Scandinavian language challenge day 36

Today I worked through chapter 11 of Norwegian in three months, covering:

• more expressions of time
• in order to
• more about ‘det’
• verbs of position
• other words

More expressions of time

Prepositions:

• for … siden (ago): for fjorten dager siden (a fortnight ago)
• om (in, for [yet]):
  • om en ukes tid (in a week)
  • først om tre dager (not for 3 days yet)
• i (for): Streiken har vart i tre uker (the strike has been on for 3 weeks)
• på (for): Hun har ikke fått noe brev fra Egland på to måneder
  (she hasn’t had any letters from England for 2 months)

Continuous action or state:

• holde på med / være i ferd med:
  • De holder på å gjøre lekser (they are doing homework)
  • Han er ferd med å bygge et nytt hus (he is building a new house)
• two clauses linked by og (and):
  • Hun sitter og leser (she is reading)
• å skulle til å (to be about to, on the point of):
  • Jeg skulle akkurat til å skreve til ham da han ringte meg
    (I was just about to write to him when he phoned me)
  • Han skulle til å oppgi håp da politiet kom til unnsetning
    (He was on the point of giving up hope when the police came to his rescue)

In order to

In order to is expressed by for å plus infinitive:

• Hun tok på seg brillene for å se bedre
  (he took his glasses in order to see better

But note:

• De bad om en skje (til) å spise med
  (they asked for a spoon to eat with)
• Hun gav meg penger (til) å kjøpe den for
  (he gave me money to buy it with)

The textbook doesn’t explain what it is different about the last two examples, not does it explain what role for plays in the last example.

In the penultimate example (and perhaps also the last one), a preposition (med) is stranded at the end of the sentence when the noun it governs (skje) is located earlier in the sentence.

More about ‘det’

Det can be used as preliminary (expletive) subject at the beginning of a clause, with the real subject later. Lesson 7 (day 24) showed some examples with det er and det finnes. This construction is also used with verbs of motion (such as komme, gå, kjøre) and position (ligge, stå, sitte):

• det kom en mann nedover veien
  (there was a man comning down the road)
• det myldrer av mennesker på gaten
  (the street is swarming with people)
• det startet en bil utenfor huset)
  (there was a car starting outside the house)

As the grammatical subject of the sentence, det sometimes needs to invert with the verb:

• den morgenen gikk det bare en buss
  (that morning, there was only one bus going)

Some other constructions using det:

• Tror du det? (do you think so?)
• Jeg håper det (I hope so)
• Har han det? (Has he?)
• Nei, han har ikke det. (No, he hasn’t)
• Kan dere det? (Can you?)
• Er du trett? Det er jeg også. (Are you tied? So am I)

Verbs of position

These verbs are often used where English might just use to be.

• å ligge (to lie):
  • Oslo ligger ved bunnen av Oslofjorden
    (Olso is at the head of the Oslofjord)
  • Det ligger et supermarked på hjørnet (there is a supermarket at the corner)
  • De ligger i sengen (they are in bed)
  • Det ligger en kniv, en skje, en gaffel på bordet (there is a knive, a spoon and a fork on the table)
• å sta (to stand):
  • Det star i avisen at… (it says in the newspaper that…)
  • Telefonnumeret står i (telefon)katalogen (the phone number is in the book)
  • Det står et glass og en flaske på bordet (there are a glass and a bottle on the table)
  • Bilen står is garasjen (the car is in the garage)
  • Han stod til eksamen ( He passed his exam)
• å sitte (to sit):
  • Nøkkelen sitter i låsen (the key is in the lock)
  • Skipet sitter fast is isen (the ship is stuck in the ice)
  • Vil du sitte på? (Would you like a lift?)
• å gå (to go:)
  • Tiden går (time passes)
  • Det gikk som ventet (that went as expected)
  • Det går ham godt (he is doing well)
  • Det går ikke (that doesn’t work)

Some of the other words in this chapter

Nouns: et øyeblikk (one moment); sykehuset (the hospital); trappeoppgangen (the stairway)

Verbs: bestemme seg (choose, make a decision); legge (la, lagt) på seg (put on weight); behage (please); foretrekke (-trakk, -trukket, prefer); stå (stod, stått, stand)

Adjectives: begge (both); syk (ill)

Other words: nå (by now); sannsynligvis (probably); de har rett med hensyn til … (you’re right about…); sør for (south of);

Restaurant vocabulary: menyen (the menu); kelneren (the waiter); forretten (the starter); hovedretten (main course); desserten (the dessert); multekaken (cloudberry cake); suppen (the soup); saltvannsfisken (the salt-water fish); sjøtungen (the dover sole = German Seezunge); torske (the cod = German Dorsch); skalldyret (the shellfish); kokt (boiled); stekt (fried); rødvinen (the red wine); regningen (the bill);