Norwegian Language Blog

In terms of language, jumping into the FaceBook era has been easy for Norwegian-speakers: ’to like’ is å like [aw LEEkeh]!

• Liker du brunost? (Do you like Norwegian brown cheese?)
• Jeg liker ikke ost i det hele tatt. (I don’t like cheese at all.)
• Men jeg liker deg. (But I like you.)

This can also be used in front of other verbs, as in ’We like playing chess’: Vi liker å spille sjakk. As there are no real ing-forms in Norwegian, only the infinitive or to-form is used (”We like to play chess”). In order to make it stronger, the words veldig godt (very good) are added:

• Jeg liker ham veldig godt. (I like him a lot.)
• Hun likte veldig godt å kjøre bil. (She liked very much driving a car)

Other ways of liking

If you’re really fond of someone, a nice construction to use is å være glad i – literally ”to be happy in”.

• Er du glad i meg, mamma? (Do you like/love me, mum?)
• De er veldig glade i hverandre. (They’re very fond of each other)
• Han var ikke så glad i kake. (He wasn’t a big fan of cakes.)

The Norwegian equivalent of English ’to love’ is å elske. Please note that this construction is much more used in (American) English than in Norwegian! In a situation where an American would use the word ”love”, a Norwegian most often talks about ”liking” instead – unless it really is passionate love in the romantic sense!

• Jeg elsker fjellturer. (I love mountain hikes.)
• Jeg elsker deg. (I love you.)

A bit of slang

Finally, there is the verb å digge. It comes straight from English to dig, and is a very slangy thing to say:

• Hun digger Bruce Springsteen. (She digs [likes] Bruce Springsteen.)

This word was very prominent in ”Kursiv” (”Italics”), a 1997 hit song by the pop group Trang Fødsel (”Narrow Birth”):

The song’s about some very rich people, who
digger, digger, digger deres jetset-liv (love, love, love their jet-set life)… Are you able to crack the lyrics?

Last week you learnt that there are two ways to write Norwegian: bokmål (”book language”) and nynorsk (”new Norwegian”). Bokmål ultimately hails from (upper-class) urban dialects and Danish, while nynorsk is based on rural dialects. Most Norwegians use bokmål, and that is also the Norwegian we teach here at Transparent. Nevertheless, since quite a few Norwegians do write in nynorsk, and since nynorsk is a very important part of Norwegian culture & identity, it just might be kjekt (nice) or even moro (fun) to know a few phrases!

Bokmål – Nynorsk – English

Hva heter du? Kva heiter du? What’s your name?

Hvem er det? Kven er det? Who’s that?

Det er kjæresten min. Det er kjærasten min. That’s my girlfriend/boyfriend.

Hvor gammel er hun? Kor gamal er ho? How old is she?

Hva synes du om Norge? Kva tykkjer/synest du om Noreg? How do you like Norway?

Det er helt topp. Det er heilt topp. It’s great. (”It’s wholly top”.)

Skal vi være venner? Skal vi/me vere vener? Would you like to be my friend? (”Shall we be friends?”)

Grøt er det beste jeg vet! Graut er det beste eg veit! Porridge is my number 1 favourite! (”Porridge is the best I know!”)

Hunder trenger mye kjærlighet. Hundar treng mykje kjærleik. Dogs need a lot of love.

Solen/sola stiger opp i øst, og går ned i vest. Sola stig opp i aust, og går ned i vest. The sun rises in the East, and sets in the West.

Guttene i skolen leker ikke med pikene/jentene. Gutane i skulen leikar ikkje med jentene. The boys at school don’t play with the girls.

Kommer du? Kjem du? Are you coming?

Jeg elsker deg. Eg elskar deg. I love you.

Main differences

• in bokmål, feminine inflections (ei sol – sola) are optional, in nynorsk there’s no way to escape them…
• in nynorsk, masculine nouns take the endings -ar and -ane in the plural
• in nynorsk, some verbs take the ending -ar in the present tense (leikar) or no ending at all, if the verb is ”strong” (stig)
• nynorsk has conserved many more ancient diphthongs (vowel glides, like ay in ”May”) than bokmål (graut, aust, veit)
• some words are just plain different, like nynorsk eg, ikkje, kjærleik versus bokmål jeg, ikke, kjærlighet

Learning is like climbing mountains: There are highs and lows, and you start with the smallest peaks…

For those who are new to Norwegian, the whole language may seem a bit intimidating: There are so many words and dialects, so what is correct and what isn’t? And those bell-like but impossible-to-pronounce Norwegian sounds, won’t the Norwegians just be laughing behind my back as soon as I open my mouth (and they hear my saucy, Texan accent)?

The good news is that Norwegian really isn’t that complicated. I’ve heard standard bokmål Norwegian (as taught here at Transparent) has one of the most straightforward grammars of any European language. Furthermore, being used to a great number of dialects (even in formal settings like official broadcasts), Norwegians are exceptionally tolerant when it comes to language variation. They’ll enthusiastically help you in your first, rambling conversations – even if you make hus rhyme with ’loose’.

The following phrases might help you getting started:

Hei, jeg heter Gordon… [hay, yi HEHTer] Hi, my name’s Gordon…

Hva heter du? [va HEHTer doo] What’s your name?

Jeg kommer fra USA/Canada/England. [yi KOMer frah oo es ah/CAHNahdah/ENGlahn] I come from the US/Canada/England.

Hvor kommer du fra? [vor KOMer doo frah] Where do you come from?

Er det første gang du er i Norge? [erh deh FIRST-eh gahng doo erh ee Nore-gheh?] Is it your fist time in Norway?

Ja, det er første gang jeg er i Norge. Yes, it’s my first time in Norway.

Jeg er sulten/tørst/trøtt. [yi erh sooltn/tirst/tret] I’m hungry/thirsty/tired.

Jeg må på do. [yi maw paw doh] I need a toilet.

Hvor er toalettet? [vor erh toh-ah-LET-eh] Where’s the toilet?

Kan jeg låne telefonen? [kan yi LAW-neh teleFOHN-ehn] May I borrow the phone?

Du er søt. [doo erh surt] You’re sweet.

Hva koster det? [va KOSTer deh] How much does it cost?

Det koster 100 kroner. [deh KOSTer HOONDreh KROHNer] It costs 100 Kroner.

Værsågod! [VARE-saw-goh] Here you are!

Takk. Thanks.

Ingen årsak. [EENG-ehn AWR-sahk] You’re welcome.

Ha det bra! [hah deh bra] Good bye! (Literally: Have it good!)