Norsk Kurs Future learn Oslo Univeristet

1. How to ask questions

So, how exactly did the interviewer ask their names? When you want to ask
someone their name in Norwegian, you say Hva heter du?, and as you know
from the video, the proper way to respond is Jeg heter (name).
-Hva heter du?
-Jeg heter Thiago.
The question Hvor kommer du fra? (Where are you from?) can both mean
which country are you from? or what part of Norway are you from?,
depending on the context.
-Hvor kommer du fra?
-Jeg kommer fra Brasil.
We know that not all of you are full time students, or even students at all, but
our characters are, and thats why its natural to ask them about their study
subjects.
-Hva studerer du?
-Jeg studerer konomi.
The last question we want to draw your attention to is Hva gjr du n? (What
are you doing now?). This is perhaps a bit superfluous, you can see for
yourselves from the videos what they are doing, but still it gives us an
opportunity to give you a glimpse of what our characters keep themselves
busy with.
-Hva gjr du n?
-Jeg leser (Thiago) / jogger (Gabriele) / jobber (Alex) / ver (Katharina).

Thiagos polite introduction

Thiago is a very helpful and polite young man, so when Yunha sits down, he
immediately introduces himself and his friends to her. In order to introduce
Gabriele and the others he says Dette er Gabriele (This is Gabriele).
Norwegians are not always this polite, but Thiago is from Brazil, so he knows
better. He even wants to buy her a cup of coffee. How nice of him! Do you
remember how he asks Yunha if she wants a cup of coffee? Kan jeg kjpe
en kopp kaffe til deg? (May I buy you a cup of coffee?).
Ask the price
The last element from the video we would like to comment on is how we ask
the price of something in Norwegian. Norway is famous for being an
expensive country, so you may want to remember this. This is the way its
done:
-Hva koster det? (How much is it?)
-Det koster 15 kroner. (It costs 15 kroner)
Did you manage to understand all or some of the conversations in the
videos? Were there any words that were quite similar to your own language?

Conversation in the caf

Yunha is meeting the other students in a cafe where they can buy tea,
coffee and something to eat. Thiago says he can help Yuhna on how to
get around in Oslo. They agree on meeting up the next day as well, and
decide on the time and place.

Make an appointment
To make appointments in another language is an important skill. When you
meet someone nice and you want to see them again, what do you ask? Lets
see.
In this video Yunha is in a bit of a hurry, so she wants to know if she can meet
Thiago again tomorrow, so she asks Kanskje vi kan mtes her i morgen?
(Perhaps we can meet here tomorrow?) Mtes is the key verb here! It
embodies a reciprocal meaning: I will meet you, and you will meet me. We will
meet each other. You dont have to say kanskje (perhaps) of course, so
Yunha could also have said Kan vi mtes her i morgen? (Can we meet here
tomorrow.)
The next step is then to agree on the time of the meeting.
-Nr skal vi mtes? (When shall we meet?)
-Til lunsj. Klokka 12 (For lunch. At 12)
Yunha seems to make friends easily. Thats great!
Now you have listened to your first conversations in Norwegian. Is there
anything in particular that strikes you with the Norwegian language, for
instance in tone, flow or rythm or something completely different? Please post
your thoughts below. Well love to hear about it!

Pronouns: The subject form

Pronomen: Subjekt form
-The interviewer: Hei. Hva heter du? (Hi. What is your name?) -Alex: Alex.
-The interviewer: Hvor kommer du fra? (Where do you come from?) -Alex: Fra
Canada. Jeg er kanadisk. (From Canada. Im Canadian.)
This is a dialogue from the first video. When the interviewer addresses Alex
she uses the pronoun du (you) and Alex answer with jeg (I). If you know,
and of course you do, how to use the subject form of the personal pronouns
in English, then you know how to use the subject form of the personal
pronouns in Norwegian, too. The point is that we use the subject form of the
personal pronouns the same way you would use them in English.
Compare the following sentences, if you dont believe us:
-Yunha: Jeg drikker kaffe. I drink coffee.
-Alex: Jeg er fra Canada. I am from Canada.
Table of pronouns
Take a look at this table to see how the different pronouns are written and try
to say them out loud. You will notice that they are not that different from the
ones in English. If you are uncertain on how to pronounce the Norwegian
pronouns, please take a step back and watch some of the videos again.

SINGULAR First person Second person Third person

NORWEGIAN jeg du han

ENGLISH I you he

NORWEGIAN hun

ENGLISH she
PLURAL

NORWEGIAN vi dere de

ENGLISH we you they

ACTIVITY
So, why dont you give it a try yourself?
Please write one sentence in Norwegian in the comments below and use
either jeg, du, han, hun, vi, dere or de in the sentence. You
can take a look in the word list for day 1 if you need to find some words for
your sentence.

Verbs: The present tense form

Verb: Presensformen
In the second video Yunha, Gabriele, Thiago, Alex and Katharina are sitting in
the canteen at the University.
-Thiago asks Yunha: Skal jeg kjpe en kopp kaffe til deg? (May I buy you a
cup of coffee?)
-Yunha answers: Nei takk, jeg kjper selv. (No, thank you, I will buy it
myself.)
kjpe is the infinitive form and kjper is the present tense form of this verb.
Lets take a closer look at the infinitive and present tense forms.

Regular verbs - Regelmessige verb

THE INFINITIVE FORM THE PRESENT TENSE FORM
() koste ((to) cost) koster
() lese ((to) read) leser
() ve ((to) practice) ver
() bo ((to) live) bor
Irregular verbs - Uregelmessige verb
() vre ((to) be) er
() gjre ((to) do) gjr

By the way, when it comes to the infinitive form, then Norwegian is a bit more
systematic than English because most verbs end in -e in the infinitive and the
ones which dont end in -e, end in other vowels.
In the present tense we add the suffix -r to the infinitive form of the regular
verbs:
Jeg leser
Du leser
Han leser
Hun leser
Vi leser
Dere leser
De leser
We totally agree that adding the suffix -r to the infinitive form of the verb
sounds like a boring activity, so to vary a bit, the irregular verbs have special
forms in the present tense (Forget about adding the suffix -r to the infinitive
form of the verb!). These forms are so special in order to make it easier for
you to remember them:
PRESENS AV VERBET VRE THE PRESENT TENSE FORMS OF THE
VERB BE
jeg er
I am
du er
you are
han er
he is
hun er
she is
det er
it is
vi er
we are
dere er
you are
de er
they are
The present tense of the regular and irregular verbs always has the same
form.
In the first video the interviewer asks Gabriele:
-Hva gjr du n?
Gabriele answers:
-Jeg jogger.
ACTIVITY
Now we ask you, dear learner: Hva gjr du n? (What are you doing now?)
Head to the comments section and tell to your fellow learners what are you
doing now, and try to answer the question in Norwegian.

The infinitive without and with the infinitive marker "to"

Infinitiv uten og med infinitivsmerket

There are many similarities between Norwegian and English. One could even
start wondering if our grammar is Norwegian or are we plagiarizing the
English grammar? Of course, we like to think its the other way around. For
example, do you remember these statements from the second video?
-Thiago: Vi kan bli venner p Facebook. (We can become friends on
Facebook).
-Yunha: Jeg m g n. (I must go now).
Norwegian modal auxiliaries in the present tense are followed by the infinitive
form of the verb without the infinitive marker to, like in English:
MODAL AUXILIARIES IN THE PRESENT TENSE
EXAMPLES
kan (infintiv: kunne)
Yunha kan kjpe kaffe i kantina.
De kan bli venner p Facebook.
m (infinitiv: mtte)
Jeg m g n.

Thiago m lese mye.

skal (infinitiv: skulle)
Gabriele skal betale i kassa.

De skal mte Yunha i morgen.

Other verbs in the present tense are followed by the infinitive form of the verb
with the infinitive marker to:
Infinitive with the infinitive marker to
Infinitiv med infinitivsmerket
OTHER VERBS IN THE PRESENT TENSE
EXAMPLES
liker
Hun liker spille gitar.
Vi liker snakke sammen.

pleier
Han pleier mte Yunha p biblioteket.
Alex pleier jogge med Gabriele.

nsker
Vi nsker lre norsk.
Thiago nsker drikke kaffe.

ACTIVITY
-Hva pleier du gjre p mandager? (What do you usually do on
Mondays?)
Tell your fellow learners what do you usually do on Mondays. Try to answer
the question in Norwegian: Jeg pleier

Sentence structure- Setningsstruktur

And now, lets take a closer look at the Norwegian sentence structure.

VERBAL

Jeg kommer fra Brasil.

N bor Yunha i Oslo.
Gabriele studerer medisin.
Vi kan bli venner p Facebook.
I kantina kan de kjpe mat og drikke.

Have you noticed anything special?

We can give you a hint: Pay attention to the placement of the verbal! Yes,
Norwegian is a V2 language, which means that the verbal has the second
position in the sentence. In a sentence like Jeg kommer fra Brasil (I come
from Brazil), you would not pay attention to the placement of the verbal since
it is the same in English, but in N bor Yunha i Oslo (Now Yunha lives in
Oslo.) the placement of the verbal is different because Norwegian is so V2!
The same rule applies for questions with question words:

Sprsml med sprreord - Questions with question words

QUESTION WORDS
VERBAL

Hva studerer du?

Hvor kommer du fra?
Hvem er hun?

But questions without question words start with the verb:

Questions without question words - Sprsml uten sprreord

VERB

Studerer du?
Kommer Thiago fra Brasil?

Er Yunha student?

ACTIVITY
Ask your fellow learners a question or two in Norwegian. For example:
-Hva heter du?
-Hvor kommer du fra?
Are there any other questions you can ask in Norwegian? Answer your fellow
learners questions, too. Ha det gy! (Have fun!)

Shopping in the supermarket

Yunha goes shopping in the supermarket. She buys fruits and
vegetables, and engages in a conversation with the shop assistant
when she cannot find the right pasta sauce and bread.

Unnskyld kan du hjelpe meg?

A well stocked supermarket may look the same in most countries, and that
makes life easier when we travel or move abroad. A real supermarket is also
a veritable walk in dictionary where you find signs telling you what the items
are called in the local tongue. Yunha knows this of course, thats why she
speaks so well already. But in this video she needs help to find what she is
looking for, pastasaus (pasta sauce).
-Unnskyld, kan du hjelpe meg? (Excuse me, can you help me?)
Yunha use unnskyld (excuse me) as a polite way of grabbing the shop
assistants attention. This is very common in Norway when we need
someones attention, whether to ask them for help or, perhaps, want them to
move out of the way. When Yunha has the shop assistants attention, she
asks him for help: kan du hjelpe meg? (can you help me?)

-Unnskyld, kan du hjelpe meg?

-Ja, selvflgelig. Hva kan jeg gjre for deg? (Yes, of course. What can I do
for you?)
- Jeg finner ikke pastasaus. Har dere pastasaus? (I cant find pasta sauce. Do
you have pasta sauce?)

Its, of course, possible to add other nouns than pastasaus. You may say:
Jeg finner ikke brd (bread). Har dere brd? or Jeg finner ikke gulost (white
cheese). Har dere gulost?.
Its good to see that Yunha is coping so well in Norway.
What would be your major concern when shopping in Norway? To be polite
enough? Not finding what you are looking for and would have to ask someone
- in Norwegian?
Please let us know in the comments below.

Meeting friends at the caf

After Yunha has left her groceries at home she heads out to meet with
her new friends at the caf at the library. She makes an appointment for
the next day with Gabriele. They are planning to have breakfast together
and take a walk in the woods.
A Norwegian transcript of the dialogue is available in the downloads below.

Hvordan gr det?
How are you? but what to answer? When Yunha and Thiago meet outside
the University library, Yunha says Hei. S fint mte deg her. Hvordan gr
det? (Hi. How nice to see you here. How are you?) Hei is by far the most
common way Norwegian friends, of all ages, greet each other.

Hvordan gr det? (How are you?) What will be your answer to this question?
We dont know, of course, but we hope you would say something along the
lines of Thiagos bra (fine). There are multitude of ways to answer this
question like fint (fine) or ikke s verst (not too bad), and we encourage
you to listen carefully to the conversations in the videos to pick up other
possible answers.
When Yunha meets Thiago, she says S fint mte deg her (How nice to
see you here), and when she meets her other friends in the caf, she says
Hyggelig se dere (Nice to see you). We dont think we have to explain
this any further; its the way we all really want to be met, is it not? In
Norwegian we have a clever way of returning such niceties, like Gabriele we
say I like mte (likewise).

-Hyggelig se dere (Nice to se you)

-I like mte (Likewise)

Gabriele wants to know if Yunha is busy, so she asks Har du mye gjre i
dag? (Do you have a lot to do today?). Yunha has a lot on her plate to day,
so listen carefully to what she says, and you will learn a lot of useful verbs.
Family matters
As you know from watching the video, we get to know a little bit about
Yunhas family in South Korea. Faren er advokat, og moren jobber i bank.
(The father is a lawyer, and the mother works in a bank.) Broren og ssteren
hennes gr p skolen hver dag. (Her brother and sister goes to school every
day.)
Its only course day two, and its difficult to say a lot about your family and
family members, but perhaps you can write a thing or two about them in the
comment section?

Pronouns: The object form

Yunha is in a shop and buys food in the first video.

-She asks a shop assistant: Unnskyld, kan du hjelpe meg? (Excuse me, can
you help me?)
-The shop assitant: Ja, selvflgelig. Hva kan jeg hjelpe deg med? (Yes, of
course. What can I help you with?)

meg and deg are the object forms of jeg and du. On the first course day
we learnt the subject form of the personal pronouns. Today is the second
course day and it is time to learn the object form of the personal pronouns.
Luckily, the object form in Norwegian is used like the object form in English,
so there is nothing special about it.
Look for yourself:
-Han liker henne. He likes her.
-Vi snakker med dem. We speak to them.
-Hun liker ham. She likes him.
Pronouns: The object form - Pronomen: Objektform

SINGULAR
THE SUBJECT FORM THE OBJECT FORM
First person
jeg meg (me)
Second person
du deg (you)
Third person
han ham / han (him)

hun henne (her)

PLURAL
THE SUBJECT FORM THE OBJECT FORM
First person
vi oss (us)
Second person
dere dere (you)
Third person
de dem (them)

ACTIVITY
Do you remember the dialogues from the videos? Find two examples of the
object form of the personal pronouns used in the dialogues. Please, share
your examples with your fellow learners in the comment section.

Regular nouns: Indefinite form

Yunha er ei jente. (Yunha is a girl.) Thiago er en gutt. (Thiago is a boy.)
Donald er et troll. (Donald is a troll.)
Nouns are great fun! A Norwegian noun will be either masculine, feminine or
neuter. This is a result of gender equality in Norway (lol). The indefinite article
varies according to gender, and exists in three forms:
MASCULINE (M) en gutt
FEMININE (F) ei jente

NEUTER (N) et troll

In some cases like en gutt, ei jente and et troll the biological gender of
what is described will be the same as its grammatical gender. But many
nouns dont have any biological gender, so it is easier to learn the article of
each new noun along with the noun itself.
en bil a car
ei seng a bed
et bilde a picture

The feminine article, ei, is optional: it is entirely possible to drop it and use the
masculine en in its place: ei/en seng. So yes, when it comes to Norwegian
nouns, we havent achieved genuine gender equality, yet, and the masculine
gender is still superior.
Anyway, there are three indefinite articles (i.e. en, ei, et) in Norwegian. I hope
the number doesnt scare you because the usage of Norwegian indefinite
articles is not very different from the usage of the indefinite article (i.e. a (an))
in English.

Regular nouns: Indefinite form - Regelmessige substantiv: Ubestemt

form
SINGULAR / PLURAL
(M) en gutt / gutter
(M) en pose / poser
(F) ei/en jente / jenter
(F) ei/en seng / senger
NEUTER NOUNS OF ONE SYLLABLE
NEUTER NOUNS OF ONE SYLLABLE
(N) et kurs / kurs
(N) et troll / troll
NEUTER NOUNS OF TWO OR MORE SYLLABLES
NEUTER NOUNS OF TWO OR MORE SYLLABLES
(N) et bilde / bilder
(N) et universitet / universiteter

When you visit Norway and meet several trolls, you might want to use the
plural form of the noun troll. Norwegian uses a suffix to indicate the plural.
Most words will end in er the plural indefinite form:
-Hun treffer en gutt. She meets a boy.
-Hun treffer mange gutter. She meets many boys.
On the other hand, neuter nouns of only one syllable, like troll, will usually
have no suffix in the indefinite plural form:
-Han ser et troll. He sees a troll.
-Han ser mange troll. He sees many trolls.

ACTIVITY
Buying food is the topic in the first video. Have you made a shopping list for
the next time you will buy food? What will you buy? Use either the singular or
plural indefinite form of the nouns in your answer: Jeg skal kjpe

Regular nouns: Indefinite and definite form

After you have met a handsome troll in Norway, you might want to tell
your friends, neighbours, or granny about it:

-Jeg mter et troll. (Im meeting a troll).

Troll is a neuter noun, so you use the indefinite article et when you mention
the troll for the first time: et troll. But after you have informed your granny
about the fact that you have met a troll, you might want to tell more about the
troll, and then it would be correct to use the definite form of the noun:

-Trollet er sjarmerende. (The troll is charming).

Its like in English: The definite form indicates that something is known and
identifiable for the listener, and then we use the definite article the in
English.
Regular nouns: Indefinite and definite form
SINGULAR SINGULAR PLURAL PLURAL
INDEFINITE FORM DEFINITE FORM INDEFINITE FORM DEFINITE FORM
(M) en gutt gutten gutter guttene
(M) en pose posen poser posene
(F) ei (en) kantine kantina(kantinen) kantiner kantinene
(F) ei (en) seng senga (sengen) senger sengene
(N) et kurs kurset kurs kursene
(N) et troll trollet troll trollene
(N) et bilde bildet bilder bildene
(N) et universitet universitetet universiteter universitetene

You have figured it out, havent you? Norwegian doesnt indicate the definite
form by the use of a separate word, like the English the, but instead by using
a suffix.
ACTIVITY
Use the comments below and try to use either the indefinite or definite form of
the nouns in a few sentences. You might want to watch the videos again to
improve your vocabulary before you start writing your original sentences in
Norwegian.

An appointment with Gabriele

You may not feel ready to discuss your morning routine with people you
dont know, most of us are not. Its OK. Yunha, Gabriele and their
friends share facilities with other students, so for them this vocabulary
may come in handy.

Jeg har lyst p

As many Norwegians, Yunha usually has a cup of coffee in the morning. To
express her craving for coffee, she says:
-Jeg har s lyst p en kopp kaffe. (I would really like a cup of coffee.)
This gives you a way to express what you want, like Jeg har lyst p et glass
vann (I would like a glass of water) or Jeg har lyst p frokost. (I would like
breakfast.) The s Yunha slips into the expression ads some weight to her
craving.
Jeg pleier
Yunha usually drinks coffee in the morning. Its something she does on a
regular basis. In Norwegian we have a great verb to express that the action is
habitual, pleier (usually do something). The interviewer asks:
-Pleier du drikke kaffe om morgenen? (Do you usually drink coffee in the
morning?)
-Ja, jeg pleier alltid drikke kaffe om morgenen. (Yes, I always drink coffee in
the morning.)
Its possible to exchange the verb drikke (to drink) with other verbs like
dusje (to shower) or spise (to eat).
-Pleier du spise om morgenen? (Do you usually eat in the morning?) -Ja,
jeg spiser alltid om morgenen. (Yes, I always eat in the morning.)

Dress code
Yunha wants everything to be right when she goes to Gabriele, so she asks
the interviewers opinion on what to wear. As you can see from the videos, the
dress code is quite informal in Norway, but still, you may be invited for a walk
in the woods. Hva skal jeg ha p meg? (What shall I wear?). Dont worry!
Du kan ha p deg det samme som n. (You can wear the same as now.)

At Gabriele's dorm
Gabriele is admiring Yunhas punctuality. Who wouldnt like to be
complemented for the same reason?

Jeg liker
In the video Yunhas respons is
-Jeg liker vre presis. (I like to be punctual.)
This is, of course, a correct response, and a very handy one, as well,
because this is how we tell others what we like to do.
-Jeg liker drikke kaffe. (I like to drink coffee.).
-Jeg liker jogge. (I like to jog.)

Vr s god
Gabriele prepares a delicious smoothie for Yunha as part of their breakfast.
The glass of smoothies is accompanied by
-Vr s god. Hper det smaker. (Here you go. I hope you like it.)
Vr s god is something Norwegians say when giving something to
someone. It really has a nice ring to it in Norwegian. And some say were not
polite!? The proper response is always Takk (Thank you).

Jeg har lyst p

From the previous video you know Jeg har lyst p en kopp kaffe (I would like
a cup of coffee), in this video we focus on activities rather that objects.
Gabriele asks: Hva har du lyst til drikke? (What would you like to drink?).
Jeg har lyst til drikke te. (I would like to drink tea.)
-Jeg har lyst p en kopp kaffe. (I would like a cup of coffee.)
-Jeg har lyst til drikke en kopp te. (I would like to drink a cup of tea)
Got it?

How is Yuhna settling in as a student?

Hvordan gr det med deg?

Gabriele is a caring kind of person, and she is concerned about Yunha

and how she is doing as a newcomer in Oslo.

-Hvordan gr det med deg, egentlig? (How are you getting on, really?)
Egentlig tells us, and Yunha, that Gabriele is not only asking this to be
polite, but because she really cares.
Yunha is doing fine, but Gabriele wants to make sure, so she asks Yunha a
lot of questions. Lets have a look.
-Er det tft vre internasjonal student i Norge? (Is it tough being an
international student in Norway?)
-Hvordan liker du hybelen din? (How do you like your studio flat?)
-Har du pakket ut alle tingene dine? (Have you unpacked all your stuff?)
-Klarer du kjpe mat i butikken? (Do you manage to buy food at the
store?)
-Har du kjpt mnedskort til T-banen? (Have you bought a monthly
commuters ticket for the Metro?)
Now we want to show you how these questions will change their meaning
when we change some of the vocabulary but keep the basic structure, of the
questions.
-Er det gy vre internasjonal student i Norge? (Is it fun being an
international student in Norway?)
-Hvordan liker du sykkelen din? (How do you like your bike?)
-Har du pakket ut alle klrne dine? (Have you unpacked all your clothes?)
-Klarer du snakke norsk? (Do you manage to talk Norwegian?)
-Har du kjpt sykkel? (Have you bought a bike?)
Can you make more questions in line with this? Take a look at the word list
youll find in the download section below to find words for your questions.

Irregular nouns

Yunha gets up and thinks out loud: Jeg har s lyst p en kopp kaffe. (I
would like to drink a cup of coffee.)
Yunha says en kopp (masculine, singular, indefinite form) because she
introduces new information. Afterwards Yunha decides not to drink coffee
because Gabriele will probably offer her a cup, when they eat breakfast
together, so Yunha says: Jeg dropper kaffen. (Im dropping the coffee.).
Now she uses the definite form of the noun, kaffen, because she already
has said that she wants to drink a cup of coffee, so we already know what is
being referred to. So, we use the indefinite and definite form of nouns often
the same way that English does.
Suffix to indicate the definite form
On the other hand it would be boring to copy English in everything so to make
Norwegian a bit more original, we use suffixes to indicate the definite form,
while English uses a separate word the. We talked about these suffixes last
week. Do you remember which suffixes we use in the definite singular? Here
is a hint:
Regular nouns: Indefinite and definite form
Regular nouns: Indefinite and definite form
SINGULAR SINGULAR PLURAL PLURAL
INDEFINITE FORM DEFINITE FORM INDEFINITE FORM DEFINITE FORM
(M) en gutt gutten gutter guttene
(M) en pose posen poser posene
(F) ei (en) kantine kantina(kantinen) kantiner kantinene
(F) ei (en) seng senga (sengen) senger sengene
(N) et kurs kurset kurs kursene
(N) et troll trollet troll trollene
(N) et bilde bildet bilder bildene
(N) et universitet universitetet universiteter universitetene

Does the grammar looks familiar to you?

Yes, this is the indefinite and definite form of regular nouns, you learnt it last
week. Today we are going to talk about the indefinite and definite form of
irregular nouns. We can start with the nouns which are irregular but there are
still a couple of rules to help us:
Irregular nouns: Indefinite and definite form
SINGULAR SINGULAR PLURAL PLURAL
INDEFINITE FORM DEFINITE FORM INDEFINITE FORM DEFINITE FORM
(M) en sykkel (bicycle) sykkelen sykler syklene
(M) en hybel (studio flat) hybelen hybler hyblene
(M) en sommer (summer) sommeren somre somrene
(M) en vinter (winter) vinteren vintre vintrene
(M) en tysker (German) tyskeren tyskere tyskerne
(M) en lrer (teacher) lreren lrere lrerne
(N) et studium (studies) studiet studier studiene
(N) et museum (museum) museet museer museene

Plural form of nouns

Yunha borrows a bicycle from Thiago and sykkel (bicycle) is one of the words
that end in -el and has a truncated form in the plural: sykler.
Some words that end in -er, like sommer, can get truncated forms without -r
in the indefinite form plural: somre. In addition, masculine words that end in
-er and refer to people, like lrer (teacher), take the endings -e and -ne in
the plural: lrere (plural, indefinite form) and lrerne (plural, definite form).
Studium (studies) and museum (museum) end in -ium and -eum and
these endings disappear when inflected: studiet and studier and studiene
or museet and museer and museene.
Other nouns have plural forms that involve irregularities and therefore it is
useful to try to memorize them. Actually, this is a half-truth because you can
always check the forms in an online dictionary, too.
SINGULAR SINGULAR PLURAL PLURAL
INDEFINITE FORM DEFINITE FORM INDEFINITE FORM DEFINITE FORM
(M) en far (father) faren fedre fedrene
(M) en bror (brother) broren brdre brdrene
(M) en ting (thing) tingen ting tingene
(M) en mann (man) mannen menn mennene
(M) en sko (shoe) skoen sko skoene
(F) ei(en) mor(mother) mora (moren) mdre mdrene
(F) ei(en) sster(sister) sstera(ssteren) sstre sstrene
(F) ei(en) datter(daughter) dattera(datteren) dtre dtrene
(F) ei(en) tann (tooth) tanna (tannen) tenner tennene
(F) ei (en) bok (book) boka (boken) bker bkene
(N) et barn (child) barnet barn barna
(N) et sted (place) stedet steder stedene
(N) - - klr (clothes) klrne

ACTIVITY
Now it is your turn to inflect a noun or two. You might want to inflect your
favourite noun. For example, we like the noun sammensurium (hotchpotch)
a lot. sammensurium is a neuter noun and is inflected like the noun
studium: et sammensurium - sammensuriet - sammensurier -
sammensuriene. We are excited to hear about your favourite nouns, so we
hope you inflect them in the comment section now.

The present perfect tense forms of regular verbs

Today Gabriele and Yunha have a chat about how Yunha is getting on in
Oslo.
Gabriele is like a big sister to Yunha and asks her if Yunha has unpacked all
her stuff:
-Har du pakket ut alle tingene dine?
Or if Yunha has bought a monthly commuters ticket for the Metro:
-Har du kjpt mnedskort til T-banen?
When Gabriele asks these questions, then she uses the present perfect
tense.
The present perfect refers to something that happened at an uspecified time
in the past while we are interested in the current consequences. Or we use
the present perfect tense when we describe a condition that began in the past
but is still ongoing.
The present perfect tense form of regular verbs
SUFFIX INFINITIVE PRESENT PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
et

() snakke ((to) talk) snakker har snakket

() jobbe ((to) work) jobber har jobbet

() sykle ((to) ride a bicycle) sykler har syklet

t
() lese ((to) read) leser har lest

() kjpe ((to) buy) kjper har kjpt

() trene ((to) work out) trener har trent

() begynne ((to) start) begynner har begynt

() drmme ((to) dream) drmmer har drmt

() spille ((to) play) spiller har spilt

d
() pleie ((to) usually do) pleier har pleid

() prve ((to) try) prver har prvd

() lage (to make,prepare) lager har lagd

dd
() tro ((to) believe) tror har trodd

() bo ((to) live) bor har bodd

Regular verbs and their suffixes

Regular verbs are divided into groups according to the suffixes they have.
There are four groups because regular verbs will have the suffixes -et, -t, -d
or -dd.

1. Many verbs with two different consonants or a double consonant before

-e in the infinitive form, have the suffix -et, like in pakket inn:

-Har du pakket ut alle tingene dine?

2. Many verbs with a vowel and one consonant in front of -e, will take the
suffix -t, like in kjpt:
-Har du kjpt mnedskort til T-banen?

This also applies to verbs with a doubl n, m and l in front of -e and they drop
one of the consonants before the suffix -t, like in drmt (dreamt).

3. Many verbs with vowel and g or vowel and v or with two different vowels
in front of -e will take the suffix -d, like in prvd. And the last group, regular
verbs that generally end in vowels other than -e will take the suffix -dd in the
present perfect, like in bodd.

ACTIVITY
You will think about the rules when creating sentences, and therefore we
would like to know: Hva har dere spist i dag? After you have answered our
question in the comment section, then you might want to ask your fellow
learners what they have eaten today or what they have read today or what
they have bought today. Let us practice Norwegian!

Reflexive verbs
Yunha vasker seg. (Yunha washes herself.) Etterp kler hun p seg.
(Afterwards she dresses.) This is how Yunhas morning looks like.

seg in the sentences about Yunhas morning is a reflexive pronoun and

vaske seg and kle p seg are reflexive verbs.

Reflexive verbs
() vaske seg ((to) wash oneself)

REFLEXIVE PRONOUN
jeg vasker meg
du vasker deg
han vasker seg
hun vasker seg
vi vasker oss
dere vasker dere
de vasker seg

Here are some sentences that exemplify this:

() vaske seg ((to) wash oneself)
Jeg vasker meg hver morgen.

() kle p seg ((to) get dressed)

Hun kler p seg om morgenen.

() ha p seg ((to) wear)

Hva har hun p seg?

() ta p seg ((to) put on)

Vi tar p oss tursko.

() bestemme seg for ((to) decide on)

De bestemmer seg for lpe en runde.
() sette seg ((to) take a seat)
Etter trening setter hun seg og drikker vann.

() like seg ((to) enjoy oneself)

Liker du deg i Oslo.

() glede seg til ((to) look forward to)

Han gleder seg til spille konsert.

() legge seg ((to) go to bed)

Legger dere dere klokka ni om kvelden?

ACTIVITY
Here are som sentences about Alexs morning routines:
Alex er sulten (hungry), og han gleder seg til spise frokost. Frst m han
vaske seg. Etterp barberer han seg (to shave) og lager kaffe. Etter frokost
kler han p seg.
(Alex is hungry and hes looking forward to eating breakfast. First he must
wash himself. Afterwards he shaves and makes coffee. After breakfast he
gets dressed).
Write the same text about yourself starting with: Jeg er sulten
Afterwards you can try to write a similar text about somebody else, for
example about a friend of yours or about your neighbours or us here in Oslo.
You are very welcome to share your texts with us and with your fellow
learners in the comments.

Going to a concert with Katharina

In this video Yunha, Thiago and the others go from the University to the
city center by public transportation.
Jeg har en app
Alex is the computer wizard in the group, so were not surprised to find out
that he travels without a physical ticket or card.
He says
-Jeg har en app. (I have an app.)
Yunha wants the app as well, and asks
-Kan du vise meg hvordan jeg laster den ned? (Can you show me how to
download it?)
This is something you can do as well, if, or when, you get to Oslo. Det er
veldig lett (Its very easy.)
Hva er klokka? How to tell time in Norwegian
The full hour: Klokka tte (at eight oclock)
Half past: Klokka er halv ni (half past eight!)
Past the hour: Klokka ti over tte (at ten past eight)
To the hour: Klokka ti p tte (at ten to eight)
As you can see from the list, this is similar to English, except for half past,
where we say half and then the next hour. But, for the rest of it we have our
own special way:
At 20 past the hour: Klokka ti p halv ni (at twenty past eight!)
At 20 to the hour: Klokka ti over halv tte (at twenty to eight!)

So, we use the half hour as a reference point, like the full hour.
With this information, do you feel equipped to tell the time in Norwegian? Try
for yourself in the comments below. What is the time right now where you
are? If you want to ask someone about what time it is, you can choose
between Hva er klokka? or Hvor mye er klokka?, both meaning what time
is it in English.
-Hva er klokka? (What time is it?)
-Klokka er tte. (Its eight oclock.)

Conversation after the concert

Oslo is a great place for concerts! But lets talk about time, and how we
can say for how long something has been going on.

Har dere vrt her lenge?

In the video, a cheerful Katharina joins her friends outside the Club, and the
following conversation goes like this
-Har dere vrt her lenge? (Have you been here long?)
-Vi har vrt her i ca 10 minutter. (We have been here for about ten
minutes.)
A bit later
-Har dere spilt sammen lenge? (Have you been playing togheter long?)
-I cirka et r. (For about a year.)
And
-N har Yunha bodd i Oslo i over ei uke. (Now Yunha has been living in
Oslo for over a week.)
So, if we ask you Har du lrt norsk lenge? (Have you been learning
Norwegian long?) You may answer I to uker. (For two weeks.)
Jeg har begynt
In the last section of the video, we learn that Yunha har begynt trene p
studentenes treningssenter (Yunha has started working out at the students
gym), thanks to Gabriele and her healthy influence.
This time we want to draw your attention to the first part of the sentence:
Yunha har begynt trene. Har begynt (have/has started, begun) is very
useful when we want to tell others about things we have started doing, like
-Jeg har begynt lre norsk. (I have started learning Norwegian.)
Or
-Hun har begynt spille gitar i et band. (She has started playing guitar in a
band.)
If you tell people in Norway Jeg har begynt lre norsk, they may ask you
Hvorfor? (Why?), after all Norway is a smallish country. But they may also
ask you Har du lrt norsk lenge? (Have you been learning Norwegian
long?).
And now you know how to answer this question in the comments below.

The present perfect tense forms of irregular verbs

Yunha, Alex, Gabriele and Thiago are at Katharinas concert. Katharina
meets her friends during the break.
-She asks: Har dere vrt her lenge? (Have you been here long?).
She uses the present perfect tense because Yunha, Alex, Gabriele and
Thiago arrived before the concert started but they are still enjoying the
concert.
Yes, you are right, todays topic is the present perfect tense, but this time we
are going to take a closer look at the present perfect tense forms of irregular
verbs. The verbs in this group are verb anarchists which means there are no
rules when it comes to the present perfect tense form.
The present perfect tense forms of irregular verbs
INFINITIVE PRESENT TENSE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
() komme ((to) come) kommer har kommet
() g ((to) go) gr har gtt
() ha ((to) have) har har hatt
() vre ((to) be) er har vrt
() gjre ((to) do) gjr har gjort
() f ((to) get) fr har ftt
() ta ((to) take) tar har tatt
() se ((to) see) ser har sett
() drikke ((to) drink) drikker har drukket
() gi ((to) give) gir har gitt
() skrive ((to) write) skriver har skrevet
() treffe ((to) meet) treffer har truffet
() lpe ((to) run) lper har lpt
() sitte ((to) sit) sitter har sittet
() finne ((to) find) finner har funnet
() ligge ((to) lay) ligger har ligget
() hjelpe ((to) help) hjelper har hjulpet

It might be difficult and a little bit boring to learn the forms all by yourself, so
invite you and your fellow learners, to learn them together.

To express ownership and belonging

We can say that Yunha, Alex, Gabriele and Thiago are Katharinas
venner or vennene til Katharina. They are Katharinas friends or
friends of Katharina.
This is because we add the suffix -s to a name or noun to express ownership
or belonging. As you can see, quite similar to English. On the other hand
Norwegian often uses the preposition til to express ownership or belonging,
too.
To express ownership and belonging
Thiagos hus (hus/et - house) huset til Thiago
Yunhas hybel hybelen til Yunha
Gabrieles joggesko joggeskoene til Gabriele
Katharinas seng senga til Katharina
studentenes bker bkene til studentene
USAs politikk (politikk/en - politics) politikken til USA

So, you can choose either of these forms to express ownership and
belonging.
ACTIVITY
Have you noticed that the noun is in the definite form when it is in front of til,
like in huset til Thiago? But we use the indefinite form of the noun after
names or nouns with the -s suffix, like in Thiagos hus.
Now, it is time for you to express ownership and belonging with the
preposition til and with the suffix -s. Write a couple of examples in the
comments below. Have you understood the grammar? Discuss with your
fellow learners in the comment section. We are sure you will figure it out!

Yunha tries out her new bike

Both Yunha and Thiago are bicycle enthusiasts, in their own way.
ta
Thiago has no less than five bikes, but he is willing to share with Yunha.
-Denne er min, men du kan ta en av de andre. (This one is mine, but you
can take one of the others.)
So, when we have something thats ours and we want to share it, or give it
away, we use the verb ta (to take).
-Du kan ta denne boka. (You can have/take this book.)
ta is a versatile verb in Norwegian, and you probably remember it from the
public transportation video, where our friends tar T-banene til sentrum (take
the metro to the city center). We also use it to ask if someone wants to have a
cup of coffee with us
-Skal vi ta en kopp kaffe? (Should we have/take a cup of coffee?)
This is an all important question in Norway. We love our coffee! Many a
friendship or relationship has started over a cup of black coffee.
For siden = ago
The second thing we want to draw you attention to in this video, is how we
express ago in Norwegian.
-Han har fem sykler. Nei, han hadde fem sykler for en time siden. (He has five
bikes. No, he had five bikes an hour ago.)
As you can se from this we need both the Norwegian for and siden to
express the same a the English ago.
-Yunha beskte Gabriele for to dager siden. (Yunha visited Gabriele two
days ago.)

Please answer these questions in the comments using for siden

When did you start this course?
When was the last time you drank coffee?

Invitation to Thiago's party

Yunha and Thiago seems to get along just fine. In this video Yunha asks
Thiago about his life as a hardworking masters student in Oslo.
Har du noen planer?
Yunhas first question is
-Har du noen planer for i kveld? (Do you have any plans for this evening?)
Unfortunately, perhaps, Thiago has a lot to do.
-Jeg m sitte lese noen timer p biblioteket. (I have to sit and work a few
hours in the library.)
The question may be adjusted to fit your needs, like this:
-Har du noen planer for i morgen? (Do you have any plans for tomorrow?)
Or
-Har du noen planer for helgen? (Do you have any plans for the weekend?)

Frst - s - etterp
When Thiago is telling Yunha about his day, he organizes his narrative by the
use of frst (first) and s (then) / etterp (afterwards) / deretter
(afterwards, there after). This makes it easy for Yunha to understand what
comes first and what comes next.
-Frst skal jeg spise pizza. Etterp skal jeg lese. (First I will eat pizza. Then I
will read.)
Liker du?
There are lots of useful questions in this conversation. Liker du pizza? (Do
you like pizza?) is perhaps a bit redundant since, as Yunha says, Alle liker
pizza. (Everyone likes pizza.) But the question itself liker du? (do you
like?) is obviously really important.
Liker du pizza? Liker du kaffe? Liker du Oslo? Liker du Norge? Liker du
Thiago? Liker du meg?
Trenger du hjelp?
One last thing: Yunha asks Thiago Trenger du hjelp p lrdag? (Do you
need any help on Saturday?) No wonder Yunha makes friends easily! She is
a good, supportive friend.
-Trenger du hjelp p lrdag? (Do you need any help on Saturday?) -Ja, det
ville vre fint. (Thanks, that would be fine.)
Feel free to tell us about your plans in the comments section, and if you are
planing on doing more than one thing, try using frst, s, etterp and
deretter.

Is Thiago flirting with Yunha?

What do you think, is Thiago litt interessert i Yunha? (a little
interested in Yunha?).
We dont relly know what to think, so we leave it to you to think it through,
dear learner. Instead we want to draw your attention to something a bit more
prosaic. Yunha describes her bike like den ser helt ny ut (It looks brand
new). In Norwegian we express looks by using both ser and ut.
-Thiago ser brasiliansk ut. (Thiago looks Brazilian.)
-Frokosten ser deilig ut. (The breakfast looks delicious.)

Demonstratives
Thiago has five bicycles. Yunha can borrow one of them. They are
looking at Thiagos bicycles and Yunha points at one of them saying:
Jeg tar denne sykkelen. (I am taking this bicycle.)
Demonstratives
Her - Here
Der - There
(M) en sykkel (bicycle)
denne sykkelen
den sykkelen
(F) ei bok (book)
denne boka
den boka
(N) et sete (seat)
dette setet
det setet
(Pl) pizzaer (pizza)
disse pizzaene
de pizzaene
denne, dette, disse
denne is a demonstrative here. Demonstratives point out and emphasise a
noun. We use the demonstratives denne, dette, disse when things are near
us. denne is used in front of masculine nouns like denne sykkelen, but
denne is used in front of feminine nouns, too. dette is used in front of neuter
nouns and disse in front of nouns in the plural form.
den, det, de
Thiago points at the bicycles parked further away and says: De syklene har
jeg kjpt p nettet. (Those bicycles, I have bought on the net.) When we
point out something that is further away, we use the demonstratives den, det
and de. den is used in front of masculine and feminine nouns, det is used in
front of neuter nouns and de in front of plural nouns like in de syklene. Note
that the noun which follows the demonstratives is in the definite form.
Sometimes we use demonstratives independently, without a noun, but these
will be inflected according to the implied noun. In the video Thiago says to
Yunha:
-Denne kan du lne s lenge du vil. (This you can borrow as long as you
want.)
and he means denne sykkelen by using denne.
ACTIVITY
Denne aktiviteten her (this activity here) handler om (is about)
demonstrativene (the demonstratives). Kan dere skrive (can you write) i
kommentarfeltet (in the comment section) eksempler p (examples of) bruk
av (the usage of) enten (either) denne, dette eller (or) disse?

Possessives
Thiago studies many hours in the library every day and Yunha is
fascinated by his discipline and will power but Thiago says:
-Du skjnner, jeg m levere min masteroppgave i dette semesteret. (You see,
I have to submit my masters thesis in this term.)
Yunha then asks what the masters thesis is about:
-Hva skriver du om i masteroppgaven din? (What do you write about in your
thesis?)
min in min masteroppgave is a possessive and even though it is possible
to place the possessive before the noun, it sounds more natural in Norwegian
to place the possessive after the noun, like din in masteroppgaven din.
Possessives say something about who owns, or is otherwise connected to, a
spesific noun.

Possessives

MASCULINE
FEMININE
NEUTER
PLURAL
jeg
stolen min
senga mi
bordet mitt
vennene mine

(min stol)
(mi seng)
(mitt bord)
(mine venner)
du
stolen din
senga di
bordet ditt
vennene dine

(din stol)
(di seng)
(ditt bord)
(dine venner)
han
stolen hans
senga hans
bordet hans
vennene hans

(hans stol)
(hans seng)
(hans bord)
(hans venner)
hun
stolen hennes
senga hennes
bordet hennes
vennene hennes

(hennes stol)
(hennes seng)
(hennes bord)
(hennes venner)
vi
stolen vr
senga vr
bordet vrt
vennene vre

(vr stol)
(vr seng)
(vrt bord)
(vre venner)
dere
stolen deres
senga deres
bordet deres
vennene deres

(deres stol)
(deres seng)
(deres bord)
(deres venner)
de
stolen deres
senga deres
bordet deres
vennene deres

(deres stol)
(deres seng)
(deres bord)
(deres venner)
If you place the possessive after the noun, the noun will be in the definite form
but if the possessive is in front of the noun, the noun is in the indefinite form.
The possessives hans, hennes, deres (your, plural), deres (their) always
retain their form. On the other hand min, mi, mitt, mine, din, di, ditt, dine,
vr, vr, vrt, vre do change their form according to gender and number of
the noun.
ACTIVITY or Take possession over the possessives
Hopefully you are eager to use the possessives yourself now. In the next step
there are some possessive quizzes waiting for you, but let us try a little writing
activity first.
Please, read this short story:
Jeg har en liten familie. Mora mi jobber p biblioteket, og faren min er
regnskapsfrer (accountant). Broren min studerer musikk. Foreldrene mine
jobber mye, men i helgene har de fri, og da besker de ofte onkelen (uncle)
min eller tanta (aunt) mi. I landet mitt er familien viktig (important).
Now it is your turn to write a story. You can make up a similar story, using the
text above as a template or make up one on your own, about Alex or a story
using the pronoun vi and maybe a third story using the pronoun de. Be
creative and use the possessives. It does not have to be long, but please post
your story in the comments below.
Maybe we can publish a short-story collection together?

A day out in Frognerparken

Gabriele and the others are all hard working students, as you know.
In the beginning of this video the voice says:
-Hun studerer mye hver dag, gr p forelesninger og seminarer. (She studies
a lot every day, attends lectures and seminars.)
G p
Here, in this sentence, gr p means attends. Gabriele gr p
forelesning. (Gabriele attends a lecture.) In Norwegian we will also say things
like Gabriele gr p konsert. (Gabriele attends a concert.) Or Gabriele gr
p Universitetet. (Gabriele attends University = Gabriele is a student at the
University.) If you want ask someone to the movies, you might say Vil du g
p kino i kveld? (Will you go to the movies tonight?)
Jobbe som
Its common among international students as well as for Norwegian students
to have part time jobs on the side. Gabriele jobber som osloguide for tyske
turister. (Gabriele works as an Oslo guide for German tourists.)
-Jeg jobber som lrer. (I work as a teacher.) -Hva jobber du som? (What do
you work as?)
If you dont know how to answer the last question in Norwegian, look up the
Norwegian word for your profession and try again.
Det er greit
Gabriele is very happy to meet her friends in the park, but she has to say
good bye to the members of the group she has guided, so she says:
-Jeg er ferdig om ett yeblikk. (Ill be finished in one moment.)
Katharinas way of replying is very common among Norwegians.
-Det er greit. (Thats good.)
Det er greit can also be translated into Thats OK or Thats alright. As you
know, we may also say Det er OK. Greit = OK. Er det OK for dere? (Is
that OK with you?)
NB! Det er greit does not mean Its great, here we have false friends.
Do you remember how to say ago in Norwegian? They use it again in this
video. Have a look at step 3.2 if you dont remember.

The students hang out after the walk in the park

We know its no walk in the park to learn Norwegian, but we hope you
are enjoying the experience nevertheless. And we hope you pay visit to
Frognerparken if you ever get to Oslo.
Skal jeg?
Lets have a closer look at the question Katharina asks when they arrive at
the outdoor caf. Jeg gr og kjper meg en kopp kaffe. Skal jeg ta med en
kopp kaffe eller te til dere? (Ill go and buy a cup of coffee. Shall I bring you a
coffee or tea?).
Katharina is as helpful as the others. How nice! Skal jeg ta med? (Shall I
bring?) can, of course, be used for other things as well. Skal jeg ta med
mat? (Shall I bring food?). Skal jeg ta med noe? (Shall I bring anything?).
What is a proper, positive response?
-Skal jeg ta med en kopp kaffe eller te til dere? (Shall I bring you a coffee or
tea?)
-Ja, takk - en kopp kaffe til meg ogs. (Yes, please - a coffee for me too.) -Jeg
vil gjerne ha en kopp grnn te. (Id very much like cup of green tea.)
Gjerne!
Gjerne (its a bit difficult to translate) is one of our absolute favourites in the
Norwegian language. Here it gives away Gabrieles preference for green tea,
she prefers green tea to anything else it seems. Gjerne is also used to add a
touch of sincerity to a positive answer, it shines through that you say yes
happily, and its never to much.
-Skal jeg ta med mat? (Shall I bring food?) -Ja, gjerne. (Yes, please!)
-Vil du g p kino i kveld? (Would you like to go to the movies tonight?) -Ja,
gjerne (Yes, Id love to!)
Sammen
Have you noticed how frequently the word sammen (together) follows quite
a few different verbs?
-De gr sammen gjennom parken. (They walk together through the park.)
-Andre sitter p gresset og prater sammen (Others are sitting on the grass
chatting together.) -De spiser sammen p kantina. (The eat together in the
canteen.) -Yunha og Gabriele trener sammen. (Yunha og Gabriele work out
together.)
The infamous matpakke
We cannot leave this video without commenting on Yunhas matpakke
(lunch box). Matpakke is a common feature at Norwegian schools,
universities, work places, etc. around noon when Norwegians have their
lunch. Norwegians very often make their own lunch at home, then they wrap it
in paper or put it in a box and bring it with them. Yunha is adopting quickly to
the local way of doing things. If you dont like the idea of packing your own
lunch, you will find plenty of places where you can treat yourself to a tasty
lunch.
What do you like to do together with your friends? Tell us about it in the
comment section, and of course, do it in Norwegian.

The simple past tense of regular verbs

Gabriele meets her friends in the afternoon and tells about her morning
at work:
-Jeg mtte turistene p hotellet klokken ti. S reiste vi med buss til Bygdy for
g p museer der. Turistene likte spesielt se vikingskipene.
(I met the tourists at the the hotel at 10 oclock. Then we took the bus to
Bygdy to visit the museums there. The tourists especially liked to see the
viking ships.)
The simple past tense
mtte, reiste and likte are the simple past tense forms of mte, reise
and like. The simple past tense is used about events and conditions in the
past that have finished. Regular verbs are divided into groups according to
the suffixes they have. There are four groups because the regular verbs will
have the suffixes -et, -te, -de or -dde.
SUFFIX
INFINITIVE
THE PRESENT TENSE
THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE
et
() snakke ((to) talk)
snakker
snakket

() jobbe ((to) work)

jobber
jobbet

() sykle ((to) cycle)

sykler
syklet
te
() lese ((to) read)
leser
leste

() kjpe ((to) buy)

kjper
kjpte

() mte ((to) meet)

mter
mtte

() begynne ((to) start)

begynner
begynte

() drmme ((to) dream)

drmmer
drmte

() spille ((to) play)

spiller
spilte
de
() pleie ((to) use to)
pleier
pleide

() prve ((to) try)

prver
prvde

() lage ((to) make)

lager
lagde
dde
() tro ((to) believe)
tror
trodde

() bo ((to) live)
bor
bodde
Let us break down the rules
It is a lot to remember, but let us take a look at the rules:
Many verbs with two different consonants or a double consonant
before -e in the infinitive form have the suffix -et.
 Verbs with a vowel and one consonant in front of -e, will take the suffix
-te. For example mtte, reiste and likte. This also applies to verbs
with a double n, m and l in front of -e. Note that they drop one of the
consonants before the suffix -te.
The third group is verbs with vowel and g or vowel and v or with two
different vowels (a diphthong) in front of -e, they will take the suffix
-de.
Regular verbs that generally end in vowels other than -e will take the
suffix -dde in the simple past tense.
ACTIVITY
Still a bit difficult to memorise? You will practice in the next steps, but if you
have found good ways to remember this, either by making a rhyme or a song
or anything, please share in the comments below.

The simple past tense forms of irregular verbs

And now the simple past tense forms of irregular verbs
The simple past tense forms of irregular verbs are easy to remember there
are no rules, so you must learn all the forms by heart, or you can check the
forms in Bokmlsordboka, too.
INFINITIVE
THE PRESENT TENSE
THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE
() komme ((to) come)
kommer
kom
() g ((to) go)
gr
gikk
() ha ((to) have)
har
hadde
() vre ((to) be)
er
var
() gjre ((to) do)
gjr
gjorde
() f ((to) get)
fr
fikk
() ta ((to) take)
tar
tok
() se ((to) see)
ser
s
() drikke ((to) drink)
drikker
drakk
() gi ((to) give)
gir
ga
() skrive ((to) write)
skriver
skrev
() treffe ((to) meet)
treffer
traff
() lpe ((to) run)
lper
lp
() sitte ((to) sit)
sitter
satt
() finne ((to) find)
finner
fant
() ligge ((to) lay)
ligger
l
() hjelpe ((to) help)
hjelper
hjalp
ACTIVITY
It might be a bit boring to learn the forms all by yourself, so invite your fellow
learners to learn them together with you. Irregular verbs are just as irregular in
Norwegian as in any other language. If you have any tips for your fellow
learners on good techniques to memorise these verbs, please share them
below.
One way is to use the preterite tense actively by writing about what you did
yesterday. Please share in the comments a short story, or a sentence or two,
about what you did yesterday.

Technical issues and preparing for the party

Everything has been running smoothly so far for Yunha, but in todays
video she runs into a minor problem with her student card. Yunha har
et lite problem. (Yunha has a small problem.)
Later, when she describes her problem to Alex, she says Jeg har litt
problemer med f kontakt med studentkontoen min. ( Im having some
problems getting in contact with my student account.) We hope you dont run
into problems of course, but if you do, you may express your self along the
same lines:
-Jeg har et problem. (I have a problem)
-Jeg har problemer med kjpe billett p T-banen (I have problems buying a
ticket at the Metro.)
-Jeg har problemer med finne biblioteket. (I have problems finding the
library.)
Do you remember how to ask for help? Kan du hjelpe meg? (Can you help
me?)
Tenkte, g, handle
-Apropos litt senere i dag, s tenkte Gabriele og jeg dra ned til Grnland for
handle matvarer til festen til Thiago.
(And speaking of a little later today, Gabriele and I were thinking of going
down to Grnland to buy groceries for Thiagos party.)
What a beautiful sentence this is, brimming with things to comment on!
Lets start with tenkte. Here, it tells us that Yunha and Gabriele has planned
to do something together. So we might say things like Vi tenkte jogge i
ettermiddag. Har du lyst til bli med? (We were thinking of going jogging this
afternoon. Do you want to come?)
Next word out is the verb dra (go). In Norwegian the verb g means to
walk/go on foot. This means that we cannot say g if, lets say, we are flying
to London. We are going to London is OK in English, but not in Norwegian,
unless you are walking there. Here dra comes to the rescue because it can
substitute other verbs of motion. Vi skal fly til London. (We will fly to
London.) = Vi skal dra til London. (We will go to London.) What goes
missing is of course the mean of transportation involved.
Finally, lets look at for handle (to buy), or actually just for . We think it
might be easier for you to understand for if we translate it into in order to
do. So what we do, is to give the reason for why we are doing this or that.
Hvorfor drar de til Grnland? (Why do they go to Grnland?) For handle
matvarer til festen til Thiago. (In order to buy groceries for Thiagos party.)
-Hvorfor gr Yunha til Alex? (Why does Yunha see Alex?)
-Yunha gr til Alex for f hjelp med studentkontoen. (Yunha sees Alex to get
help with here student account.)

Going down town to shop for the party

We will keep it short this time. We follow our friends to Grnland, one of
the most multicultural neighborhoods in Oslo, to go shopping for
vegetables and a few other things. Grnland is famous for its small, but
well stocked, stores.
Pleier
Alex is one of many international students at the University of Oslo who
regularly come here to stock up on delicious and healthy food. Jeg pleier
ogs ta en tur hit hver uke. (I usually come here once a week too.) We
commented on the use of the verb pleier in week two, but to remind you,
pleier is used when we do something regularly.
-Jeg pleier ta en tur hit. (I usually come here.)
-Han pleier kjpe grnnsaker p Grnland (He usually buys vegetables at
Grnland.) -Han pleier lage pizza hver helg. (He usually makes pizza every
weekend.)
Feel free to answer the following question in the comments section:
Hva pleier du gjre hver uke? (What do you usually do every week?)
Hva kjpte du i butikken siste gang du var der? (What did you buy in the
store the last time you were there?)

Adverbs for place and directions

Alex, Yunha and Gabriele take the Metro to Grnland. Grnland is a part
of Oslo where our students usually buy food.
Alex says:
-Jeg pleier ta en tur hit hver uke. Jeg liker kjpe grnnsaker og andre ting
her. Prisene er ikke s hye p Grnland.
(I usually come here every week. I like to buy vegetables and other things
here. The prices are not so high in Grnland.)
Hit og her
hit and her, both of them translate as here in English but in Norwegian we
use her when something is happening in a location and hit when something
is moving in the direction of a place.
MOVEMENT IN A DIRECTION
AT A PLACE
Gabriele gr hjem.
Gabriele leser hjemme.
Kom inn!
De andre sitter inne p kafen.
Thiago gr ut av biblioteket.
Ute skinner (to shine) sola (sun).
Gabriele gr opp til lesesalen (reading area) i annen etasje (second floor).
Biblioteket har mange lesesaler oppe i annen etasje.
Gabriele gr ned til lesesalen i frste etasje.
Biblioteket har mange lesesaler nede i frste etasje.
Frst skal Thiago komme hit.
Yunha studerer her i Oslo.
Etterp skal Thiago g dit.
Der kan du betale.
ACTIVITY
The adverbs hit, her, dit, der, inn, inne, ut, ute, opp, oppe,
ned, nede, hjem and hjemme are short and confusing. Practice them
together with your fellow learners: Choose two adverbs and use them in your
own sentences in the comment section

Subordinate clauses with "that"

When Yunha is asked if she is going to buy beer for Thiagos party, she
answers:
-Nei, Thiago har sagt at vi ikke skal kjpe l. (No, Thiago has said that we
are not to buy beer.)
Indirect and direct speech
When we want to express the content of statements without quoting them
explicitly, when we want to retell what somebody has said, then we use
indirect speech. We use the verb say and a subordinating conjunction
that followed by a subordinate clause, like in Thiago har sagt at vi ikke skal
kjpe l.
Take a look at the table below where the subordinate clause is everything
after Hun sier (She says).
The sentence translates into: She says that she [] eats a lot of vegetables.
This sentence is an example of indirect speech. Direct speech would be if
she said: I eat a lot of vegetables.
-Yunha sier: Jeg spiser mye grnnsaker.
-Yunha sier at hun spiser mye grnnsaker.

SUBORD. CONJUNTION
SUBJECT
ADVERBIAL
VERBAL
Hun sier
at
hun

spiser mye grnnsaker

Hun sier
at
hun
ikke
spiser mye grnnsaker
Hun sier
at
hun
gjerne
spiser mye grnnsaker
Hun sier
at
hun
alltid
spiser mye grnnsaker
The word order is fixed in subordinate clauses: a subordinating conjunction
(at), is usually followed by the subject and if there is an ikke or other such
adverb, the adverb is placed before the verb in subordinate clauses.
Let us gossip a little. What do you think your neighbours think of you? Share
the gossip with us in the comment section. You can use either han sier at
or hun sier at or de sier at in your answers.

Subordinate clauses with "if"

Yunha, Alex and Gabriele are buying food for Thiagos party. Thiago
wants to serve homemade guacamole so they buy a couple of
avocados. Yunha has never prepared guacamole before and Alex
explains how to prepare it.
Sprre om
Yunha asks:
-Skal man koke det? (Does it need cooking?).
Now, when we want to tell to somebody else that Yunha asks this question,
then we use the verb sprre (ask) and the subordinating conjunction om
(if) instead of the subordinating conjunction at (that):
-Yunha spr om man skal koke det. (Yunha asks if it needs cooking.).
Take a look at the table below where the subordinate clause is everything
after Hun spr (She asks).
The sentence translates into: She asks if she [] has to do homework. This
sentence is an example of indirect speech. Direct speech would be if she
asked: Do I have to do homework?
-Yunha spr: M jeg gjre hjemmelekser?.
-Yunha spr om hun m gjre hjemmelekser.

SUBORD. CONJUNTION
SUBJECT
ADVERBIAL
VERBAL
Hun spr
om
hun

m gjre hjemmelekser
Hun spr
om
hun
ikke
m gjre hjemmelekser
Hun spr
om
hun
aldri
m gjre hjemmelekser
Hun spr
om
hun
ofte
sm gjre hjemmelekser
Hun spr
om
hun
alltid
m gjre hjemmelekser
Again, the word order is fixed in subordinate clauses. The subordinating
conjunction (OM) introduces the subordinate clause, and om is followed by
the subject.
If there is an ikke or other such adverb, the adverb is placed before the verb
in subordinate clauses.
Have you asked any questions today? Vi spr om dere har spurt noen
sprsml i dag? (We ask if you have asked any questions today?). Tell us and
to your fellow learners about the questions in the comment section: Jeg spr
om

The party in Thiago's kitchen

Finally, its Saturday! Thiago is having a party in his student kitchen.
Gabriele and Yunha are there to help him prepare everything for the
party.
Sterk mat
-Thiago har laget mange sm kjttboller til pizzaene. (Thiago has made lots of
small meat bolls for the pizzas.)
-Noen av dem er veldig sterke. (Some of them are very spicy.)
The adjective sterk means strong in Norwegian, so this literally means
strong tasting food. Traditionally, the Norwegian cuisine is not sterk (spicy)
at all, but nowadays, we love sterk mat (spicy food) as much as anybody.
Liker du sterk mat? (Do you like spicy food?) Pleier du spise sterk mat?
(Do you usually eat spicy food?). Answer in the comment section - in as much
Norwegian as possible.
Three translations of setter
In the following three examples you find the verb setter, but in each
example the verb has been translated into different English verbs.
-Yunha tar bollen og setter plast over. (Yunha takes the bowl and covers it with
plastic foil.)
-Til slutt setter hun bollen inn i kjleskapet. (Finally she places the bowl in the
fridge.)
-Vi setter fram tallerkener, kniver () (We put out plates, knives ())
Perhaps we can translate setter into put, but as you see from examples
above, we may do it differently. This demonstrates the simple fact that its
difficult to translate between two languages, and that one word can be
translated into several different words in another language. We state the
obvious here, but its easy to forget, and may even be a little frustrating.

The party's on!

Thiago, being the perfect host, is welcoming everyone to the party by
saying Dere er hjertelig velkommen. (Youre very welcome.) This
translation is not really true to the Norwegian original, it should have
been heartily welcome. This is something you may hear when you are
invited to a Norwegian home as well. Takk! (Thanks!), Takk skal du
ha! or Tusen takk!) (Thousand thanks!) are all appreciative ways to
respond.
Thiago has a surprise for his guests. He has just bottled his home brewed
beer and gives everyone an opportunity to try the finished product.
Starte og begynne
We want to draw your attention to how we can tell about beginnings, the
things we have started doing.
-Jeg har nemlig startet et lite prosjekt for meg selv. (Ive in fact started on a
little project of my own.)
-Siden prisene er s hye her i landet, har jeg begynt lage mitt eget l (As
the prices are so high in this country, Ive started brewing my own beer!)
Jeg har startet (Ive started) and Jeg har begynt (Ive begun) is just what
we need.
You may say Jeg har startet lre norsk. (Ive started learning
Norwegian.) Jeg har begynt trene. (Ive begun working out.)
Synes
When you want to express you opinion on a matter in Norwegian, you want
the verb synes (think). Thiago says Hva synes dere? (What do you
think?) Synes is usually based on experience, so it conveys your opinion
on a matter based on you experience with it.
So, here, you need to take a sip of Thiagos brew before you can say Jeg
synes det smaker kjempegodt (I think it tastes wonderful.) When you are in
Norway, people may want to ask you Hva synes du om Norge? (What do
you think of Norway?)
Yes, what do you think of Norway, dear learner? This is perhaps a
stupid question, because you need to have been in Norway to answer it.
We dont want to discriminate against anyone, so if you havent been to
Norway you have to use the verb tror (think/believe) instead. Jeg tror
Norge er et land med mange troll. (I believe Norway is a country with
many trolls.)
Kose seg
They are enjoying themselves at the party. We would have liked to be there
too! De koser seg med hjemmelagd pizza og hjemmelagd l (They are
enjoying homemade pizza and homebrewed beer.) We think kose seg
express the essence of Thiagos party, as it signals having a carefree and
enjoyable time. Many Norwegians like to think of kose seg as something
very Norwegian. Vi hper du har kost deg med denne MOOCen. (We hope
you have enjoyed this MOOC.)

Repetition: Sentence structure

What is the most famous sentence structure rule we have got in
Norwegian? What do you think?
V2 language
Yes, the most famous sentence structure rule is that Norwegian is a V2
language. To put it briefly it means that the verbal has got the second
position in statements. For example, hmm, we have used up all our good
examples of statements where the verbal has got the second position, can
you help us out here?
Sentence structure and subordinate clauses
As you have learnt in step 4.7 and step 4.9, the word order is fixed in
subordinate clauses. The subordinate clauses are usually introduced by a
subordinating conjunction, for example om (if) or at (that), followed by the
subject. If there is an ofte, alltid, aldri, ikke or other such adverb, the
adverb is placed before the verb in subordinate clauses.
Take a look at these sentences:
-Katharina spr om Yunha alltid drikker te om morgenen. -Yunha sier at hun
liker drikke te om morgenen.
Let us compare Norwegian with your language and with your fellow learners
langauges. This is going to be great fun!
Discussion
Could you, please, give a couple of examples of this V2 phenomenon in
Norwegian? Post your suggestions in the discussions below and read and
comment on each others V2 sentences. For reference, please have a look at
step 1.12 Sentence structure.
Are the rules for sentence structure in subordinate clauses the same in your
language? Could you, please, give examples and write sentences in your
language and translate them into Norwegian. Note the Norwegian sentence
structure.

Repetition: Nouns
The time has come to repeat what we have learnt so far about nouns.
First of all, a Norwegian noun will be either masculine, feminine or neuter. Is
there anything else to say about nouns? Well, now it is your turn to tell us and
to your fellow learners what you know about Norwegian nouns.
Here are a couple of examples for you:
Neuter nouns of one syllable have no suffix in the indefinite plural. This
is why we say mange hus (many houses).
Vennene hennes er snille. (Her friends are kind.) We must use the
definite form of the noun (here: vennene) in front of possessives (here:
hennes).
What rules are easy to remember and what rules have you forgotten already?
Share your knowledge with your fellow learners and help each other repeat
everything we have learnt about nouns. Let the noun times begin!

Repetition: Verbs
The usage of Norwegian verbs is easy because it is very similar to the
way verbs are used in English. The only exciting grammar is the four
groups of regular verbs and their forms in the preterite and present
perfect tense. In addition all the irregular verbs and their forms in the
preterite and present perfect tense are entertaining, too.
How many verbs can you conjugate without checking the forms in a
dictionary? Hundreds?
OK, could you, please, give some examples so that we and your fellow
learners can check if you are just bragging or if you actually can conjugate all
those hundreds of verbs correctly.
Let us have some fun with verbs!