Archive for October, 2009
Halloween i Norge Posted by kari on Oct 31, 2009
Halloween in Norway. Do nordmenn celebrate Halloween? The answer is yes, but not to the extent that Americans do, and they do it slightly differently. It was not until very recently that the trend caught on in Norway to celebrate Halloween. Actually, there is an interesting chart in an article in Aftenposten online that shows…
norske navn Posted by kari on Oct 27, 2009
Norwegian names (notice there is no “er” ending on the indefinite plural “names” because navn is a one-syllable “et” noun). It’s always for me to learn about names and their origins or what name something equates to in my own language. Names are kind of funny things, right? It seems people can always come up…
Norge i et nøtteskall Posted by kari on Oct 24, 2009
Norway in a nutshell is a fantastic way to see Norway’s natural beauty. If you ever get the chance to do it, I highly recommend it. I took the tour with my mother and brother over 5 years ago. The weather wasn’t the best, but I can still say I have never seen anything more…
Sterke verber Posted by kari on Oct 20, 2009
Strong verbs. Unfortunately, as I mentioned previously, you cannot tell by looking at a verb if it is sterk or svak. Additionally, there isn’t exactly an easy way to learn the past tense of sterke verber; memorization is the only answer. Unlike svake verber, sterke verber do not follow any kind of pattern. Isn’t it interesting…
Svake verber Posted by kari on Oct 19, 2009
Weak verbs. Norwegian has both svake verber (endings are added to the root of the verb to form the past tense-preteritum) and sterke verber (this involves a vowel change in the root and there is often no ending at all). There are many fewer sterke verber than there are svake verber, so I recommend familiarizing yourself with the…
Negation Posted by kari on Oct 14, 2009
The time is ripe to talk about negation, although many of you have probably caught on to the methods of negation på norsk-that is-how to deny that something is true. There are several different words to use, the most common of course is ikke, which means ‘not.’ One can also use knapt (hardly) and alldri…
Følelser Posted by kari on Oct 13, 2009
Feelings. You may have heard before that in an initial encounter, at least, Norwegians are cold, unfriendly, and sometimes seemingly emotionless people. If you are from the midwest, you probably hear this about your neighbors (and perhaps yourselves) who descend from northern Europeans. This is a stereotype to which I do not fully subscribe, for I have…