Scandinavian language challenge day 21

Today I worked through chapter 6 of Norwegian in three months, covering:

  • perfect tense
  • modal auxiliary verbs
  • comparison of adverbs
  • more about adverbs
  • expressions of time
  • other words

Perfect tense

The perfect tense is formed by using the auxiliary ha (have) with the past participle. For some verbs, the auxiliary være instead of ha (to be covered in chapter 7). Example:
I dag har vi vært på konsert.
Today we have been to a concert.

Forms of the past participle:

Ending
-et (-a*)
-t
-tt
-d (-et**)
-dd

Example
kastet (kasta*)
brukt
gått
levd (levet**)
kledd

Meaning
thrown
used
gone, walked
lived
dressed

* colloquial and Nynorsk form
** traditional form


Some weak verbs with change of vowel:

  • solgte, solgt (from selge = sell)
  • gjorde, gjort (from gjøre = do)
  • spurte, spurt (from spørre = ask)
  • brakte, brakt (from bringe = bring)

Examples of strong verbs:

Infinitive
ha
være
bli
skrive
fryse
drikke
si
gi
finne

se
hjelpe
la
ta
skjære
bære
trekke
komme
sove
løpe
gråte

Meaning
have
be
become
write
freeze
drink
say
give
find
go
see
help
let
take
cut
carry
pull
come
sleep
run
cry

Past
hadde
var
ble
skrev
frøs
drakk
sa
gav
fant
gikk

hjalp
lot
tok
skar
bar
trakk
kom
sov
låp
gråt

Past participle
hatt
vært
blitt
skrevet
frosset
drukket
sagt
gitt
funnet
gått
sett
hjulpet
latt
tatt
skåret
båret
trukket
kommet
sovet
løpt
grått

Modal auxiliary verbs

Infinitive
å burde
å kunne
å måtte
å skulle
å ville

Present
bør
kan

skal
vil

Meaning
should, ought to
can
must
shall, is to
will, want to

The past tense of these verb is the same as their infinitive and they can also be used in the perfect tense (unlike their English cognates):

  • jeg burde; jeg kunne etc
  • jeg hard burdet; jeg har kunnet etc

The irregular verb å vite (to know) follows a pattern somewhat similart to the pattern of the modals: jeg vet, jeg visste; jeg har visst.

Comparison of adverbs

Like adjectives, adverbs form their comparative by adding -(e)re and their superlative by adding -(e)st. Polysllabic adverbs generally use mere / most instead. Examples: mere klosset (more clumsy); mest oppmerksomt (most attentively).

Irregular comparatives:


lite
mye (meget)
vondt
godt
langt


little
much
badly
well
far

Comparative
mindre
mer
verre
bedre
lengre

Superlative
minst
mest
verst
best
lengst

More about adverbs

Some adverbs have a short form for motion towards a place and a long form for being within a place. Examples:

Komm inn? (come in!)
Vi er all inne (We are all inside)

inn
ut
opp

inne
ute
opp

ned
bort (away)
hjem (home)

nede
borte
hjeme

Similarly, her / der = here / there, but hit / dit means to here (hither), to there (thither):
Jeg er her i bygningen nå. (I’m here in the building now)
Jeg kom hit klokken 12. (I came here at 12.00.)

Der and her are sometimes used instead of the demonstratives:
her i byen (in this town); der in landet (in that country); her i familien (in this family); der i huset (in that house)

Expressions of time

årstiden (season); våren (the spring); sommeren (the summer); høsten (the autimn); vinteren (the winter)

om våren (in the spring); til våren (until the spring); i fjør summer (last summer); i høst (this autumn); sist vintr (during last winter)

Ordinal numbers are used in dates, as in English:
det er den første juni.

i natt (last night); hele natten (all night)

på lange tid (for a long time); på forhnad (in advance); å komme for sent til (to miss); tidlig (early); a tilbringe (to spend)

Other words

selskap (party); snakke (to speak)Some of the other words in this chapter; lytte (listen); tydelig (distinct = German deutlich?)

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