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 had many encounters with Norwegians who are very open and friendly.  I can say that people from the midwest are typically much quieter and more reserved than people from the east coast, for example.  Either way, the stereotype is out there and probably will be for a long time. 

I will tell you hvordan jeg føler meg i morges (how I feel this morning-and notice that the verb is reflexive)-litt deprimert (a little depressed)-it is Oct. 12 today and it is snowing in Minnesota.  We are supposed to get up to 3 inches of snø today.  Can you believe that?  To really appreciate how deprimerende this is, you must know that our vinter lasts until March.  That is a long vinter and it is way too early to be this cold and snowing!

Let’s learn how to say how you feel på norsk.  Here are the conjugations of the verb itself: 

jeg føler meg, du føler deg, han\hun føler seg, vi føler oss, dere føler dere, de føler seg. 

Now let’s learn some more feeling words.

lykkelig-happy                         trøtt-tired                            sur-mad               forferdelig-awful

trist -sad                                  forvirret-confused              sjalu-jealous        fantastisk-fantastic

stolt-proud                               dårlig-bad                           syk-sick                heldig-lucky

Jeg er stolt av broren min.  I am proud of my brother.

Hun føler seg syk i dag.  She feels sick today.

Han føler seg heldig i dag og derfor skal til casinoen (I have no idea if Norwegian even has a word for casino…there are no casinos in Norway).  He feels lucky today and therfore he is going to the casino.

Vi er trøtte.  We are tired.

De føler seg forferdelige.  They feel awful.

Hannah er litt sjalu.  Hannah is a little jealous.

As in English, one can either use the verb ‘to feel’ or ‘to be’ when one describes følelser. 

Hvordan føler du deg i dag?  How do you feel today?