{"id":2151,"date":"2015-11-30T22:55:50","date_gmt":"2015-11-30T22:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/?p=2151"},"modified":"2015-11-30T22:55:50","modified_gmt":"2015-11-30T22:55:50","slug":"on-on-and-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/on-on-and-in\/","title":{"rendered":"On On and In"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Illustration<\/a>

(Illustration by the blogger.)<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s time to address some of the real utfordringer <\/b>(challenges) that many of you face as Norwegian learners. (Thank you, by the way, for all the great feedback<\/a> you left on this topic!) F\u00f8rst ut<\/b> (first in line) are \u2026 the prepositions i<\/i> <\/b>(in) and p\u00e5<\/i><\/b> <\/i>(on\u2026)! Both are used in answering hvor<\/b> (where) questions. I think<\/i> the basic idea is this:<\/p>\n

You\u2019re p\u00e5<\/i> en fjelltopp <\/b>(on a peak). You\u2019re i<\/i> en dal <\/b>(in a valley). In the first example, you\u2019re standing on top of a limited area (the peak). In the second example, you\u2019re the one being limited; you\u2019re surrounded by something else (the valley).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why you say i universet<\/b> (in the universe) but p\u00e5 jorda<\/b> (on earth), i skapet<\/b> (in the cupboard) but p\u00e5 bordet<\/b> (on the table). It\u2019s a matter of perspective. That\u2019s also why you use i <\/b>with cities and countries and continents \u2013 but p\u00e5 <\/b>with islands. Think about being surrounded by a city or a country, but \u201don top\u201d of an island: i Oslo, i Norge, i Europa<\/b> \u2013 p\u00e5 Svalbard, p\u00e5 Ut\u00f8ya.<\/b> Of course, it gets a little strange with huge islands: p\u00e5 Madagaskar<\/b>.<\/p>\n

I AM REALLY SORRY TO WRITE THIS, BUT HERE THE LOGIC ENDS! <\/i>Once upon a time, I guess there was a rational explanation for everything. Maybe the Norwegians who decided to say they were i huset<\/i><\/b> (in the house) but p\u00e5 hytta<\/i><\/b> <\/i>(in the cabin) felt that in hytta<\/b> they were really lords and ladies on top of the world \u2013 even when not literally sitting on<\/i> the cabin roof! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Well, actually, there\u2019s more to it. Sometimes you\u2019re going on<\/i> holiday on<\/i> Friday\u2026 Think about it as climbing a \u201dstaircase of experiences\u201d. You\u2019re treading on<\/i> steps, and each step is an activity or state: Han er p\u00e5 jobb<\/b> (he\u2019s working\/at work), de drar p\u00e5 ferie i morgen<\/b> (they go on holiday tomorrow), en natt p\u00e5 byen<\/b> (a night out in town). Okay, this is getting philosophical, but maybe if you think of being \u201dp\u00e5 hytta\u201d<\/b> as an activity it makes more sense! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Hvor er P\u00e5l? (<\/b>Where\u2019s Paul?) \u2013 Han er hjemme\/p\u00e5 hytta\/p\u00e5 ferie.<\/b> (He\u2019s at home\/\u201don\u201d cabin\/on holiday.)<\/p>\n

Hvor er brillene? <\/b>(Where are the glasses?) \u2013 De er (inne) i huset\/(inne) i hytta. <\/b>(They\u2019re in[side] the house\/the cabin.)<\/p>\n

Det er kjedelig hjemme.\/Det er g\u00f8y p\u00e5 hytta. (It\u2019s boring at home.\/It\u2019s fun at the cabin.) <\/b>\u2013 Det er tre rom i huset\/i hytta. <\/b>(There are three rooms in the house\/cabin.)<\/p>\n

Of course, there are plenty of strange expressions you have to memorise \u2013 just to make life a bit challenging! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Here are a few ones. Feel free to add your own observations in the comments section:<\/p>\n

Jeg tenker p\u00e5 deg.<\/b> (I\u2019m thinking of you.)
\nVenter du p\u00e5 meg?<\/b> (Are you waiting on\/awaiting me?)
\nDet er synd p\u00e5 deg.<\/b> (I\u2019m sorry for you, literally \u201dIt\u2019s pity on you.\u201d)
\nHva heter det p\u00e5 norsk?<\/b> (What\u2019s that in Norwegian?)
\nStol p\u00e5 meg! <\/b>(Trust in me!)\u00a0<\/b>
\nDet driter jeg i!<\/b> (I don\u2019t give a cr*p about that!)
\nDe vandret i mange dager.<\/b> (They were trekking for many days.)<\/p>\n

P\u00e5<\/b> is a very popular preposition, and sometimes Norwegians tend to overuse it. For example, many people would say jeg gjorde det bare for g\u00f8y<\/b> (I did it just for fun), but some will say jeg gjorde det bare p\u00e5<\/i> g\u00f8y<\/b>. In fact, p\u00e5<\/b> has become a kind of \u201ddummy preposition\u201d (variously translatable as \u201din\u201d, \u201don\u201d, \u201dat\u201d, \u201dfor\u201d, etc.). If you\u2019re in doubt which preposition to use, there\u2019s a fair chance that the correct one might be p\u00e5<\/b>! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

It\u2019s time to address some of the real utfordringer (challenges) that many of you face as Norwegian learners. (Thank you, by the way, for all the great feedback you left on this topic!) F\u00f8rst ut (first in line) are \u2026 the prepositions i (in) and p\u00e5 (on\u2026)! Both are used in answering hvor (where) questions…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":2152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9180,8972,102373,8229,3336],"class_list":["post-2151","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-i","tag-in","tag-norwegian-prepositions","tag-on","tag-pa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2153,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151\/revisions\/2153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}