Norwegian words of more than one syllable are pronounced with one of two possible pitch contours which are known as the Single Tone or Tone 1 and the Double Tone or Tone 2.

It is the same situation in Swedish, although it should be noted that Tones 1 and 2 have different pitch contours in Swedish.

Tone 1

Used for all words of one syllable and most of those ending in -el, -en and -er. It starts rather low and rises towards the end of the word, e.g. ånden 'the spirit'.

Tone 2

Used for many words of two syllables. It starts higher than Tone 1, dips and then rises to a higher pitch than where it began, e.g.:
ånden 'the breath'