Posts in September 2009

preposisjoner i bruk

Posted by Kari
Sep
27
2009

prepositions in use.  That’s what we’re going to go over today.  In the last post I explained the role of a preposisjon and gave many eksempler.  Now I think it is appropriate to highlight preposisjoner in sentences so that you can see how they are used.  It’s hard to say much without using a preposisjon and on the other hand, if you know your preposisjoner, you can say a lot!

Let’s start with location.  At some point I remember learning about preposisjoner that modify location in relation to a house.  Think of all the different ways you can modify location in a house. 

For example, Garasjen ligger ved siden av huset. The garage is/stands next to the house.

Lyset står over bordet.  The light is located above the table.

Putene ligger på sofaen.  The pillows lie on the sofa.

Hagen ligger bak huset.  The garden lies behind the house.

Møblene er i huset.  The furniture er inside the house.

Kjelleren ligger under førsteetasjen.  The basement lies under the first floor.

Erik vil ut for å leke med naboene.   Erik wants to go out to play with the neighbors.

 Innkjørselen ligger foran huset.  The driveway lies in front of the house.

Mitt rom ligger mellom kjøkkenet og badeværelsen.  My room lies between the kitchen and the bathroom. 

I think I covered most of them. So you see there are many preposisjoner related to location.  I will save the other ways to use preposisjoner until the next post.  This is probably enough to digest for now, ikke sant?

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Preposisjoner

Posted by Kari
Sep
25
2009

Prepositions.  You knew the post was coming at some point.  You can’t talk or write for too long without using preposisjoner, so I better teach you them!  The following is Merriam-Webster’s definition of a preposisjon: : a function word that typically combines with a noun phrase to form a phrase which usually expresses a modification or predication.  I don’t know about you, but if I didn’t already know what preposisjoner were, I think I’d be confused (and I’m sure I was when I first learned about them in elementary school…).  Preposisjoner modify substantiver (nouns), locate something in time or space, and tell when or where or under what conditions something happened.  There are preposisjoner of time (i.e. at, on, in), of place (i.e. at, on, in), of movement (i.e. to), of time (i.e. for, since), with substantiver, adjektiver, and verber (i.e. hope for, jealous of, think about).  Now, let’s look at some common preposisjoner. 

om-about                             over-over                                under-under                           i-in

etter-after                            før-before                               på-on                                      til-to

rundt-around                       bak-behind                             nedenfor-beneath                  fra-from 

(i)mellom-between             dessuten-besides                   ved siden av-beside              ned-down 

under/i løpet av-during        unntatt-except                   mot-against/toward                lik-like  

ute-outside                         ut-out                                       inne-inside                              nær-near

av-of                                   siden-since                              tvers igjennom-throughout 

opp-up                               med-with                                   uten-without

Ok, I think that’s probably enough for now.  If you know these, you know most preposisjoner and will be able to create prepositional phrases and whole sentences much more easily.  Stay tuned for the next post where we will learn to use these in sentences.

 

 
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Hvor mye vet du om Norge?

Posted by Kari
Sep
21
2009

How much do you know about Norway?

I thought it would be fun to learn some interesting facts that you may not have known about Norway.

Visste du at (Did you know that) Norway’s kystlinje (coastline) is about 25,000km/15,500 miles long?

Visste du at Norway has more than 45,000 øyer (islands) within it’s domain?

Visste du at Norway’s vestkyst (west coast) is home to an 8km/4.97 miles road called Atlanterhavsveien (Atlantic sea road)?  It zigzags over 12 bridges in the sea that connect islands from the mainland towns of Molde and Kristiansund.  The workers endured 12 orkaner (hurricanes) during the 6 år that the prosjekt (project) was in process. 

Visste du at Norway is home to more than 150,000 innsjøer (lakes)? 

Visste du at Norway’s biggest byer (cities) are Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø, and Stavanger?

Visste du at the name of Norway’s største fjell (biggest mountain) is Galdhøpiggen (pronounced Gald-huh-piggen)?  It is 2469 meters/8100 feet tall.

Visste du at Sognefjorden is Norway’s største fjord (biggest fjord)? 

Visste du at Norway’s nasjonalsang (national song) heter (is named) “Ja vi elsker dette landet” (Yes we love this country)?

Visste du at Norway is slightly larger than Tyskland (Germany) in square-footage?

Visste du at there are 19 fylker (counties) in Norway?

Visste du at the krone (crown) is one of the sterkeste (strongest) currencies i verden (in the world) right now?

Visste du at only about 20% of ethnic nordmenn (Norwegians) consider religion to be an important part of their lives?  This makes Norway one of the most secular countries i verden.

Forhåpentligvis (hopefully–one of my favorite Norwegian words) vet du mer om Norge en du visste før du leste dette (you know more about Norway than you knew before you read this)!

 
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kjærlighet

Posted by Kari
Sep
19
2009

Love.  How could I forget the importance of knowing how to discuss love, dating, etc. in Norwegian?  These kinds of things usually peak interest in beginning foreign language students.  It’s nice to be able to ask someone out on a date and then to be able to ask them about their interests when you are on the date.  So let’s go through a scenario.  Say you are girl out at a bar in Oslo with your friends and you notice a kjekk fyr (attractive guy).  You want to talk to him, but you don’t know how to ask the questions you want to ask på norsk.  You could start with ”Heisann, jeg tror jeg har sett deg her før.  Du ser ut som en snill mann.  Jobber du her i området eller…?”  Hi, I think I’ve seen you here before.  You look like a nice man.  Do you work here in this area or…?”  Then he might respond with ”Ja, jeg er tannlege tvers over gata.  Skal dere være her sent i kveld?”  Yes, I am a dentist across the street.  Are you guys going to be her late tonight?”  Then you would be smoothe and say ”Egentlig, de andre har andre ting å gjøre snart.  Vil du ta et øl med meg et annet sted?”  ”Actually, the others have other things to do soon.  Do you want to have a beer with me another place?”  Hopefully he would say ”Ja, takk.”  and you would mosey on to the next place.  During the conversation, you would probably ask each other ”Hvor bor du?” 
”Where do you live?” and ”Hvor kommer du fra?”  ”Where are you from?”  ”Hva liker du å gjøre i fritiden?  ”What do you like to do in your free time?”  Hopefully the conversation goes well and at the end of your date, one of you says something like ”Dette var fint.  Skal vi gjøre det igjen?”  This was nice.  Do you want to do it again?”  After numerous dates you begin to refer to each other as a kjæreste-a boyfriend or girlfriend.  Maybe you are even forelsket-in love.  Somewhere down the line you are forlovet-engaged, and eventually you decide you want to be gift-married.  Of course, as I’ve said before, many Norwegian couples never end up marrying, but certainly may do.  If only every relationship were so lett-easy, ikke sant?-right?�

 
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Familie

Posted by Kari
Sep
16
2009

Family.  I have not yet written a post about familie and I think knowing how to talk about the different members of a family is a good thing.  It’s nice to know the word for all of the family members and then to be able to ask questions and reply to questions with answers with regard to familie.  So let’s start with the basics.

mor/mamma is mother/mom, far/pappa is father/dad, foreldre is parents

søster is sister, bror is brother

datter is daughter, sønn is son

tante is aunt, onkel is uncle

kusine is cousin (female), fetter is cousin (male)

søskenbarn is cousins, tremenning is second cousin

bestemor is grandmother, bestefar is grandfather, besteforeldre are grandparents

and more specifically, farmor is father’s mother, farfar is father’s father, morfar is mother’s father, and mormor is mother’s mother

oldemor is great grandmother, oldefar is great grandfather

et barn is a child, et barnebarn is a grandchild

svigermor is mother-in-law, svigerfar is father-in-law

niese is niece, nevø is nephew

stemor is stepmom, stefar is stepfather

venn is friend, vennine is female friend

kjæreste is girlfriend or boyfriend

kone is wife, mann is husband

And if that’s not enough, let’s learn a few questions…

Har du en kjæreste?  Do you have a girlfriend\boyfriend

Er du forlovet?  Are you engaged? 

Er du gift?  Are you married? 

Har du slektninger i Norge?  Do you have relatives in Norway?

Har du familie i Norge?  Do you have family in Norway?

While it used to be very common for Norwegian children to have many siblings, it is now common for a Norwegian child to have one or two siblings, or perhaps none at all.  It is also common today for couples to have children without being married first, or even without being married at all.  When a couple lives together and is not married, this is called samboerskap.  The two are samboer.  This is accepted by the majority of the population and is most likely only going to become more popular. 

Now that you know a fair amount of Norwegian familie words, practice calling your mother mor, your father far and so forth. 

 

 
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