norwegian

At least one dictionary gives 'resourceful' as a translation of 'ressurssterk' but the same dictionary gives 'socially deprived' as the translation of 'ressurssvak'. Not very logical! In one of those sites that gives a lot of translations in context (often bad translations!), 'ressurssterk'...

I have difficulty translating this phrase: å holde på med Dictionary translates it as "to be (busy) doing something," but I still cannot understand the following sentences: * Hvor lenge kan du holde på med det? * Så skulle han holde på med sitt. * Da lurte jeg på om det virkelig var dette jeg...

Hello guys I know probably it’s a tricky question and difficult to answer…but I came across “ville vært” when reading a children’s encyclopaedia in Norwegian. I was first confused and after looking it up I found out that “ville vært” is basically the same as “ville ha vært.” 
 But it’s still so...

Does anyone have any idea why people from south-eastern Norway sometimes say "Skal vi sjå..." instead of "Skal vi se..."? I can't think of other examples where those speakers often use a Nynorsk/dialect word in that way. Was there once a well-known comedian or other figure from radio or the...

I've got so used to the common Norwegian expression 'arbeide/jobbe med' that my Norwenglish brain can't always decide whether you actually can translate this as 'work with' in some cases (I think Danish 'arbejde med' and Swedish 'arbeta/jobba med' are used in the same way). Sometimes it's...

Sounds good, doesn’t it? No more difficulties! But unfortunately it’s not so simple - now you have to rise to the occasion, because all your “vanskeligheter” have become “utfordringer”! The n-graphs for both Norwegian and English show a very clear picture. “Challenges” has replaced...

Looking for this: “Aw what the heck!” “Who the heck does he think he is?”

In Andre Bjerke's De dødes tjern, on a couple of occasions, heterosexual men refer to each other as "kjære deg". For example: "Du har sikkert hørt tale om noe som heter magi. Eller har du ikke det?" "Kjære deg, jeg har jo middelskoleexamen." Was this a normal thing for men to say to each...

I wonder if you (Scandinavians or non-Scandinavians) have ever been in a situation where you didn't understand one word (that's what the title means, roughly) when you heard other people speaking (a dialect of) your own language. Norwegian is supposed to be difficult because of all the dialects...

Hei! Jeg trenger litt hjelp med 3 setninger og consecutio temporum-regelen (tense harmony) på norsk. Under setningene kommer forslagene mine. Noen dager etter at Whitney Houston (å finne) ____________død, (å spille)__________ en av sangene hennes________ på flere radiostasjoner Mitt forslag...

This is an interesting Norwegianism (although it seems to occur in Swedish too - plenty of hits for ‘inte många minuterna’). It seems to mean exactly the same as ‘ikke mange minutter’ but it’s a bit more ‘folkelig’ (whatever that is in English!). It's used a lot with expressions of time (ikke...

Is the word mord used at all in Danish and Norwegian (b/n), since I rarely heard mord but just drab. Is the word drab or its descendent used in Swedish since so far as I know only mord is used there.

A negative question in Norwegian is usually answered either 'jo' or 'nei' -- what happens when you answer it 'ja'? In André Bjerke's De dødes tjern, a husband asks his wife, "Du er vel ikke overtroisk?" and she replies, "Ja, Gud vet." Any Norwegian speakers here, do you read this as, "Yes, I'm...

Hva betyr selve uttryket "det må da være lov"? Og hva er konteksten bak verbet "å rette på noen" i linjen "Å rette litt på piken sin - det må da være lov"? Er dette "to wank", eller "to cum", eller hva??(i det minste i videoen virker det som noe sånt) Dere kan forklare enten på Engelsk eller...

At the end of an officer evaluation document from the Norwegian army (from the early 2000s), there is a signature from a superior officer, followed by his rank: major sjt. Bakkevedlskv. ”bakkevedlskv.” = ? Based on the evidence I've found so far, it's possible that this should be parsed as...

An excerpt from the evaluation of a Norwegian military officer by his superiors: Tar initiativ og treffer selvstendige avgjørelser innenfor opptrukne rammer. How is opptrukne functioning in this sentence? So far, all that I can glean about "opptruken" is that it means "pulled upwards" (e.g...

Can anyone help me with these? I'm trying to figure out English equivalents for them. I understand the gist of what "forestillingsliv" means, but I'm thinking perhaps it's a specific term of art in Freudian psychology and must have an exact English equivalent, but I'm not finding it. "Disse...

Hi all, I'm reading an old (1942) Norwegian novel called De dødes tjern, and there are a few words or references here and there that I'm not understanding, and I wondered if anyone could help? In one scene, the husband and wife are joking, and he is saying how intelligent he is, but she is not...

Hi. How would you translate å ty til tenner og never in this phrase: Et barnehagebarn er ingen erfaren krangler. Han er rett og slett urutinnert og kan derfor ende opp med å ty til tenner og never når han føler at han ikke når frem. Thanks so much for your help

If a friend/family member tells you something amazing, and good, like "I won the lottery" or "I'm getting married", what would be your response? What is the Norwegian expression (east or west) for this reaction? In English (American at least) there's: "no way!" "you're kidding!" "oh my god!"...

I remember in west Oslo in the snowy winter of 68-69 hearing two children climbing over a fence and one said 'Er det mye sne der?' And I remember thinking about that, because in Blindern, where there were students from all over Norway, everybody said 'snø'. I wonder whether the grandchildren of...

In English, there's a convention where a new word was coined from the gender-neutral "sibling" to mean a gender-neutral niece or nephew: "nibling" (pronounced exactly like "nibbling" from "to nibble"). As in: My niblings are getting older. Does the same convention work in Norwegian? I saw two...

Hei! Hva bety en frase "litt mer å gå på i følgende setning: "Jeg tror vi alle bør forsøke å gi hverandre litt mer å gå på. Hvis de andre foreldrene kommer for sent i bursdagen, betyr det ikke at de er dårlige"

Has anyone information on the use of the word "Guben" in Norwegian? I was told it was a term on endearment from son to father. This spelling could be phonetic.

Hello! I've browsed this forum (and many other websites) but I'm still left unsure about something. What would be the appropriate or typical response in this situation? Two estranged adult friends reunite. One of them has been "in forelsket" with the other for years, secretly. After reuniting...

Do these sentences sound ok to you? Or the equivalent sentences in Danish and Swedish? (From Utdanningsnytt): Men i 1997 brøt borgerkrigen ut og bidro til store ødeleggelser i landet (From Årsrapport, Røde Kors): Syklonene Idai og Kenneth bidro til store ødeleggelser langs kysten i Mosambik...

I've seen this on a couple of words now, ernæringsmessig, regelmessig, and most recently helsemessig, which is in the following context: Grønnkål er en av de mest fantastiske og trendy ingrediensene vi har. Denne kålsorten har mange helsemessige fordeler, og du kan innlemme den i kostholdet...

Hei! På nettet finner man god forklaring på hva en særskrivingsfeil er. Samtidig fant jeg veldig lite om begrepet samskrivingsfeil. Fra Språkrådet sine sider lærer man at "Særskriving er å skrive noko i fleire ord, som uttrykka i dag og til fjells i staden for idag og tilfjells. Men hva med...

Have you noticed that the usual words for 'boy' and 'girl' are completely different in Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic (I think) and German? Whereas the words for 'man' and 'woman' show much more similarity between the languages, as do the words for various everyday things such as 'house'...

I am perplexed by a few examples I found recently in 3 editions of polets "Vinbladet", where "dette er" is followed by a plural noun. I know "det er" can work like that in the sense of "there are", but I do not think I have seen "dette er (plural noun)" before, and to my English mind it seems...

Don't know what "skal til" means right here. Følger du disse rådene er du godt på vei til å få en bedre nattesøvn, og ofte er det bare enkle grep som skal til. I'm thinking something like "that will do it," that is, accomplish the goal of a good night's sleep, but not sure. Thanks!

Jeg har nylig sett uttrykket "hvit januar". Jeg skjønner hva det betyr, men hvorfor "hvit"? Brukes ordet ellers i sammenheng med avhold?

I'm not sure how to translate "kan være med og påvirke" here: En god start på dagen er når du våkner uthvilt etter en god natts søvn, og soverommet ditt kan være med og påvirke dette i stor grad. I understand the literal translation to mean "can be with and affect (or appropriate synonym)"...

Well I am currently learning Norwegian with Skam and the subtitles I found on the Internet, but there’re some points that I struggle with, since much slang is used in this show. Sometimes I can’t even find any explanation for an expression in the dictionary... Here’s one example: William mumbled...

Hello, How would I translate this sentence into Norwegian: "I see a bee." (Sorry for the very simple sentence - I don't know enough Norwegian to think of a better one.) My try is: "Jeg ser ei bie." However, I am unsure whether "bie" is masculine or feminine. Thank you in advance! :)

Hei! Trenger litt hjelp med å sjekke om mine stavelsesdeling og trykkplassering for ordene "merke" og "bemerke" er korrekt: 1) « merke» ['mɛ: .rkə] 2) « bemerke » [be .'mɛ: .rkə] Jeg er litt usikker på plasseringen av lyden [r]: 3) « merke» ['mɛ:r .kə] 4) « bemerke » [be .'mɛ:r .kə] Jeg...

De som ikke tror på Gud, kan ikke ta imot ham, for de ser han ikke og kjenner han heller ikke. I read the last phrase as "because they don't see him and they don't know him, either." But then "han" would be "ham", right, so I must be reading it incorrectly. Why "han" and not "ham"?

I'm struggling to understand what this sentence means: Han har vært en kunstner som har en betydelig praksis bak seg. Specifically the praksis part - practice? custom? experience? thanks!!

I'm translating a Norwegian passage about a Sámi artist. It says that 'joiken er en kunstform som kan gripe nerven i et menneske.' I'm assuming this means something like it can move you, touch you etc, but not entirely sure? Thanks!

Not sure what this means. In the context below, Småbarnsforeldre is a blog, and they recently posted a blog about the birth of their seventh child. I think the writer is saying that she's not going to comment on every detail of the other blogger's story, but just wanna make sure. Jeg orker...

Hi I'm translating a document about a survey, and have come across the following sentence: xx% er lite trygge, ikke trygge, eller usikre på om... I don't understand particularly what 'usikre' means here - how is it different from being 'ikke trygge'?? Any suggestions welcome. Is it 'are not...

I dag er jeg stolt, glad og ikke så lite ydmyk. Nominasjonskomiteen har nominert meg på plass nummer to på stortingsvalglista for Rødt Buskerud ved neste års stortingsvalg.... Buskerud har i dag 9 stortingsrepresentanter, og jeg tror det skal velges 8 stykker fra fylket neste år. I'm not sure...

I'm curious about the use of "frem" here, why it's there and what it means. Å lage mat gjør meg glad.. utrolig nok. Jeg er ikke flink, men jeg liker å høre podcast, tenne lys og lage mat. Det å prøve seg frem er gøy, men det er ekstra gøy å lage noe jeg vet smaker godt!

I have no idea what this is, although it seems obvious it has something to do with movies. The writer is listing things that make her happy, and this is just one of the items, so there's no other context. Filmkos med tente stearinlys og godteri! Thanks for the help!

I'm mostly curious why it's in the infinitive form following a nominative pronoun. I think å skulle ha means "should have", so I'm not sure how this fits. Why is the "skulle" there? Is the "han" a typo? Thanks for the help. Det er nok ikke så enkelt for han å skulle ha en blogger...

Jeg satt å tenkte på de tingene som faktisk gjør meg glad her om dagen og jeg kom såvidt på noe i starten. Det tok seriøst flere minutter for det ballet på seg med ting, ok det skremte meg litt. I can't figure out what this phrase is saying. I mean, I kind of can. I'm assuming it's something...

I'm confused about what the "og" is doing there. In alle er bra nok som man er, behøver ikke og operere seg for å ligne på sine forbilder. In Hebrew, it does something similar, where it'll say "continue and (verb)" to indicate an ongoing action beyond a certain point in time (i.e. There was...

Jeg har lært at ordet "mye" betyr "much." Men når jeg høre på nordmenn å snakke, bruker de "masse" mer enn de bruker "mye." Så spørrer jeg, vet dere forskjellen mellom disse to ordene?

Forøvrig er også det å følge med på mobilen eller tv’en, og/eller lese når du er og trener noe av det dummeste du gjør… I was wondering about why the "og" is there. Am I right in thinking that this is equivalent to the English present progressive, emphasizing being in the act? Thanks!

I understand that they are used to indicate the meaning of written words that have otherwise have the same spelling. I presume it is always the most common meaning that does not get any mark, which is often also an unstressed word in the sentence, but I was wondering if there was any logic...