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
gå
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
så
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
må
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?)