Norsk - Tumblr Posts - Page 2
hi! could you explain when do you use “jo” in a sentence in norwegian?
Hi there! I'll certainly do my best :D
There are a couple of different ways "jo" is used in Norwegian:
1. On the contrary
One of the major failures of the English language is that it doesn't have a proper response to negative questions. For example:
"Aren't you hungry?"
If you answer "yes" to this question, technically this means "yes, I am not hungry". But we actually mean "on the contrary, yes I am hungry." And if we answer "no", it technically means "no, I am hungry". But what we actually mean is "no, I'm not hungry". It's confusing af to non-natives.
Norwegian doesn't have this problem. If someone asked this question, and I wanted to say "on the contrary, I am hungry", I would answer "jo":
"Er du ikke sulten?" "Jo, det er jeg."
It's also used in contexts such as:
"Kanskje han ikke forsto helt hva han drev med." = Maybe he didn't understand exactly what he was doing "Jo, det gjorde han." = On the contrary, he did.
2. The more you know...
"Jo" is also used in a construct "the more/less ____, the more/less ____".
"Jo eldre jeg blir, jo mindre jeg husker" = The older I get, the less I remember (#mood)
3. Emphasis
In Norwegian, there are a number of small words that are used to add emphasis to other words, such as jo, vel and nok. "Jo" is often used to indicate something that everyone knows or should know, or that the listener really should know:
"Hun er en rar person" = She's a strange person. "Hun er jo det" = She really is (and everyone knows)
"Selvfølgelig kan du be meg om hjelp. Herregud, vi er jo venner!" = Of course you can ask for help. Gosh, we are friends (and you should know that!)
Hope that helps! Feel free to send me another ask/message if you're still unsure :)
things I just (re)learned from mango
bad- dårlig
fine- fint
nice to meet you too- hyggelig å treffe deg også
last (time)- sist
nice to see you again- takk for sist
what’s up?- hva skjer?
excellent- utmerket (really hard to say for some reason)
so-so- sånn passe (really fun to say)
sad- trist
In Norwegian, when talking about something small children should not hear while they are within earshot, one could say “Små gryter har også ører” which translates to “Small pots also have ears” and I think that is a magnificent saying.
It means that little children hear and notice more than one should think, so you should act cautiously around them.
Submitted by @rewolucyjny-polska, with the help of @marilingo
Anybody in langblr know of a really good, free, online norwegian-english dictionary? Not the nynorsk-bokmål dictionary, cause i already know of it and it doesnt help if i dont know what the word in norsk is.
Filler words in Norwegian
Can’t learn a language without fillers!
altså - “well…” or “so…” It’s often used to enhance confidence, whether it’s strong or weak. Altså, mamma sa at jeg får lov til å gjøre det.. / Well, mum said I’m allowed to do it..
vel - “well”, can be used in the same way as in English. You can also combine it with altså: Vel, altså, her er planen… / Well, so, here is the plan…
liksom - the Norwegian equivalent to “like” - use it everywhere! It can also be used to enhance sarcasm. Har du liksom tenkt å gå med det der? / Are you seriously like, going to wear that thing?
da - this literally means then, but we often use it to end sentences, especially if we’re saying something that another person might want to argue with. And since it means ‘then’, you can also use it in the same way as in English. Jeg skulle jo liksom bare prøve den på, da. / I was just going to like, try it on.
ehh / øhh - uhh, uhm. Super useful.
på en måte - “in a way” or “kind of”. Han er litt merkelig, på en måte. / He’s a little strange, kind of.
bare - “just” Jeg skal bare innom butikken. / I’m just gonna pop by the store.
ikke sant? - translates to “not true”, but is used for saying “right?” “don’t you agree?”. Around Bergen, people usually drop the “ikke” and just say “sant”. I’m from Bergen so I didn’t know that not everyone says this until I googled it lol.
skjønner du / skjø’ - used at the end of sentences in the same way as “you see” in English. It comes from the word “å skjønne”, which means to understand, to realize or to “get it”. “Skjø’” is not really used in the southern regions, but if you’re around Trøndelag, you’ll hear this a lot. In other regions one would say “skjønner du”. Han er lærer, skjø’/skjønner du. / He is a teacher, you see.
Feel free to ask me questions about these or request more specific fillers!
Dirty Norwegian: swears, insults and other bad words explained
Faen i forbanna kuksugende helvete, for noe jælva dritt.
Do you wanna learn how to say “fuck in damned cocksucking hell, this is some fucking shit” and more like this in Norwegian? Well, you’re in luck because that’s exactly what I spent a good two hours of my life explaining to you guys.
Also let me know if you have any questions, I’m more than happy to answer!
m, f, nt. = masculine, feminine or neutral nouns
Faen
The equivalent to fuck. If you stubbed your toe in a table corner, this is what you will yell out in pained frustration. After years of being a swear word it has lost it’s meaning but it’s original meaning comes from fanden, which means the devil. Additional fact: In Denmark they’ll still yell fanden instead of faen.
A lot of expressions are tied to faen. Here are some examples:
Faen ta deg. (Fuck you.) Fy faen! (Fuck, but emphasized.) Faen i helvete. (Fuck in hell. Again, for emphasis.) Stygg som faen. (Ugly as fuck.) Jeg gir faen. (I don’t give a fuck.) Gi faen. (Knock it off.) … for faen.* ( … for fuck’s sake.)
*Can’t be used alone, you have to fill inn the dots with something else. Usually used when you’re saying something that may contradict what has just been said. Han er jo fæl, for faen / But he’s terrible, for fuck’s sake.
Satan og helvete
Helvete: means hell, we use this all the time. Additional fact: Many of you might know of the town in Norway called Hell and how it’s so far north that during the winter, Hell may freeze over. But the word “hell” in Norwegian means luck. Do whatever you like with this information.
Satan: You’ll yell this out the same way you’ll yell out fuck, but it doesn’t have the same dynamic as faen. You may use it as an adjective, however. For emphasis, add svarte at the end.
Satan helvetes fitte! Satan svarte!
Jævla, forbanna og jævel
Jævla is an adjective, kind of like “fucking”, except it can’t be used alone, then you’re not making sense.
You can use forbanna in two ways: (1) wherever you can use jævla. It’s an adjective, and it describes something cursed. You can also combine forbanna and jævla if you’re really pissed off! (2) to let people know that you or another person is pissed off. Basically, you ARE forbanna. Usually you add an adverb such as these in front: “fly”, “skikkelig” or “helt” forbanna. “Fly” is exclusively used for forbanna.
Jævla/forbanna idiot. (Fucking idiot.) Hun ble fly forbanna når hun så meg. (She got really pissed off when she saw me.)
Jævel is a noun (m) and means devil. It’s an insult, usually expresses dislike OR someone being mischievous.
Han er en forbanna liten jævel. (He’s a little fucking bastard.)
MORE SWEARS UNDER THE CUT ! :^)
Keep reading
do you have any tips for learning Norwegian? I'm a beginner.
hello there! :)
i’ll try my best to tell you what i do to learn the language and what i think is important. if anyone has something else to add, please feel free to do it!
first, it’s really important that you focus on grammar, vocab and your listening and speaking skills. try to find a balance! people will argue that it’s more important to do grammar than vocab or the other way around, but i never thought i had to choose between the two.. i just study grammar one day and vocab the next one. it’s just really important to do both. listening and speaking skills are also super important because they will let you communicate with natives in real life. now i’ll just tell you what i use and how i tend to study!
What I Use:
(or i should say, resources i have saved)
Duolingo: [grammar and vocab] great way to start!!! it sometimes feel like the sentences are useless but they teach you vocabulary and basic grammar, which i think is great.
Memrise: [vocab] so good for vocab! easy to use on the go.
Babbel: [grammar, vocab, speaking, listening] i think it’s one of my favourite apps/websites. it is not free but it’s very well made and it explains grammar much better than duolingo does.
Readlang: [reading] (i don’t use it that much) but you can find many texts written in norwegian to practice reading. it can be really useful, especially if you have a bit of a hard time finding books
Forvo: [listening and speaking] this website lets people record themselves say words so you can listen to them. it shows you the real pronunciation of words (i mean when compared to google translate) and tells you where the speaker is from (which is important with norwegian and its dialects)
NTNU’s Norwegian on the Web: [grammar, vocab, listening] haven’t actually used this one yet, but it’s made by a university in trondheim so i guess it’s not bad!
UiO’s Future Learn Introduction to Norwegian: [grammar, vocab, listening] i took this free online class a couple of months ago and i don’t know when it will be available again, but it was so great! they have videos and grammar lessons, so you have a good balance between grammar and real life use of norwegian.
Get Started in Norwegian / Complete Norwegian / Enjoy Norwegian: [grammar, vocab, listening] i absolutely love these books! i put links to buy them, but maybe you can find a way to download them online. they explain grammar really well and they have exercises to practice what you learn.
Assimil’s Le Norvégien: [grammar, reading, listening] don’t know if available in another language than french. also really great! a good mix of reading, listening and writing!
På Vei (A1-A2) / Stein På Stein (B1) / Her På Berget (B2): [grammar, vocab] my favourite at the moment, i downloaded all the textbooks and exercise books on Scribd and you can find download links here too. i absolutely love them! the first one is kind of childish but the grammar rules are well explained and the textbooks let you read more.
Klar Tale: [reading] news (from norway and around the world) written in simple words. that’s how i first started reading in norwegian and it’s helped me a lot!
How I Study:
Taking notes: after i’m done with a duolingo or memrise lesson or after i learned something new in my grammar books, i like to write down the new words, grammar concepts and other things like that down in my notebook. it helps me remember stuff more easily and helps me review!
Flashcards: helps me learn verbs and vocab. also super easy to bring with you when you want to study on the bus or when you’re waiting somewhere!
Watching TV Shows/Movies: there are quite a lot of norwegian tv shows on netflix, like Nobel, Okkupert, Lillehammer or Øyevitne. and obviously Skam (not on netflix though). when i can, i like to watch the episode with norwegian subtitles to see the words as i’m hearing them. then i watch the episode again with english subs to see what i understood (or didn’t understand).
Listening to music/podcasts: you can find a bunch of norwegian playlist on spotify and it helps so much with your listening skills! I like to read the lyrics while i listen to songs because i can associate the sounds with the written words (and the other way around). i also like the nrk-skampod, because it’s fun and the people on the podcasts speak a variety of dialects.
Reading the news: i like to read the articles, sum them up and write down the words i don’t know. Look up the words and then read the article again to see if i understand it better.
Writing: keep a journal or write to natives (or other learners), because even if you memorize 100 grammar rules by heart, if you never apply them in real context, you won’t learn/remember them. believe me, the natives on this website are really nice and they want to help us learn!
Speaking: i speak to myself (and my cat) a lot, when doing my lessons or when i’m getting ready in the morning. i’m too shy to speak to natives so that’s the best way i found to actually practice my speaking! it’s weird, yes, but effective.
In the End, What Is Important:
obviously you might not have time to study everyday, but i believe it’s important to be around the language at least 20 to 30 minutes a day. sometimes i’m able to sit down and write notes and be really productive. other days, all i can do is listen to music on the way to school/work. i’m rarely able to do grammar, learn vocab, practice my listening or speaking skills all in one day, but i try my best to do everything in the course of a week! it’s better to do a bit every day, than to study 5 hours straight once a week!
That’s it!!
I’m sorry that got so long and i really hope that answers your question. If somehow it didn’t, send me another message and i’ll try my best to answer it :)
Norwegian Listening That Doesn’t Feel Impossible
After finishing the Duolingo tree I was a bit stuck for how to continue improving my Norwegian listening. The main suggestion was listening to the radio and watching Norwegian TV shows. Don’t get me wrong, these are excellent ways to improve your listening and it’s SO important to expose yourself to different Norwegian dialects, however it’s a big jump from just hearing short sentences in Oslo dialect to trying to understand the news or TV shows where everyone speaks a different dialect and there’s a lot of slang.
So, if you’re looking to improve your listening, but you feel like the radio is too big a jump from where you are now, give some of these a try:
Mystery of Nils - a story about a nisse called Nils, broken down into short chapters. The audio files are free, although there is an accompanying book with transcriptions as well as grammar exercises and vocab (10/10 recommend). The story gets more advanced as you go along, so even intermediate learners can benefit, and some dialogues can be played in Trøndersk and Bergensk too.
NorwegianClass101 Absolute Beginner - listening comprehensions aimed at beginners who haven’t been learning Norwegian for very long. First you listen and try to understand the dialogue, then you try to answer a question, before finally they show you a transcript and translation. Recommended for A1 level.
NorwegianClass101 Beginner - same as above, but for beginners who have been learning a little longer (A1/A2 level). There are intermediate and advanced playlists too.
Norsklærer Karense on Youtube - grammar explanations specifically aimed at immigrants learning Norwegian. She speaks quite slowly and clearly, so she’s quite easy to understand, even without a transcript. She also does podcasts - they’re not suitable for total beginners, but they’re great for A2/B1+
Norsklærer Karense’s Podcast - the same woman as above, still speaking slowly and clearly, but she talks about more general topics and not just grammar. Great way to improve your listening and your vocab, as she explains the less commonly-used words and phrases as she goes along. Highly recommend for A2/B1+ learners.
Learn Norwegian Naturally - audio recordings/youtube videos spoken at a more natural speed with transcriptions and translations available - more suitable for B1 learners, but having the transcripts/translations available makes it a good tool for A2 level too.
Norskkurset on Youtube - another Norwegian teacher on youtube who posts Norwegian vlogs with Norwegian subtitles (which you can turn off if you prefer) and explanations of idioms and such like. Suitable for A2/B1+
Of course I recommend listening to the radio/watching TV shows etc as well, but it’s nice to be able to practise your listening without wanting to cry!
THE ULTIMATE NORWEGIAN RESCOURCES LIST:
(original post: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9816578)
“your welcome”
Courses, Grammar Lessons, Educational Books, Etc.
YouTube • Norwegian Teacher Karin • Learn Norwegian Naturally • Norwegian Class 101
Memrise • A1 Beginner Norwegian with Audio • 5000+ Most Common Words Part 1 • Duolingo Norwegian Vocab • Learn Norwegian with News
Interactive Grammar & Vocab Excercises • Exploring Norwegian Grammar • Norsk som andrespråk • Språkrådet • Håndbok i grammatikk og språkbruk • Norsk start: 1-4 | 5-7 | 8-10 • Kaleido | Lek med språket • Kaleido | Main Site • På vei • Stein på stein
Pronunciation • Learn-Norwegian.net | Pronunciation Guide • Norwegian Teacher Karin | Norwegian Sounds • Learn NoW by NTNU: Alphabet | Vowels | Dipthongs | Consonants | Consonant Clusters | Retroflex Sounds • Sounds Good App NTNU - this app helps you differentiate between similar sounds in both speaking and listening
Courses • Learn NoW by NTNU • Learn NoW by NTNU 2 • CALST by NTNU • FSI Norwegian • Sett i Gang
More Vocabulary & Grammar Sites • Gramatikk.com • Nynorsk Senter • Lexin | Bildteman | Bokmål & Nynorsk Picture Dictionary • Book2 | English-Norwegian Audio Course
Dialect-Specific • Dialect Database (click kart, then click a square on the map, then click the .mp3 or .wav file to hear an excerpt from Nordavinden og Sola read in that dialect) • CALST by NTNU (listening & speaking exercises for different dialects, and FYI this only works well in Chrome)
Textbooks & Grammar Guides Sometimes publishers put previews, or occasionally whole books, online. Sometimes books are so old that they become open to the public. And sometimes, I’m given a link to an awesome Google Drive folder with a bunch of ebooks in it (which are probably not supposed to be available to the public for free, so use them wisely). [RB = Recommended Book/s]
• The aforementioned Google Drive folder {RB: Håndbok i Grammatikk og Språkbruk | Sånn kan du si det | Hva vi sier og hva vi mener • GAN Aschehoug (Publisher) {RB: Nye Ord 5, 4, and 3 • Fagbokforlaget (Publisher) {RB: MiniGrammatikk | Ordriket • Cappelen Damm (Publisher) {RB: Kaleido textbooks - I can’t get the link to work so go here, search for Kaleido, then click filters> language> norsk (these are textbooks for Norwegian primary school students, so they have easy explanations and short stories) • På Vei Textbook
Culture & Life
YouTube • AmeriNorge • Teaandtoastify • Visit Norway
Blogs • Life in Norway • My Little Norway • A Frog in the Fjord
Art, Mythology, & Folktales • Stand Still. Stay Silent. | Webcomic “A post apocalyptic webcomic with elements from Nordic mythology, set 90 years in the future.” Not strictly Norwegian-themed, but very interesting nonetheless. Includes this cool comparison of Nordic languages. • Study In Norway | Culture • Norwegian folktales in Norwegian, in English, and in audio book form • Visit Norway | Arts & Culture • Norse Mythology • Shmoop | Mythology (scroll down a bit to see the sections on Norse mythology) • Internet Archive | The Heroes of Asgard: Tales From Scandinavian Mythology
TV Shows, Cartoons, Etc.
I Kveld Med Ylvis (a talk/comedy show) [PG16 for language] • IKMY Season 1 (full season & subs) • IKMY Season 2 (only 3 subbed episodes) • IKMY Season 3 (just a few clips from the season) • IKMY Season 4 (full season & subs) • IKMY Season 5: Unicef Spesial | Ep. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | (nearly all episodes subbed) Other Ylvis Shows & Videos: • Ylvis in English | ALL • Norges Herligste
NRK (a Norwegian TV channel - everything from comedy to nature programs) • NRK Super (kid’s shows) • NRK TV (all programs available outside Norway) • NRK Skole (basically Norwegian PBS or Discovery)
Other • Nickelodeon • Peppa Pig • TinySchool.TV • Pocoyo • Cartoon Network
Music & Podcasts
Radio/Streaming • Norwegian Stations on TuneIn • Norwegian Stations on ListenLive • NRK Radio • hknyildirim’s Spotify playlist • kim-gab’s Spotify playlist
Albums & Playlists • Siri Nilsen: Skyggebokser | Alle Snakker Sant | Vi Som Ser I Mørket • Jahn Teigen: Lys | Til Kongen • Bjørn Eidsvåg: Landet Lenger Bak | Hittil og Littil | En Vakker Dag | Nåde • Madcon: Contakt • Lars Vaular: D'E Glede | Du Betyr Meg | Helt Om Natten, Helt Om Dagen | Helt Ute På | La Hat-Et Nytt Dagslys | 1001 Hjem | 666 Alt | 666 Gir • Disney Songs in Norwegian • Kaizers Orchestra: 250 Prosent | Våre Demoner | Evig Pint | Maskineri | Violeta Violeta Vol. I, Vol. II, & Vol. III | Ompa til du dør • Bergtatt: YouTube playlist • Razika: På vei hjem | Ut til de andre | Program 91 • Karpe Diem: Heisann Montebello • Wardruna: Yggdrasil | Gap Var Ginnunga
Songs (I either couldn’t find whole albums or there were mostly English songs on them) • Ylvis: La Det På Is | Sammen Finner Vi Frem | Unnskyld, Kjære Oslo | Jeg Heter Finn | Da Vet Du At Det Er Jul | Ka Kan Eg Gi Deg? • Gabrielle: Regn fra blå himmel | 5 fine frøkner | Mer | Ring meg | Sitter her | Mellom skyene | Mildt Sagt (album) • Staysman & Lazz: En godt stekt pizza • Norges nasjonalsang | Norway’s National Anthem • Respekt for Grandiosa (a song about frozen pizza - embrace it) • NRK Super: Sveve på luft (yes it’s from the kids’ channel but it’s really good) • Sondre Justad: Det e over | Nu har du mæ/Nå har du meg | Riv i hjertet • Verdensrommet: Alt det du sier | Gi meg alt | Der hvor du aldri kan stå | Nytt
Podcasts • NRK Radio (this is just the link to the main site, there are many different podcasts on it) • Klar Tale
News, Comics, & Other Reading Material
Norwegian reading for non-grammar related purposes.
News • Klar Tale (made specifically for learners): Main Site | News in Images | Nynorsk News • Dagbladet • Aftenposten • NRK • VG • TV2
Comics • Nettserier • Bergens Tidene | Tegneserier • Aftenposten | Tegneserier • Dagbladet | Tegneserie
Reading Materials • Norske Folkeeventyr | Norwegian Folktales (you can also listen to folktales here) • Norsk Wikipedia • Bokselskap (free ebooks)
i was curious if you could recommend any books/resources for learning Norwegian? (or just your favorite language resources in general) thank you!
Hi there!
In terms of books like textbooks:
The Mystery of Nils (A1/A2) and Mysteriet om Nils (B1/B2) are pretty great imo.
Norwegian Tutor from Teach Yourself has been an absolute life-saver for grammar
Also from Teach Yourself is Norwegian Short Stories, which has vocab lists for each story
Enjoy Norwegian is good for higher intermediate (although I've never really clicked with it)
Another one I never clicked with but is used in a lot of language schools is På Vei (A1/A2 level)
Some other resources:
Lesnorsk norskkurs - texts from A1-B2 level
I do actually think the Duolingo course is okay tbh (the audio's sometimes a bit strange, but as far as free resources go it's really good imo!)
Memrise is also a popular resource: here's a link to the first of their Norwegian courses (never clicked with it myself, but a lot of people like it)
Lingohut is also pretty good!
CALST is awesome for helping you learn to speak specific dialects
I’ve not tried using it, but Bnorsk seems to be a website where you can learn Norwegian for free
I also take classes on italki (if you're interested in giving it a go then lmk so I can give you a referral code and get you a few dollars off your first lesson. I've also taken lessons from a number of tutors and can maybe help you find the best one for you)
Here's a bunch of Norwegian instagram accounts you can follow
This is a website with set expressions and idioms in Norwegian
Bildetema is good for vocabulary - you see pictures with the Norwegian words next to them, and you can click on them to see how they’re pronounced. There are lots of different topics too!
ung.forskning.no is quite good if you're like B1 level and interested in science because the articles are quite short and basically made for younger readers so the language isn't so difficult (a number of them also have corresponding podcast episodes, so you can read the article to learn a bit about the topic and then listen to the podcast)
Podcasts:
Norskpodden is a good podcast for learners as they also have a transcript
Lær Norsk Nå! is also aimed at learners
Norsklærer Karense has her own podcast too
I quite like Smartere på 10 minutter as well because it's interesting and it's short and the presenter speaks in clear Oslo dialect. If you're still not used to listening in Norwegian, you can slow it down to half speed.
Oppdatert is also not too long, the presenters speak quite clearly and it’s about current affairs
E-books
While I absolutely do not endorse the author's awful transphobic views, I know a lot of people are interested in reading the Harry Potter books as a way to expand their vocabulary, and it sure would be a shame if you could find all the PDFs free online and not have to give money to that aforementioned author. (Side note: the translator uses "omforladels" as a translation for "sorry" which like no actual Norwegian person apart from maybe in some dialects uses ever)
You can also search ebooks by language (including Norwegian) and download them for free from here (definitely 100% not illegal in any way shape or form *shifty glance*)
If you prefer to buy Norwegian ebooks actually legally, you can do so here.
Youtube channels:
Special shoutout to Norwegian Done Easy because Markus is my italki tutor and he's awesome (plus I'm featured! So you can see my silly little face Norwegianing as hard as it can!)
Norsklærer Karense (I'm uhh not actually a fan BUT she has lots of useful videos for like A1-B2 level. There's also a lot of useful information about culture and moving to Norway and integration and test-taking)
Preben's Norwegian Academy (he's from Nord-Norge, so you get some dialect exposure too)
Norskkurset (it's not updated for a little while but there are some good videos there!)
Norwegian Teacher Karin (another one that's not updated for a while but still has some good videos)
Norwegian With Tor (for a little Tromsø dialect)
Hope that's enough to get you started/keep you going! Let me know if you have any questions :)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1906) by Edvard Munch. Thiel Gallery.
17th of may, Norways constitution day. Gratulerer med dagen Norge!
It feels strange to describe my nationality to strangers.
If I say I'm Swedish they think I'm a gay femboy (I am, but that's not the point)
if I say I'm Norwegian, they think I'm a Satanist who loves black metal (I am, but that's not the point)
if i say i'm finnish they think i'm a spy or ai from china (i'm not but i lost an argument to someone who thought i was)
so i say i'm a scandinavian which no one but geography nerds get and i get follow up questions that make them guess i'm danish. (I AM EVERY NATIONALITY FROM SCANDINAVIA EXCEPT DANISH!)