norwegian

I was wondering if anyone could help me with the following Norwegian idiom: For det late svin er jorda alltid kald. I can't find many references to it online, and I'm curious to know if there are any equivalent English expressions. Thanks!

Den Hellige Ånd -- sometimes I find ånd capitalized, sometimes not (even when Hellige is capitalized)-- sometimes all three words are capitalized -- is there a standard or correct way when used in formal writing in a traditional Christian context?

hello, å trene in the dictionary is described as an intransitive verb and in all the examples from the dictionary å trene is followed by a preposition. but why å trene spinning then? this sentence is from a norwegian textbook called god i norsk.

Well, I don't feel like discussing "oppfølging" any more, but here's an interesting one, also related to healthcare. I didn't know until very recently that "pårørende" not only referred to family members of a patient but could also be e.g. a good friend. Same thing in Danish, it seems, but the...

Well. I am Thai and try to communicate with my crush; He is a Norwegian humble farm guy from Halden. I am trying to compose a poem for him in English. But I have some parts that are needed in Norwegian words. I wanna know how to write this word in Norwegian. 1) Learn 2) Accept 3) Improve here...

"Oppfølging", in the context of health and social care, seems to mean any treatment/care which lasts longer than a single consultation. The new buzz phrase is "behandling og oppfølging", which only took off around 1980-1990, according to the N-gram. Before that I suppose people just said...

Hello, I've come across a table in the book "Norwegian - A Comprehension Grammar" published by Routledge. I'm attaching it in this post. My question is: is "dere" correct as a possessive pronoun/adjective for 3rd person plural there? Shouldn't it be "dere"?

Hello. I have no knowledge of Norwegian grammar. I am editing a book in English and have encountered these two words in the context of the Lebensborn in WWII. One sentence in the book is: "He’d heard talk at school of the tyskerungen (German brats) and of their traitorous mothers, the...

I saw that a Dane had posted something about 'kommune' many years ago under the heading 'commune', with a couple of replies, so I replied without realising that it was in 'English only' rather than 'Nordic languages'. I'm no doubt not allowed to move the whole thread here, so I'll just repeat...

Hei alle sammen, Dette er mitt første innlegg her. Jeg har et spørsmål som jeg aldri har funnet et tydelig svar på. Det dreier seg om preposisjonsbruk med ukedager. Hva er forskjellen mellom: Jeg er på universitetet om onsdagen. Jeg er på universitetet på onsdag. Jeg forstår det slik at når...

Unnskyld, hvor kan jeg få kjøpt en jakke? i came across this expression and it is confusing, cuz as far as i know “å få” when used as an auxiliary is follow by the infinitive form of a verb (if “kjøpt” here is a verb). I do understand that this expression means “buy something,” but could...

I've noticed that 'sentences' without a main verb are more common in formal writing in Norwegian than in English. Maybe they're not considered incorrect. Here's an example from a government document: 'Fellesnevneren for disse tilsynssakene er at de gjelder alvorlig syke pasienter og at feilene...

"Julie finner en colaboks i minibaren og legger mon på senga mens Maria finner fram den bærbare PCen sin." The word I stumbled on in this sentence at the top of the the "finner fram" thread was "mon" I have only come across it before in the phrase "mon tro" (I wonder). How does it change the...

What does "arbeidskaffe" (arbejdskaffe, arbetskaffe) mean to you? Or have you never heard/used the term? To me it doesn't necessarily just mean "coffee drunk at work" but it also has the connotation of "maybe not very good quality coffee, but at least it wakes me up, so I can do my work...

In this sentence, I didn't understand the use of "sånn", could someone help me? Er det sånn at vi kan kjøre med deg hjem? Takk

Hallo I'm watching the series "Borderliner", in one scene a man is riding a bicycle and his children are keeping time. When he finishes the round, he asks: Hva ble det for noe? -6.48. Could anyone explain this sentence? After that, the cyclist's brother arrives and says: Det høres helt...

Hello my friends In that sentence: Har du ikke sjekket e-posten din i dag? Jeg sendte over alle dokumentene i går kveld. In this structure "jeg sendte over alle" ...I didn't understand the meaning, could someone help me understand? Tusen takk

Hi I study Norwegian by myself for a year. I still have a lot of doubts and I discovered the forum a short time ago. In this sentence: Julie finner en colaboks i minibaren og legger mon på senga mens Maria finner fram den bærbare PCen sin. What is the function of "finner fram"? Why not just...

Well, to make sure that the next post on this forum isn't when we wish each other a Good Easter, here's a nice saying for these Omicron times: "Når man er frisk har man mange ønsker, men når man er syk har man bare ett ønske". Even though I heard and said this several times when I lived in...

God/glædelig/gleðileg jul/jól to everybody! But have you ever wondered why e.g. Norwegians wish each other a "good Christmas" but native speakers of English don't? Well, it may be partly because teachers tell pupils in British schools to avoid the word "good" if possible when they write essays...

I thought this was a typical Norwegian/Scandinavian turn of phrase, but I was surprised to find lots of hits for the equivalent in English (a difficult/strained relationship with... things, not people). Personally, I've quite often heard and used it in Norway in everyday conversation, but I've...

Hi I've come across the following in a user manual for a computer system that I am translating: Ved å trykke ”Lagre” lagres selskapets detaljer og du sendes tilbake til ”foretaksinformasjon” (kvittering oppsummeringsbildet for selskap) I have really little idea what 'kvittering' means here or...

Hei ! Jeg lurte på om s-formen av verbet « å glemme » i setningen : « det glemmes å leve livet av og til » kan defineres som passiv eller om dette er et eksempel på et upersjonlig uttrykk som i « det blåser ». For min del, tror jeg dette er en passiv form siden man kan lett omdanne...

I've been thinking about the somewhat mysterious use of 'lite' and 'liten' with non-countable, non-neuter nouns. It seems that 'lite' dominates with concrete nouns (lite melk, lite mat, lite saft), whereas with abstract nouns, both 'lite' and 'liten' are used (lite(n) tid, lyst, kapasitet...

I am writing an email to a company in Norway I have been referred to asking about a work placement. I was wondering if anyone could help me with some basic phrases for a Norwegian business email, such as translations of the following - I have put my attempts in brackets: - I hope this email...

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...