Norwegian/Lesson 3

Norwegian | Table of Contents - Introduction - Lesson 1 - Lesson 2 - Lesson 3

Lesson 3 ~ Kjekt å vite

In this lesson the plan is to elaborate on what you learnt in Lesson 1, in other words, to get a more useful conversation going plus teaching you some things that are simply good to know.

Where Are You From?

Here are some guys at a course to learn Norwegian. Each person says who they are, what nationality they are, and what languages they speak. Aleksander is the teacher. Check out the vocabulary to understand what everybody is saying.

Aleksander: Hei. Jeg heter Aleksander Bakke.
Aleksander: Jeg er norsk.
Aleksander: Jeg snakker norsk, engelsk og tysk.

John: Hei. Jeg heter John Wilbur.
John: Jeg er engelsk.
John: Jeg snakker engelsk.

Egil: Hei. Jeg heter Egil Svensson.
Egil: Jeg er svensk.
Egil: Jeg snakker svensk og engelsk.

Anastasia: Hei. Jeg heter Anastasia Rynkova.
Anastasia: Jeg er russisk.
Anastasia: Jeg snakker svensk og russisk.

Julian: Hei. Jeg heter Julian Dupont.
Julian: Jeg er fransk.
Julian: Jeg snakker fransk og spansk.

Rudolf: Hei. Jeg heter Rudolf Lorenz.
Rudolf: Jeg er tysk.
Rudolf: Jeg snakker tysk, fransk og engelsk.

Manuela: Hei. Jeg heter Manuela Cabral.
Manuela: Jeg er fra Mexico.
Manuela: Jeg snakker engelsk og spansk.

Yiğit: Hei. Jeg heter Yiğit Emir.
Yiğit: Jeg er fra Tyrkia.
Yiğit: Jeg snakker tyrkisk, engelsk, spansk, portugisisk og litt norsk.

Vocabulary

en nordmann	=	Norwegian, a Norwegian
en engelskmann	=	English, an Englishman (or -woman)
en svenske	=	Swedish, a Swede
en russer	=	Russian, a Russian
en franskmann	=	French, a Frenchman (or -woman)
en tysker	=	German, a German
en meksikaner	=	Mexican, a Mexican
en spanjol	=	Spanish, a Spaniard
en tyrker	=	Turkish, a Turk
jeg snakker ...	=	I speak ...
... norsk	=	... Norwegian
... engelsk	=	... English
... tysk	=	... German
... svensk	=	... Swedish
... russisk	=	... Russian
... fransk	=	... French
... spansk	=	... Spanish
... tyrkisk	=	... Turkish
... portugisisk	=	... Portuguese
og	=	and
litt	=	a little

Sorry, I Don't Understand

David is an Englishman. He knows some Norwegian, but has forgotten what "Hvordan går det" means.

Stian: Hei David!
David: Hei Stian!
Stian: Hvordan går det?
David: Unnskyld, jeg forstår ikke hva du sier. Vennligst snakk saktere.
Stian: H-v-o-r-d-a-n g-å-r d-e-t?
David: Ah. Nå forstår jeg. "Hvordan går det" betyr "How are you"!
Stian: Ja.
David: Takk, det går bra. Hva med deg?
Stian: Takk, det går bra.

Vocabulary

Unnskyld	=	Sorry or Excuse me
Jeg forstår ikke hva du sier.	=	I don't understand what you are saying.
Vennligst snakk saktere.	=	Please speak slower.
Nå forstår jeg	=	Now I understand
Betyr	=	Means
Ja	=	Yes

Are You French?

Here are four short exchanges about nationality.

Homer Baker: Er du norsk?
Anders Eide: Det er jeg.
Homer Baker: Snakker du norsk?
Anders Eide: Det gjør jeg.

Anders Eide: Er du engelsk?
Richard Bayford: Nei, jeg er en skotte.
Anders Eide: Snakker du norsk?
Richard Bayford: Nei, men jeg forstår litt.

Lisa: Er du norsk?
Anders: Det er jeg.
Lisa: Snakker du spansk?
Anders: Jeg snakker litt.

Anders: Er du fransk?
Pierre: Det er jeg.
Anders: Snakker du norsk?
Pierre: Nei, men jeg forstår litt.

Vocabulary

Er Dere?	=	Are you? (formal and plural)
Er du?	=	Are you? (informal and singular)
Snakker Dere?	=	Do you speak? (formal and plural)
Snakker du?	=	Do you speak? (informal and singular)
Det gjør jeg.	=	That I do.
Nei	=	No
en skotte	=	Scottish, a Scot
Men	=	But
Nei, men jeg forstår litt.	=	No, but I understand a little.
Jeg snakker litt.	=	I speak a little.

May I Introduce Myself?

The most common way Norwegians introduce themselves are by simply saying hello, and then telling you their name. For more formal situations, it's more common to greet by first saying your full name, and possibly a more proper greeting than just hello. Hyggelig å treffe deg or Hyggelig å treffe Dem means pleased to meet you.

Jonas Karlsen. God dag.
Ine Ludvigsen. God dag. Hyggelig å treffe deg.
Hyggelig å treffe deg.

The first time you meet somebody, you shake hands. In business environments, this is also done when a long amount of time has passed since you last met.

When you want to introduce two people to each other, you use the phrase Får jeg presentere ... which means May I present ... and then you say their names.

Får jeg presentere: Line Jensen -- Jerry McMurphy

This introduction is quite formal. In less formal situations, you can basically just say

Dette er Line Jensen -- Jerry McMurphy

Dette er means this is. It's also not really necessary to use surnames in an informal situation. Especially so with young people and children.

Greetings

God morgen, good morning, is the first greeting of the day. You answer it simply with god morgen or morn', the latter being sort of a slang. Later on in the day you can say god dag, good day, answered by a god dag back.

Being less formal, you can just say hei or hallo; these work at any time of the day.

Later, when the evening has come, you say god kveld, which means good evening, or you could say god aften, which is a synonymous (yet more formal) to god kveld. Finally, when you're going to bed, it's common to say god natt, good night or natta', which is a slang expression for the same.

When you're leaving somebody, you can say ha det bra or just ha det (lit. "have it", which is short for ha det bra, which implies jeg håper du vil ha det bra, which basically means I hope you'll be fine. This is a very old saying, and as you can guess, have it wouldn't make much sense to anyone if it hadn't been for the history of the word, which everybody sort of knows, but nobody speaks of.) You can also just say snakkes, (short for vi snakkes senere, we'll talk later) although this is more commonly used on the phone or in communications over written media.

Thank You

Takk means thanks. Tusen takk (lit. thousand thanks), Takker så mye/meget (lit. thank you so much) and Mange takk (lit. many thanks) all means thanks a lot. Using meget is old-fashioned though, and comes from Danish.

The correct response for takk, for instance when you've given someone a gift, or similar is vær så god (lit. be so kind) which is equivalent to the English you are welcome, don't mention it or it's nothing

When someone says takk in order to express gratitude for a service or act performed, bare hyggelig, (lit. merely pleasurable), best translated as my pleasure, is an appropriate response.