A blomsterbutikk (flower shop) in Røros. (Photo courtesy of Lars Geithe at Flickr, CC BY 2.0 licence.)

No matter how much hermetikkmat (canned food) you bring from home, sooner or later you’ll need to do some shopping in Norge. Fortunately, this is normally straightforward and easy – you don’t need to prute på prisene (bargain) or discuss a lot with the people in butikken (the shop). But be prepared for some angry price tags! 🙂

In Norwegian, you can either gjøre innkjøp (”do buy-ins”) or gå på shopping (which is a bit less goal-oriented and more like ”shopping around for cool stuff”) – or go the short route and say kjøpe inn (”buy in”) or shoppe. As a kunde [koon-deh] (customer) you usually betaler [beTA-ler] (pay) an ekspedient (shop assistant).

There are lots of spennende ting (interesting things) to buy in Norway. Tourists often go for suvenirer such as brunost (brown cheese – which tastes a bit like caramel), norsk melkesjokolade (Norwegian milk chocolate) or strikkegensere (knitted jumpers). On a cold day it can be nice to gå på oppdagelsesferd (go on an exploration trip) in the local bokhandel (bookstore), klesbutikk (clothes store), kiosk, bakeri (bakery), musikkforretning (music store), matbutikk (food shop), lekebutikk (toy store), apotek [apoTEK] (farmacy) and even supermarked. And oh, if you want to buy alcohol stronger than beer, that’s done in a shop called Vinmonopolet.

Here’s a little shopping dialogue which might be useful:

E (ekspedient): Hei! Hva kan jeg hjelpe deg med? (Hello, how can I help you?)
K (kunde): Hvor mye koster et stort troll? (How much does the big troll cost?)
E: Skal vi se… Det blir 80 kroner, takk. Betaler du med kort eller kontant? (Let’s see… That’s 80 Kroner, please. Do you pay by cash or card?)
K: Tar dere visa-kort? (Do you accept VISA card?)
E: Selvsagt. Vær så god! Her er kvitteringa. Trenger du pose? (Certainly. Here you are! Here’s your receipt. Do you need a bag?)
K: Ja takk. Tusen takk skal du ha. Ha det! (Yes, please. Thank you so much. Goodbye!)
E: Ha det bra! (Goodbye!)

NB! In many Norwegian shops you need to pay for bags (unless you bring your own). Thanks to Mona for pointing this out! 🙂