Norwegian Lesson 118
Innledning
Velkommen til norskleksjon 118! One of the hard things about learning Norwegian is all the different ways you can say the same thing. In one Norwegian lesson book I was reading they were teaching ten different ways of saying ‘thank you’. These ten different ‘thank yous’ might be used in Norway but really in all situations you can also use just ‘takk’. In these lessons I’m trying to strip down all the extra stuffing so we don’t get bogged down with learning things that aren’t essential to be able to use Norwegian confidently. Even though there can be a zillion different ways to say something or a billion extra ‘add ons’ I find them unnecessary when learning the basics. So we are learning ‘no-fuss-Norwegian’.
I hope that you are starting to look at Norwegian websites and seeing if you can navigate around. (If you haven’t yet…) here is a link to Norway’s leading TV station NRK. Have a look at the captions and see if you can make out what the stories are about. Also you’ll find on the left sidebar a ‘tv’ section that has net-tv and videopodkast. Go.. and play!
Enjoy the lesson!
Norwegian Lesson 118
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Instruction:
We’ve had the ‘instructions’ and commands up for a while know. Hopefully you have learnt them so lets see how you go without them ;D
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Gloser

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Lydøvelse
Listen to the audio (familien-sakte1) and take dictation. Each phrase is said twice.
Compare with the answers at the end of the post. (If you have any incorrect…) listen to the audio and read over the answers. Then retake the dictation.
Diktat – k
Listen to the audio and take dictation.
Compare with the answers at the end of the post. (If you have any incorrect…) listen to the audio and read over the answers. Then retake the dictation.
Uttale – ø
Follow the audio and repeat each sound:
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Listen for the long and short vowel sounds with each word. This is a pronunciation rule that covers all of the Norwegian language.
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118.1
Gjennomgang
Skriv
Rewrite each sentence to make two basic sentences:
- Til frokost har jeg frokostblanding med frisk frukt først.
- Han drikker kaffe men har også eplejuice.
- Så spiser jeg to brødskiver med smør og jordbærsyltetøy.
- Hans liker skinke på brødskiver med agurk og majones.
Fyll
Fill in the table:

Lag
Make a picture for each of the following ‘preposisjoner’ instructions:
I bollen – Bananen er ved siden av eplet. Pæra er mellom bananen og appelsinen.
I oppvaskmaskinen – Koppen er foran bollen. Glasset er bak bollen. Kniven er under koppen og bollen.
I skapet – Den blå boka er på den grønne boka. Den oransje boka er under den røde boka. Den gule boka er mellom den grønne og den røde boka.
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118.2
Grammatikk – Den, Det og De
‘Den’ as seen above…
Den blå boka er på den grønne boka. Den oransje boka er under den røde boka. Den gul boka er mellom den grønne og den røde boka.
…is a ‘påpekende pronomen’ (or demonstrative pronoun in English). In the example, this pronomen is used as ‘the’. So the English translation would be this:
The blue book is on the green book. The orange book is under the red book. The yellow book is between the green and the red book.
You may have noticed that all the nouns ‘boka’ are still in bestemt form. This is a grammar rule when using ‘påpekende pronomen’.
‘Det’ is another ‘påpekende pronomen’ form used as ‘the’. (In previous lessons ‘det’ has meant only ‘it’ – until now…lol.) ‘De’ is another påpekende pronomen form used as ‘the’. (Previously we have only used ‘de’ as ‘they’.)
Note: It is very helpful to get used to the idea that a single word can have a couple of meanings. English is the same – it has many words with double/triple meanings too, such as ‘bank’ – meaning: an institution that deals with money; to build up; the side of a river, to depend on. So ‘det’ can mean ‘it’ or ‘the’ and ‘de’ can mean ‘they’ or ‘the’ – it all depends on the context of the sentence what these words will mean.
So when do you use which word? It all depends on the gender of the noun you are using:
Den is the ‘hannkjønn’ and ‘hunnkjønn’ påpekende pronomen form:
Den bananen er gul. Den pæra er grønn.
Det is the intetkjønn påpekende pronomen form:
Det eplet er rødt.
De is the ‘flertall’ påpekende pronomen form:
De druene er fiolette.
There are two other groups of påpekende pronomen which we will cover next week. But for now – let’s practise this first group.
Fyll
a. Write in the correct fruits in entall: bestemt form into the sentences below.
en appelsin – en aprikos – ei drue – et jordbær – en sitron – en ananas – en vannmelon – et blåbær – ei plumme
Den ________ er oransje.
Det ________ er grønn eller fiolett.
Det ________ er rødt.
Den ________ er gul.
Den ________ er rød og grønn.
Den ________ er oransje.
Det ________ er blått.
Den _________ er gul.
Now fill in the sentences below using the Flertall:bestemt form of the fruit:
De ________ er oransje.
De ________ er grønne eller fiolette.
De ________ er røde.
De ________ er gule.
De ________ er røde og grønne.
De ________ er oransje.
De ________ er blå.
De _________ er gule.
*Note: You might have noticed that the adjectives (colours) are also changing depending on the gender of the noun. We will look into this in future lessons.)
Write in the påpekende pronomen: ‘den’, ‘det’, or ‘de’:
___ boka er rød.
___ skapet er gult.
___ oppvaskmaskinen er hvit.
___ koppene er grønne.
___ bollene er fiolette.
___ bordet er brunt.
___ hunden er svart.
___ drua er grønn.
___ bananene er gule.
___ glasset er blått.
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118.3
Les og Oversett
Read ‘Britts Fortelling – Middag’ out loud. Translate the fortelling into English. (Try to do it by yourself before using a dictionary. If you look at whole sentences it will be easier instead of translating word for word. At the end check the words that you aren’t sure of.)
Britts Fortelling – Middag
I norge har vi middag tidlig. Jeg begynner å lage middag klokka fire. Det er vanlig for oss å spise klokka halv fem. Vi spiser rundt bordet i spisestua. Marits jobb er å dekke bordet. Hun lager saft i ei flaske også. Hun tar to tallerkener og sin blå bolle til bordet. Hun liker blå nå. Sist uke likte hun alle røde ting. Barn er morsomme. Når vi har pølser lager jeg ti. Det er vanlig for meg å ha to pølser. Marit har en pølse og Pappa har tre pølser. De andre pølsene har vi til lunsj i morgen. Vi har potet med pølsene. Marit og jeg har våre pølser ved siden av potetene men Pappa liker sine pølser på potetene. Vi alle sammen liker is til dessert. Middagen må være spist før vi har isen. Etterpå rydder Marit bordet og Pappa vasker opp. Jeg hjelper også. Vi lekeslåss med de små såpeboblene. Marit er alltid den store vinner.
Lag og Finn
Make a list of all the Entall: ubestemt/bestemt and Flertall: ubestemt/bestemt nouns in the fortelling.
Also make a list of all the verbs in the ‘infinitiv’ and ‘presens’ tense.
Find all the sentences that use the påpekende pronomen, either ‘den’, ‘det’ or ‘de’ with the noun in bestemt form.
Find all the new adjectives in the fortelling.
Find all the ‘tid på dagen’.
Find all the personal pronouns in the fortelling.
Next lesson we will be going right through this fortelling – looking at each sentence and breaking them down – to reinforce ALL the grammar that we have learnt so far.
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Svar
Familien-sakte1:
Fortelling – Om Familien
Simon er maler og jobber i byen. Han er gift med Sofia. Hun er jordmor for en helsestatjon. De har to barn. En sønn som heter Kristian og ei datter som heter Marit. Kristian er seks år og går på grunnskolen. Marit er to år. Hun går i barnehagen.
Diktat – k-ord:



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hi! tusen takk fordi dere er veldig effektiv. I think your the most effective since i can easily absorb the lessons,i tried alot of lessons online but i was too slow to learn from it. I even think your way of teaching is much better than what i learned in a norsk kurs at the folkeuniversitet. keep it up! i will for sure share this site to my friends.
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from L-Jay:
Vær så god.
Hi. I have a question. When do we use only the flertall bestemt form and ‘den’, ‘det’, and ‘de’? For example: When do I use ‘Appelsinene er oransje’ and ‘De appelsinene er oransje.’?
Thanks.
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from L-Jay:
I have mainly seen it used in titles such as ‘Det lille huset på prærien’ (The Little House on the Prairie). However, with your sentence above: ‘De appelsinene er oransje.’ the ‘De’ means ‘those’. So the sentence is saying: ‘Those oranges are orange.’ Den, det and de really mean ‘that, that/it, those’ – though these are often used in such a way that English speakers would see them as ‘the’. Norwegians don’t really use ‘the’. The endings that you see on words (-en) really isn’t ‘the’ but English speakers perceive it as that. What (-en) really is is a way of making a noun ‘specific’. ‘The’ in English makes a noun specific and ‘-en’ in Norwegian makes a noun specific but ‘the’ doesn’t translate to ‘-en’.
This is a more advanced understanding that you don’t really teach beginners so it is not included in the lessons. However, we are developing lessons that will be more in depth for learners who want to understand more and progress more in Norwegian.