Learning Norwegian

Catherine // 27 // NJ

[norwegiatlas]

Caped Norwegian Idioms

There are a couple of idioms in Norwegian involving the word "kappe", meaning "cape/cloak" (Norwegian doesn't differentiate).

ta på sin kappe / take responsibility for something (lit. take (something) on one's cape/cloak)

EX: Det tar jeg på min kappe. / I take reponsibility for that.

snu kappa etter vinden / do what's most popular at the time (lit. turn the cape/cloak according to the wind)

EX: Han snur bare kappa etter vinden. / He just does what's most popular (at the time).

bære kappa på begge skuldre / try to be friends with two sides in a conflict OR serve two masters (lit. carry the cape/cloak on both shoulders)

EX: Du kan ikke bære kappa på begge skuldre. / You can't be friends with both sides.

I would say "ta på sin kappe" is the most used, then "snu kappa etter vinden", and then "bære kappa på begge skuldre", which I haven't really heard/seen much.

[norwegianlearner]

Opposite Adjectives 2

sulten | mett hungry | full

hvit | svart white | black

lett | vanskelig easy | difficult

frisk | syk healthy | sick

vid | trang wide | tight

åpen | lukket open | closed

rett | feil right | wrong

fast | løs fixed | loose

bein | skjev straight | oblique

blid | sur cheerful | grumpy

bratt | slak steep | gradual

rask | sakte fast | slow

hurtig | treg rapid | sluggish

sliten | opplagt exhausted | freshened

energetisk | trøtt energetic | tired

riktig | gal correct | incorrect

tam | vill tame | wild

uklok | smart unwise | smart

stolt | flau proud | embarrassed

stram | slakk tight | slack

sjenerøs | gjerrig generous | stingy

grådig | velgjørende greedy | charitable

morsom | kjedelig funny | boring

modig | feig brave | coward

lik | ulik like | unlike

hyppig | sjelden frequent | rare

dyp | grunn deep | shallow

identisk | annerledes identical | different

bråkete | stille loud | quiet

våken | søvnig awake | sleepy

mektig | umektig powerful | weak

rolig | rastløs calm | restless

skyldig | uskyldig guilty | innocent

praktfull | grusom splendid | awful

trang | romslig narrow | spacious

solfylt | skyggelagt sunny | shaded

streng | mild rigid | mellow

subjektiv | objektiv subjective | objective

teoretisk | praktisk theoretical | practical

tilfeldig | planmessig random | systematically

tillatt | forbudt permitted | forbidden

vannrett | loddrett horizontal | vertical

variert | ensformig diverse | uniform

voksen | barnslig adult | childish

sta | medgjørlig stubborn | pliant

komisk | tragisk comic | tragic

konkret | abstrakt concrete | abstract

moderne | gammeldags modern | old-fashioned

naken | påkledd naked | dressed

positiv | negativ positive | negative

konstant | skiftende constant | volatile

aktiv | passiv active | passive

homogen | heterogen homogeneous | heterogeneous

først | sist first | last

arrogant | ydmyk arrogant | humble

flat | kupert flat | jagged

fysisk | psykisk physical | psychological

obligatorisk | frivillig compulsory | voluntary

kriminell | lovlydig criminal | law-abiding

beruset | edru intoxicated | sober

dynamisk | statisk dynamic | static

glatt | ru smooth | rough

fin | grov fine | rough

blek | brun pale | brown

fet | mager fat | skinny

generell | spesiell general | special

individuell | felles individual | collective

brå | gradvis abrupt | gradual

maksimal | minimal maximum | minimum

maskulin | feminin masculine | feminine

optimistisk | pessimistisk optimistic | pessimistic

spiss | butt pointy | pointless

skarp | sløv sharp | blunt

sentral | perifer central | peripheral

rund | kantete round | angular

naturlig | kunstig natural | artificial

informativ | intetsigende informative | inane

muntlig | skriftlig oral | written

pratsom | taus talkative | silent

innvendig | utvendig internal | external

profesjonell | amatørmessig professional | amateur

[nordic-language-love]

Norwegian cold & flu vocab list

Because I have a cold and I’m grumpy about it.

forkjølelse (en) - cold influensa (en) - flu infeksjon (en) - infection virus (et) - virus smittemåte (en) - route of infection smittsom - contagious

symptom (et) - symptom feber (en) - fever vondt i halsen - a sore throat rennende nese (en/ei) - a runny nose hodepine (en/ei) - headache tørrhoste (en) - dry cough slim (et) - mucus tap av appetitt - loss of appetite ømme muskler (en øm muskel) - sore/tender/aching muscles muskelsmerter (en muskelsmerte) - muscle pain frysninger (en/ei frysning) - chills

sliten - tired grinete - grumpy sur - sour/annoyed/upset/mad lei - fed up blek - pale

å bli (være) forkjølet - to get (have) a cold å bli (være) syk - to get (be) sick/to fall (be) ill å smitte - to infect å vare - to last å nyse - to sneeze å hoste - to cough å lindre - to relieve å miste stemmen - to lose one’s voice

jeg vil legge meg - I want to go to bed jeg vil sove - I want to sleep jeg orker ikke - I don’t have the energy/I don’t want to/I can’t be bothered jeg er så lei av å være syk - I’m so fed up of being ill jeg føler meg kvalm - I feel sick du ser litt blek ut - you look a bit pale du ser jævlig ut - you look terrible/you look like shit

[fordarkmornings]

Christian Krohg  -  Braiding Her Hair,  1888 

Norwegian, 1852-1925 

Oil on canvas

[an-american-in-norway]

drittsekk - shitbag

asshole

This lovely phrase has its roots in Roman military history. One of the feared weapons was the saccus fecis, a leather bag filled with excrement, rat cadavers, and other less-than-lovely things which was then catapulted into an enemy encampment or town. The contents of the bad polluted the drinking water and the invaders just had to wait for the health of their enemies to decline - along with their battle preparedness and their will to fight. 

In Norway, this word was first used in 1994 by the environmental protections minister (miljøvernminister, I’m not sure what the best English translation is) Thorbjørn Berntsen. In a speech he referred to his British colleague, “John Gummer, en av dem største drittsekka jeg har treffi.”

[gwendolynlerman]

Languages of the world

Norwegian (norsk)

Basic facts

Number of native speakers: 5.32 million

Official language: Norway, Nordic Council

Language of diaspora: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Script: Latin, 29 letters

Grammatical cases: 0

Linguistic typology: fusional, SVO, V2

Language family: Indo-European, Germanic

Number of dialects: 4 main groups

History

11th-14th centuries - Old Norwegian

14th-16th centuries - Middle Norwegian

16th-19th centuries - Dano-Norwegian

1848-1873 - development of Landsmål

1899 - naming of Riksmål

1929 - renaming of Riksmål to Bokmål and Landsmål to Nynorsk

1938 - proposal to merge Bokmål and Nynorsk, abandoned in 2002

Writing system and pronunciation

These are the letters that make up the alphabet: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t uv w x y z æ ø å.

The two official forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål (book tongue) and Nynorsk (new Norwegian). There are two other written forms without official status, Riksmål (national language) and Høgnorsk (High Norwegian). The former is very similar to Bokmål and closer to Danish, while Høgnorsk is more purist than Nynorsk.

Norwegian has two distinct pitch patterns that are used to differentiate two-syllable words with identical pronunciation.

Grammar

Nouns have three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), two numbers (singular and plural), and no cases. They are also inflected for definiteness, as a suffix is used to indicate that a noun is definite.

Adjectives are inflected for definiteness, gender, and number as well. Personal pronouns decline for case.

Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood (indicative, imperative, and subjunctive), and voice. Some dialects conjugate for number too.

Dialects

There are four main dialect groups: Northern, Central, Western, and Eastern. Sometimes Midland and South Norwegian are considered to be groups of their own.

Dialects are generally mutually intelligible, but differ in accent, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary.

There is no standard for spoken Norwegian and the use of any dialect is accepted as correct spoken Norwegian.

[marilingo]

Filler words in Norwegian

Can’t learn a language without fillers!

altså - “well…” or “so…” It’s often used to enhance confidence, whether it’s strong or weak. Altså, mamma sa at jeg får lov til å gjøre det.. / Well, mum said I’m allowed to do it..

vel - “well”, can be used in the same way as in English. You can also combine it with altså: Vel, altså, her er planen… / Well, so, here is the plan…

liksom - the Norwegian equivalent to “like” - use it everywhere! It can also be used to enhance sarcasm. Har du liksom tenkt å gå med det der? / Are you seriously like, going to wear that thing?

da - this literally means then, but we often use it to end sentences, especially if we’re saying something that another person might want to argue with. And since it means ‘then’, you can also use it in the same way as in English. Jeg skulle jo liksom bare prøve den på, da. / I was just going to like, try it on.

ehh / øhh - uhh, uhm. Super useful.

på en måte - “in a way” or “kind of”.  Han er litt merkelig, på en måte. / He’s a little strange, kind of.

bare - “just” Jeg skal bare innom butikken. / I’m just gonna pop by the store.

ikke sant? - translates to “not true”, but is used for saying “right?” “don’t you agree?”. Around Bergen, people usually drop the “ikke” and just say “sant”. I’m from Bergen so I didn’t know that not everyone says this until I googled it lol. 

skjønner du / skjø’ - used at the end of sentences in the same way as “you see” in English. It comes from the word “å skjønne”, which means to understand, to realize or to “get it”. “Skjø’” is not really used in the southern regions, but if you’re around Trøndelag, you’ll hear this a lot. In other regions one would say “skjønner du”. Han er lærer, skjø’/skjønner du. / He is a teacher, you see.

Feel free to ask me questions about these or request more specific fillers!

[laerer-norsk]

Relearning some basic vocab

[londonlangblr]

the norwegian head feat. noora sætre

[marilingo]

Filler words in Norwegian

Can’t learn a language without fillers!

altså - “well…” or “so…” It’s often used to enhance confidence, whether it’s strong or weak. Altså, mamma sa at jeg får lov til å gjøre det.. / Well, mum said I’m allowed to do it..

vel - “well”, can be used in the same way as in English. You can also combine it with altså: Vel, altså, her er planen… / Well, so, here is the plan…

liksom - the Norwegian equivalent to “like” - use it everywhere! It can also be used to enhance sarcasm. Har du liksom tenkt å gå med det der? / Are you seriously like, going to wear that thing?

da - this literally means then, but we often use it to end sentences, especially if we’re saying something that another person might want to argue with. And since it means ‘then’, you can also use it in the same way as in English. Jeg skulle jo liksom bare prøve den på, da. / I was just going to like, try it on.

ehh / øhh - uhh, uhm. Super useful.

på en måte - “in a way” or “kind of”.  Han er litt merkelig, på en måte. / He’s a little strange, kind of.

bare - “just” Jeg skal bare innom butikken. / I’m just gonna pop by the store.

ikke sant? - translates to “not true”, but is used for saying “right?” “don’t you agree?”. Around Bergen, people usually drop the “ikke” and just say “sant”. I’m from Bergen so I didn’t know that not everyone says this until I googled it lol. 

skjønner du / skjø’ - used at the end of sentences in the same way as “you see” in English. It comes from the word “å skjønne”, which means to understand, to realize or to “get it”. “Skjø’” is not really used in the southern regions, but if you’re around Trøndelag, you’ll hear this a lot. In other regions one would say “skjønner du”. Han er lærer, skjø’/skjønner du. / He is a teacher, you see.

Feel free to ask me questions about these or request more specific fillers!

[hazel3017]

So I’ve been working with a lot of Brits lately, and inevitably, they’ll ask about Norwegian phrases (being that we’re in Norway), and someone recently pointed out that a lot of them seemed rooted in fruits and vegetables after I had called him a potato as a compliment. He was not, in fact, very accepting of this compliment, as he thought I meant he was a couch potato, which apparently means something entirely different than what I was trying to say.

So having to clear up that whole thing, I made a list of some of my favourite Norwegian words and expressions based on fruits and vegetables that might not translate well in English!

Du er litt potet, du - You’re a bit of a potato: Compliment, meaning you can do a bit of everything. Like the potato, you’re versatile.

Din løk - You onion: Insult, meaning someone is a bit dim. Like the onion, if you peel it all away there’ll be nothing there.

Det er bare blåbær - It’s just blueberries: Expression, meaning something is simple, or something is only a minor issue.

Bite i det sure eplet - Take a bite of the sour apple: Expression, meaning having to do or accept something you don’t want to or like.

Borte som ei sviske - Gone like a prune: Expression, meaning something has completely disappeared.

Dra dit pepper’n gror - Go where the pepper grows. Insult, meaning ‘go to hell’.

Fotsopp - Mushroom foot: Medical condition, meaning athlete’s foot.

Eplekjekk - Apple handsome: Expression, meaning someone who is being cocky.

Ferskenhud - Peach skin: Compliment, meaning soft, nice skin.

Få mye pepper - Get a lot of pepper: Expression, meaning getting a lot of criticism/being reprimanded.

Høy på pæra - High on pears: Expression, meaning someone who is arrogant (head gets so big it looks like a pear)

Som plommen i egget - Like the yolk in the egg. Expression, meaning someone is perfectly relaxed and comfortable.

Nappe seg i løken - Yank the onion: Expression, meaning a man who masturbates.

Smårips - Little redcurrant: Expression, meaning young girls. Often in connection with an older person taking a romantic/sexual interest in someone significantly younger and/or underage.

Sur som en sitron - Sour like a lemon: Expression, meaning someone is angry.

Tråkke i salaten - Step in the salad: Expression, meaning having done something inappropriate or something foolish.

Tyttebærpoliti - The lingonberry police: Expression with a negative connotation, meaning a security guard. Originated with the private security firm Securitas because of the logo.

Være på bærtur - To be picking berries: Expression, meaning someone is completely lost/wrong.

Slippe en bønne - Release a bean: Expression, meaning someone farted.

Prinsessen på erten - The princess on the pea: Insult (sort of), meaning someone is high maintenance. A reference to the fairy tale the Princess and the Pea.

[laerer-norsk]

This was the greatest thing to happen today

[norwegianandchill]

Nature // Vocabulary

natur - nature Jorda - Earth et miljø - an environment et landskap - a landscape

en/ei sol - a sun en måne - a moon en/ei stjerne - a star en himmel - a sky en sky - a cloud luft - air

regn - rain snø - snow vind - wind tåke - fog røyk - smoke is - ice ild - fire støv - dust en storm - a storm

en skog - a wood et tre - a tree jord - dirt tørr - dry et fjell - a mountain en stein - a stone vann - water våt - wet ei elv - a river en innsjø - a lake et hav - a sea sand - sand en dam - a pond

[studyingboookworm]

Keep reading