Recommended resources
The freely available resources this lesson will direct you to.
Hei! Last time, you practised recognising urgent public instructions. We now begin a module about housing, household services, and everyday administration. The language changes: instead of acting on a short warning, you often need to understand a contract, identify a cost, or name something that needs fixing.
This lesson gives you the core vocabulary for a home, a rental agreement, household bills, and repairs. You will use it to understand common messages and to say what you need in ordinary housing situations. Allow about 40 minutes, including the readings and time to say the example sentences aloud.
A home and the people involved
En bolig is a dwelling or home; en leilighet is a flat or apartment. You might also see et hus (a house), et rom (a room), and en adresse (an address). The distinction between living somewhere and owning it matters:
Jeg bor i en leilighet. — “I live in an apartment.”
Jeg leier leiligheten. — “I rent the apartment.”
Jeg eier leiligheten. — “I own the apartment.”
Å bo means “to live”; å leie means “to rent”; å eie means “to own.” In a rental situation, en leietaker is the tenant and en utleier is the landlord. Leie can also be a noun meaning “rent,” as in husleie (the rent paid for a home).
A rental brings documents and payments into the conversation. Read NDLA’s short explanation of renting for the terms leiekontrakt, depositum, and innboforsikring. Focus on what each term refers to rather than the details of buying a property later on the page.
Sjef over egen økonomi - Flytte hjemmefra - Tverrfaglige temaer - NDLA
Read the rental portion of NDLA’s “Flytte hjemmefra” to meet important housing terms in a realistic context.
Start at “Leie bolig,” where the text begins “Skal du leie bolig må du tenke gjennom.” Continue through the subsections “Leiekontrakt” and “Forsikring,” ending with the example of fire or burglary. Read the rental discussion. Notice who the utleier is, where the depositum is held, and what innboforsikring covers.
A leiekontrakt, also called a leieavtale, is a rental agreement. Å signere kontrakten means “to sign the contract.” A depositum is a security deposit, distinct from the rent you pay each month. In the reading, it is placed in a restricted account in the tenant’s name: en depositumskonto. Innboforsikring is contents insurance for your belongings; it is different from insurance on the building itself.
When looking at a listing or agreement, these short questions help you find the important terms:
Hvor mye er husleien? — “How much is the rent?”
Hvor stort er depositumet? — “How much is the deposit?”
Hva står det i leieavtalen? — “What does the rental agreement say?”
You may also meet oppsigelsestid: the notice period that applies when ending an agreement. Recognising the word helps you locate that part of a contract; the actual period is something to check in the agreement.
What is included in the monthly cost?
A housing price rarely tells you everything on its own. The key contrast is inkludert (“included”) versus kommer i tillegg (“is extra”). For example, Strøm er inkludert i husleien says electricity is included in the rent. Strøm kommer i tillegg says it is an additional cost.
Common terms are strøm (electricity), vann (water), avløp (sewage or drainage), and oppvarming (heating). En regning is a bill; en faktura is an invoice. A strømregning is an electricity bill. Et beløp is an amount of money, and forfallsdato is the date by which a payment is due. Å betale means “to pay”: Jeg har betalt husleien means “I have paid the rent.”
Forbrukerrådet’s explanation of husleie puts several of these words together. Read its first three short subsections to see the distinction between the rent itself and certain separately agreed utility payments.
Read the opening of Forbrukerrådet’s “Husleie” page to see how payment, maintenance, and utility vocabulary appears in a rental context.
Under “Hva skal husleien omfatte?”, read “Kun ett beløp,” “Vedlikehold er inkludert i leien,” and “To unntak det kan avtales betaling for.” Start with the sentence beginning “Som leietaker trenger du bare å forholde deg til ett beløp” and stop after the sentence explaining that additional payment must appear in the agreement. Read these subsections. Focus on the words vedlikehold, reparasjoner, elektrisitet, vann, and avløp.
The reading distinguishes the agreed rent from additional charges. It says a landlord cannot simply add separate charges for items such as renovasjon (waste collection), forsikring (insurance), or vedlikehold (maintenance). It also explains that payment for certain utilities, such as electricity or metered water and sewage, can be agreed in the rental contract. That is why Er strøm inkludert i husleien?—“Is electricity included in the rent?”—is more useful than assuming the answer.
Here is an illustrative listing, not a standard set of prices or terms:
Leilighet til leie. Husleie: 12 000 kroner per måned. Strøm kommer i tillegg. Depositum: 24 000 kroner.
The monthly husleie is 12,000 kroner; strøm is extra; the depositum is a separate deposit. Per måned means “per month.” If a later invoice says Beløp: 12 000 kroner. Forfallsdato: 1. september, the amount due and its deadline are the details to identify. Whether another bill is correct depends on the agreement and the circumstances; vocabulary helps you ask about it without having to guess.
Naming a problem at home
Not every housing conversation is about money. Noe er ødelagt means “something is broken,” while Det virker ikke means “it doesn’t work.” These are useful general descriptions when you do not yet know the technical cause. En feil is a fault; en reparasjon is a repair; å reparere means “to repair.”
A few concrete nouns make a problem much easier to identify:
| Norwegian | Meaning |
|---|---|
| en dør / et vindu | a door / a window |
| en kran / et rør | a tap / a pipe |
| et avløp | a drain |
| en lekkasje | a leak |
| varme / varmtvann | heating or heat / hot water |
Notice that avløp can appear both on a utility bill (“sewage”) and when describing a household drain. Context tells you which is meant. Vannet lekker fra røret means “Water is leaking from the pipe”; Avløpet er tett means “The drain is blocked.” You can say Varmtvannet virker ikke if the hot water is not working, without claiming to know why.
Vedlikehold describes upkeep or maintenance; reparasjon names a repair. The ForbrukerrĂĄdet reading discusses these words in relation to what may be charged separately as rent. It does not mean that every possible instance of damage has the same cause or responsibility. For now, keep the vocabulary task separate from deciding who must pay: identify what is wrong and understand what cost someone is referring to. The next lesson will build on this language to report a household fault to the appropriate person.
Try saying the following phrases aloud as complete units. They work in many everyday situations without requiring specialised terminology:
Vinduet er ødelagt. — “The window is broken.”
Det er en lekkasje på badet. — “There is a leak in the bathroom.”
Jeg har fått en regning for strøm. — “I have received an electricity bill.”
Er vann inkludert i husleien? — “Is water included in the rent?”
Conclusion
Housing vocabulary becomes manageable when you keep three distinctions clear: leie versus eie (rent versus own), husleie versus depositum (monthly rent versus security deposit), and inkludert versus kommer i tillegg (included versus extra). For a fault, start with the object and a plain description such as er ødelagt, virker ikke, or lekker.
Next, you will use this vocabulary to tell a landlord, caretaker, or tradesperson what is wrong at home.