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Introduction to Norwegian: 25

Fine, let’s have another word that is almost the same as in English, plus funny:

Norwegian for a thing is en ting.

Wait, though! Why is a house - et hus but a thing - en ting?

Well, that’s because the word hus is of the neuter gender, and the word ting is of non-neuter gender. That is, it is either masculine or feminine (but which one of the two it is does not really matter for practical purposes) . You see, all words (or rather nouns) are of one of three genders in Norwegian: masculine, feminine or neuter. You can tell their gender by the article they have. For example, et hus has the article et in front of it and that means it’s neuter, while en ting has an article en in front of it so it’s not neuter.

So nouns can be either: one, neuter if their article is et or, two, non-neuter if the article is en.

We won’t bother with genders and will just call the first group et-words and the second group en-words.

Having in mind that ting is an en-word, how would you say:

    2.   
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    "Will" was "skal", remember?
    3.   
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    Put "et" right after "hus" (without any spaces).
    4.   
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    5.   
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    Remember you are saying "the time".
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    8.   
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    Think carefully whether it is "det" or "den" this time.
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    13.   
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    Just put "good" and "night" together.
    14.   
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    Use the word "hjelpe".
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    Use "handhun" to remember the word for "he".
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    Remember that "the car" is just one word. And, again, "England" is "England".
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    22.   
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    Use the same word order as in English.
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    Literally: "what want you?"
    24.   
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    Literally: "what have you?"
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    Use the same word order as in English. From was "fra".
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    Don't forget to make "house" into "the house".
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    28.   
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    Use the word order "why speak you Norwegian?"
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    30.   
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    Remember that this is literally "how have you it?" The word "how" was "hvordan".
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    32.   
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    This is "I have it good, thanks".
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    You are saying "have it good", and using the word "bra" instead of "god". The imperative word for "have" is only two letters long, and comes from the infinitive form.
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    Do you remember that "hi" was "hei"? Also, you are asking "how have you it?" (Remember that "how" was "hvordan".)
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    You are saying "I have it good, thanks". Moreover, "morning" was "morgon".
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    The same word order as in English. "From" was "fra", and where was "hvor".
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    Norway was "Norge".
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    Literally: "No, I speak not English."
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    This sounds similar to "whatfor?"
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    Your car comes with a bill, remember?
    43.   
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    Be careful to use "en" and "et" where appropriate.
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    You will be saying "the car", thus add the right article to end the word.
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    46.   
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    Use the word "være" for "be". Be careful as to whether you use "det" or "den".
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    48.   
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    This is, remember, literally "have it good". Use the word "bra" for "good".
    49. 

  
                                                       
                                                

                                                

                                                        
                                                        
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