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Introduction to Norwegian:
Lesson 26

Alright, now it is true that these sentences are quite unusual. When you talk about things you usually want to at least specify what things you are talking about, or at least say the thing or the house and so on. We run into a problem here, though:

Norwegian words for the are the same as their words for a: en and et.

So if you want to say the thing, you can’t say en ting because that would be the same as a thing, and it would quickly get so confusing that Norwegians would just quit this talking thing and go hide themselves in a fjord instead. Luckily, though, Norwegians figured out a way to solve this problem:

The Norwegian word for the goes at the end of the word instead of in front of it.

Now that clears up the confusion! For example, if you have an et-word hus, you could say et hus and that would mean a house, or you could put et in the end of the word and have huset to mean the house.

So how would you say:

I have the house.

Answer: Jeg har huset.
Not correct. Please try again.

I need to have the thing.

Answer: Jeg trenger ha tingen.
Not correct. Please try again.