Old Norse, Modern Norwegian has simpler grammar and a more fixed word order. Much Old Norse vocabulary was replaced by Low German influence. Because of this, Modern Norwegian (like Danish and Swedish) is not easily understood by Icelandic and Faroese speakers today, except among some dialect speakers and some users of Nynorsk/Høgnorsk.

Today, the common spoken form in eastern Norway developed into Standard Østnorsk (Standard East Norwegian). The main written form is Bokmål, which is based on that East Norwegian/Dano-Norwegian speech and is the most widely used written Norwegian. There is also Nynorsk, another official written standard used by some people.