jeg prøver å snakke norsk

Word order can be tricky to master in any language, and since I’ve had some questions about this recently (@wordsnnblues​)  I thought I’d make a post that covers the most important rules. This is simply a guide to the most common workings of Norwegian word order, and is unfortunately not exhaustive, but I tried to include the most important aspects.

Disclaimer: I’m not referring to this image in this post , so any letters that I use may not correspond to the ones used in the image! (I just thought it looked pretty :p)

The V2-rule

The main rule regarding Norwegian word order is that the finite verb (V) takes the second position* in the sentence. Some other parts are a bit more flexible, and there can be quite a few changes to word order depending on what element precedes the finite verb. 

*Note that there is a difference between position and word. There can be several words in one position, for example in the first position, and thus, even though the verb must be in the second position, it can be later in the sequence in terms of words.

Main clauses 

When the subject is fronted (SVO)

Putting the subject in the first position is the most usual way of constructing sentences in Norwegian, just like in English. The subject must then be followed by a verb according to the V2-rule above, which then can be followed by an object or adverb (or verb) as wished and depending on the characteristics of the finite verb. 

Examples

Hun (S) spiser (V) = She (S) eats (V) / She (S) is eating (V)

Hun (S) spiser (V) mat (O) = She (S) eats (V) food (O)

Hun (S) spiser (V) fort (Adv.) =  She (S) eats (V) fast (Adv.)

Hun (S) spiser (V) maten (O) fort (Adv.) =  She (S) eats (V) the food (O) fast (Adv)

This is also valid for other tenses, just like in English:

Hun (S) spiste (V) mat (O) = She (S) ate (V) food (O)

Hun (S) har spist (V) mat (O) = She (S) has eaten (V) food (O)

Hun (S) skal spise (V) mat (O) = She (S) will/is going to eat (V) food (O)

Adverbial phrases in SVO sentences

In sentences where the subject is in the first position, adverbial phrases are usually placed straight after the verb. Adverbial phrases of time or place are usually placed in the last position. This applies for all tenses.

Some common general adverbials (A):

Ikke = Not Også = Also Kanskje - Maybe Aldri = Never Alltid = Always Dessverre = Unfortunately Sjelden = Rarely Ofte = Often Allerede = Already Fortsatt = Still

Some common adverbials of time (AoT)

I går = Yesterday I dag = Today I morgen = Tomorrow Nå = Now Neste/forrige uke/måned/år = Next/last week/month/year I fjor = Last year Denne gangen = This time Den gangen = That time

Some common adverbials of place (AoP)

Der = There Her = Here Dit = (To) there Hit = (To) here Hos … = At …’s (place) I … = In …, 

Examples

Hun (S) spiser (V) ikke (A) kjøtt (O) = She (S) does not (A) eat (V) meat (O)

Hun (S) spiste (V) sjelden (A) kjøtt (O) = She (S) rarely (A) ate (V) meat (O)

Hun (S) har aldri (A) spist (V) kjøtt (O) = She (S) has never (S) eaten (V) meat (O)

Hun (S) skal kanskje (A) spise (V) kjøtt (O) = She (S) will maybe eat (V) meat (O) / She is maybe going to eat (V) meat (O)

Subject-verb inversion = When another (non-verb) element is fronted (VSO)

Sometimes you want to put another element in the first position, for example to add emphasis. In these cases, the finite verb and the subject switches places; the (finite) verb still remains in the second position and is followed by the subject. In English, the subject is placed in the second position and the verb follows it in the third position. 

Examples

Nå (AoT) spiser (V) jeg (S) mat (O) = Now (AoT), I (S) am eating (V) food (O).

I går (AoT) spiste (V) jeg (S) kjøtt (O) = Yesterday (AoT), I (S) ate (V) meat (O)

I dag (AoT) har (V) jeg (S) gjort (v) lekser (O) = Today (AoT) I (S) have done (V) homework (O)

Denne (O) skal (V) jeg (S) spise (v)  i morgen (AoT) = This one (O) I (S) will eat (V) tomorrow (AoT)

I Frankrike (AoP) spiser (V) de (S) ost (O)  = In France (AoP), they (S) eat (V) cheese (O)

Adverbials in VSO / inverted sentences

In VSO sentences, the adverbial (A) is often placed after the subject, in the fourth position.

I går (AoT) spiste (V) jeg (S) dessverre (A) kjøtt = Yesterday, (AoT) I (S) unfortunately (A) ate (V) meat (O)

Hos besteforeldrene mine (AoP) får (V) jeg (S) alltid (A) godteri (O) = At my grandparent’s house (AoP) I (S) always (A) get (V) candy (O)

Når jeg drar på ferie (AoT) spiser (V) jeg (S) ofte (A) på restauranter (O) = When I go on holiday (AoT) I (S) often (A) eat (V) at restaurants (O) 

The conjunctions “og”, “men” and “for”.

og = and men = but for = because / as / since / for

These conjunctions link main clauses, and the word order does not change when these are used. 

Examples:

Han (S) spiser (V) appelsiner (O), og (conj.) hun (S) spiser (V) epler (O). = He (S) eats (V) oranges (O) and (conj.) she (S) eats (V) apples (O)

Han (S) liker (V) kaffe (O), men (conj.) han (S) liker (V) ikke (A) te (O) = He(S) likes (V) coffee (O), but (conj.) he (S) does not (A) like (V) tea (O). 

Jeg (S) kommer (V) ikke (A), for (conj.) mamma (S) kan (V) ikke (A) kjøre (v) meg (O). = I (S) am (V) not (A) coming (V), because (conj.) mom (S) can(V)not (A) drive (v)me (O). 

Interrogative sentences

In Norwegian, like in English, questions are introduced by either a verb or an interrogative word.

In Norwegian, the most used interrogative words are: 

Hva - What Hvem - Who Hvor - Where Hvorfor - Why Hvordan - How (When followed by verb. Only in regards to method/way of doing) Hvor … - How … (When followed by an adjective or adverb. In regards to extent, size and amount.) Hvilken/Hvilket/Hvilke - Which Hva slags - What kind

When using an interrogative word, this is placed in the first position, and the finite verb is placed in the second position.

Hva (Int.) spiser (V) du (S) ? = What (Int.) are (V) you (S) eating (v)?

Hvor mye (Int.) koster (V) det (S) ? = How much (Int.) does (V) it (S) cost (v)? 

Without the use of an interrogative, the finite verb is placed in the first position and the subject second. 

Spiser (V) du (S) kjøtt (O)? - Do (V) you (S) eat (v) meat (O)? / Are (V) you (S) eating (v) meat (O)? 

Gjorde (V) du (S) leksene dine (O)? - Did (V) you (S) do (v) your homework (O)? 

Adverbials in interrogative sentences

In interrogative sentences, the general adverbials are most often placed in the third position, after the subject.

Spiser (V) du (S) ikke (A) kjøtt (O)? = Do (V) you (S) not (A) eat (v) meat (O)?

Subordinate clauses

Subordinate clauses are dependent clauses that are often part of a main clause. they can be introduced by certain subjunctions.

Some common subjunctions:

fordi = because at = that om = if siden = since / as

Subordinate clauses remain SVO sentences, with the subject preceding the verb.

Jeg (S) studerer (V) norsk (O) fordi (subj.) jeg (S) har (V) en norsk venn (O) = I (S) study (V) Norwegian (O) because (subj.) I (S) have (V) a Norwegian friend (O). 

Hun(S) sa (V) at (subj.) hun (S) liker (V) meg (O) = She (S) said (V) that (subj.) she (S) likes (V) me (O)

Adverbials

Although the word order remains SVO in subordinate phrases, the placement of the adverbial changes, from being straight behind the finite verb (V) in main clauses, to being straight in front of the finite verb in subordinate ones. 

Main clause

Hun (S) liker (V) ikke (A) kaffe (O) = She (S) does (V) not (A) like (v) coffee (O)

Subordinate clause: 

(Hun sier) at (subj.) hun (S) ikke (A) liker (V) kaffe (O) = (She says) that (subj.) she (S) does (V) not (A) like (v) coffee (O)

Adverbials

The placement of adverbials can vary a lot depending on what kind of meaning you want to convey, and also on what kind of adverbial you are dealing with, so the rules on adverbials that are mentionned in this post are not complete. I recommend everyone who is curious and want to know more about this to refer to this pdf, which I think deals well with the topic: https://tanuljunknorvegul.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/learn-norwegian-language-routledge-norwegian-an-essential-grammar.pdf.

Hey! :)

The Norwegian sentence order is SVO (subject - verb - object). When it comes to explaining the Norwegian language, explaining the sentence order is probably my weakest spot. To avoid a clumsy description from me, take a look at this wonderful post by the wonderful @whatlanguageisthis who is way better at explaining this than I will ever be haha. However, I still advise you to study the examples below, as they could help you with your first sentence constructions in Norwegian nevertheless. If anything confuses you or is unclear, please feel free to ask me about it. You can ask me with a new message, or in chat if you like (this counts for everyone who’s reading this).

Å være.To be.

Jeg er. Du er. Jeg er et menneske. Du er et menneske. Vi er mennesker.I am. You are. I am a human. You are a human. We are humans.

Jeg og et menneske. Jeg og mennesket. Jeg og mennesker. Jeg og menneskene. Et menneske og jeg.I and a human. I and the human. I and humans. I and the humans. A human and I. 

Jeg spiser. Jeg spiser en kake. Jeg spiser en søt kake.I eat. I eat a cake. I eat a sweet cake.

Note: “Jeg spiser” could translate to English as both “I eat” and “I am eating”. This counts for all Norwegian verbs in present tense. Du spiser = you eat / you are eating. 

Jeg spiser ikke en søt kake.I do not eat a sweet cake.

Jeg spiser en søt kake, fordi jeg vil.I eat a sweet cake, because I want to.

Jeg spiser ikke, fordi jeg ikke vil.I do not eat, because I do not want to. 

Jeg vil spise en kake. Jeg vil spise kake. Jeg vil spise kaken.I want to eat a cake. I want to eat cake. I want to eat the cake. 

Jeg spiser ikke, fordi jeg liker ikke kake. Jeg liker kake.I do not eat, because I do not like cake. I like cake.

Jeg spiser en søt kake og (jeg) drikker. I eat a sweet cake and (I) drink.

Jeg spiser en søt kake og drikker varm te.I eat a sweet cake and drink hot tea.

Jeg spiser en søt kake, men jeg drikker ikke varm te.I eat a sweet cake, but I don’t drink warm tea. 

Jeg drikker varm te, men jeg spiser ikke en søt kake. I drink warm tea, but I don’t eat a sweet cake.

Kaken jeg spiser er søt, men teen jeg drikker er ikke.The cake I eat is sweet, but the tea I drink is not.

Teen jeg drikker er bitter, mens kaken er søt.The tea I drink is bitter, while the cake is sweet.

Min kake er søt. Kaken min er søt.My cake is sweet. My cake is sweet.

Kaken er søt, derfor spiser jeg kaken.The cake is sweet, therefore I eat the cake. 

Teen er bitter, derfor drikker jeg ikke teen.The tea is bitter, therefore I don’t drink the tea.

Notice how the verb and the subject have switched places in these last two sentences. If you haven’t looked at @whatlanguageisthis‘s post yet, I advice you to do so. There she explains why this happens.

Teen er varm. Er teen varm? Nei, teen er ikke varm, fordi den er kald.The tea is hot. Is the tea hot? No, the tea is not hot, because it is cold.

Teen er bitter. Er teen bitter? Ja, den er bitter. The tea is bitter. Is the tea bitter? Yes, it is bitter. 

Er ikke kaken bitter? Jo, kaken er bitter, fordi det er gress i den.The cake is not bitter. Is the cake not bitter? Yes, the cake is bitter, because there is grass in it.

Det. Det er. Det er gress. Det er gress i kaken. Det er gress i kaken min.It. It is / there is. There is grass. There is grass in the cake. There is grass in my cake. 

When the possessives (mine, your, his, her etc.) are put after the noun which is being possessed by them, the noun is forced into it’s definite form. Kaken min = my cake. You could think of it in this way: Kaken min = the cake of mine. But you can also say “min kake”, but it doesn’t always sound as natural as “kaken min” and vice versa. 

Det er gress i kaken. I kaken er det gress. Kaken inneholder gress. Gress er en ingrediens i kaken. There is grass in the cake. In the cake there is grass. The cake contains grass. Grass is an ingredient in the cake. 

Det er en flue på kaken. På kaken er det en flue. Fluen er på toppen av kaken. På toppen av kaken er en flue. Fluen er kakens dekorasjon.There is a fly on the cake. On the cake there is a fly. The fly is on top of the cake. On top of the cake is a fly. The fly is the cake’s decoration. 

Heldigvis. Jeg er heldigvis ferdig. Jeg er heldigvis ferdig med … Jeg er heldigvis ferdig med prøven. Fortunately. I am fortunately done/finished. I am fortunately done/finsihed with … I am fortunately done/finished with the test/exam.

Han. Hun. Han løper. Hun løper. Han og hun løper. De løper sammen. He. She. He runs. She runs. He and she runs. They run together. 

Hun løper raskt. Han løper sakte. Hun løper raskt, mens han løper sakte.She runs quickly. He runs slowly. She runs quickly, while he runs slowly. 

Gutt og jente. Hun løper raskere enn gutten. Han løper saktere enn jenta. Boy and girl. She runs quicker than the boy. He runs slower than the girl.

Gutt eller jente. Jente, kake, te og/eller gutt. Boy or girl. Girl, cake, tea and/or boy. 

I dag løper jeg. I dag spiser jeg. I dag løper du. I dag er vi mennesker.Today I run. Today I eat. Today you run. Today we are humans.

Å snakke. Nå snakker jeg. Nå snakker du. Nå snakker du om kake.To speak. Now I am speaking. Now you are speaking. Now you are speaking about cake. 

Jeg har snakket. Jeg har nå snakket.I have spoken. I have now spoken. 

Nå har du snakket lenge. Nå har du snakket lenge nok.Now you have spoken a long time. Now you have spoken long enough. 

Det er nok. Det er nok kake. Det er nok kake til alle.It/there is enough. There is enough cake. There is enough cake for everyone.

Jeg skal spise. Jeg skal løpe. Du skal drikke. I am going to eat. I am going to run. You are going to drink.

Here, the infinitives of the verbs are used: å spise, å løpe, å drikke. However, remove the “å” which is equivalent to the infinitive marker “to” in English. Jeg skal spise = lit. I am going eat.  

I morgen skal jeg spise. I morgen skal jeg spise kake. Tomorrow I am going to eat. Tomorrow I am going to eat cake. 

Hva er det? Hvem er det?What is it/that? Who is it/that?(with stress on “det” = that)

Hvem er du? Hvem er jeg? Hva spiser du? Hva drikker jeg nå?Who are you? Who am I? What do you eat? What am I drinking now?

Jeg gir deg. Jeg gir deg kake. I give you. I give you cake. 

Gi. Gi meg. Gi meg kake. Kan du gi meg kaken? Kan jeg få kake? Kan jeg få litt kake? Eller kan jeg få mye kake?Give. Give me. Give me cake. Could you give me the cake? Could I have cake? Could I have some cake? Or could I have a lot of cake?

Of course this doesn’t cover everything (I didn’t want to overwhelm you), but it should give you a decent grasp on the basic sentence constructions of Norwegian. Again, if anything is unclear or confuses you, feel free to ask me with a new ask or in chat (this counts for everyone) :)

Both “da” and “når” translates to when in English. In Norwegian they are used differently. 

First take a look at these two sentences:

Når jeg kom hjem, spiste jeg nudler.

Da jeg kom hjem, spiste jeg nudler.

(When I came home, I ate noodles.)

Only one of them is grammatically correct.

Da is used when speaking about something that happened once.

Når is used about something that happens more than once, or about something that will happen. The når-sentence was therefore wrong ^^

This is a common mistake in grammar even for native Norwegians. In speech, we often use the “når jeg kom hjem” sentence, even if it’s grammatically wrong. The teachers will most definitely correct you if you use it wrongly when writing a text, and/or even sometimes when speaking. I have made this mistake way too many times myself. I recommend learning this rule:

Den gang da… = That time when…

Hver gang når… = Every time when…

Because, if you were to use når in that sentence, it must have been something like:

Når jeg kommer hjem, spiser jeg nudler.

(When I come home, I eat noodles.)

Translation of this post by @languageoclock

Nouns 

Et godteri (-et, -, -ene) - Sweets  Et pledd (-et, -, -ene) - Blanket  En feiring (-en, -er, -ene) - Party / Celebration  Et bål (-et, -, -ene) - Fire En grimase (-n, -r, -ne) - Ugly face  Et spøkelse (-t, -r, -ne) - Ghost En hanske (-n, -r, -ne) - Glove En rake/rive (-n, -r, -ne) - Rake Kakao (-en) - Hot chocolate Varm sjokolade - Hot chocolate  En høst (-en, -er, -ene) - Autumn / Fall Et høstløv (-et, -, -ene) - Autumn lead / Fall leaf Ei heks (-a, -er, -ene) - Witch  Skrekk (-en) - Horror En skrekkfilm (-en, -er, -ene) - Horror film  Kulde (-en) - Cold  En peis (-en, -er, -ene) - Fireplace  Et stearinlys (-et, -, -ene) - Candle  Et kostyme (-t, -r, -ne) - Costume Et gresskar (-et, -, -ene) - Pumpkin  En gresskarlykt (-en, -er, -ene) - Jack O’ Lantern  Et monster (-et, -, monstrene) - Monster Et selskap (-et, -, -ene) - Party Et popkorn (-et, -, -ene) - Popcorn  Regn - Rain Et skjerf (-et, -, -ene) - Scarf  En sjokolade (-en, -er, -ene) - Chocolate  Et skjelett - (et, -er, -ene) - Skeleton  Søtsaker (pl) - Sweets  Te (m) (-en) - Tea En vampyr (-en, -er, -ene) - Vampire 

Verbs

Å rake - To rake Å skjære ut - To carve Å skremme - To scare / to frighten Å kle seg ut - To dress up Å spøke - To spook

Adjectives

Mørk - Dark Skummel - Creepy Stygg - Ugly Kald - Cold Søt - Sweet Uhyggelig / Nifs - Eerie Varm - Warm

Hei! I decided to make a post about norwegian irregular verbs. The list below comes from my book for learning norwegian that is said to be on A2/B1 level. 

Infinitiv - Presens - Preteritum - Perfektum partisipp - Translation

be - ber - ba(d) - bedt - ask

binde - binder - bandt - bundet - bind

bite - biter - bet, beit - bitt - bite

bli - blir - ble / blei - blitt - become

brekke - brekker - brakk - brukket - break

brenne - brenner - brant - brent - burn

briste - brister - brast - bristet / brustet - burst

bryte - bryter - brøt / brøyt - brutt - break

bære - bærer - bar - båret - bear

dra- drar - drog / dro - dratt / dradd - go 

drikke - drikker - drakk - drukket - drink

drive - driver - drev / dreiv - drevet - drive

falle - faller - falt - falt - fall

finne - finner - fant - funnet - find

fly - flyr - fløy - fløyet / flydd- fly    

flyte - flyter - fløt / fløyt - flytt - float

fryse - fryser - frøs / frøys - frosset - freeze  

få - får - fikk - fått - få - get

gi - gir - ga / gav - gitt - give

gidde - gidder - gadd - giddet - take the trouble

gjelde - gjelder - gjaldt / galdt - gjeldt - to be worth

gjøre - gjør - gjorde - gjort - do

gripe - griper - grep / greip - grepet - grip

gråte - gråter - gråt - grått - cry

gå - går - gikk - gått - go

ha - har - hadde - hatt - have

hete - heter - het / hette - hett - name

hjelpe - hjelper - hjalp - hjulpet - help

holde - holder - holdt - holdt - hold

hugge - hugger - hugg / hugde - hugd - chop

klinge - klinger - klang - klingt / klinget - sound

komme - kommer - kom - kommet - come

krype - kryper - krøp / krøyp - krøpet - crawl

la - lar - lot - latt - let

le - ler - lo - ledd - laugh

legge - legger - la - lagt - lay

lide - lir / lider - led / lei / lidde - lidd - suffer

ligge - ligger - lå - ligget - lie

lyde - lyder - lød - lydd - sound

lyve - lyver - løy - løyet - lie

løpe - løper - løp - løpt / løpet - run

nyte - nyter -  nøt /  nøyt - nytt - be happy about sth (?)

pipe - piper - pep / peip - pepet - wheeze

rekke - rekker - rakk - rukket - reach

renne - renner - rant - rent - run (e.g. water)

ri - rir - red / rei - ridd- ride

rive - river - rev / reiv - revet - grate se - ser - så - sett - see

si - sier - sa - sagt - say

skjelve - skjelver - skalv - skjelvet - tremble

skjære - skjærer -skar - skåret - cut

skli - sklir -skled / sklei -sklidd - slide

skrike - skriker - skrek / skreik - skreket - scream

skrive - skriver - skrev / skreiv - skrevet - write

skvette - skvetter - skvat - skvettet - sprinke

skyte - skyter -  skjøt / skøyt - skutt - shoot

skyve - skyver - skjøv /  skøyv -  skjøvet - push

slippe / sleppe - slipper / slepper - slapp - sluppet - drop

slite - sliter - slet / sleit - slitt - toil

slå - slår - slo - slått - hit

smelle - smeller - smalt - smelt - bang

snike - sniker - snek / sneik - sneket - sneak

sove - sover - sov - sovet - sleep

spinne - spinner - spant - spunnet - spin

sprekke - sprekker - sprakk - sprukket - burst

springe - springer - sprang - sprunget - spring

spørre- spør - spurte - spurt - ask

stige -stiger - steg / steig - steget - climb

stikke - stikker - stakk - stukket - stick

stjele - stjeler - stjal - stjålet - steal

strekke - strekker - strakk - strukket - stretch

stryke - stryker - strøk / strøyk - strøket - stroke

stå - står - stod / sto - stått - stand

svike - sviker - svek / sveik - sveket - defraud

synge - synger - sang - sunget - sing

synke - synker - sank - sunket - sink

ta - tar - tok - tatt - take

treffe - treffer - traff - truffet - meet

trekke - trekker - trakk - trukket - pull

tvinge - tvinger - tvang - tvunget - force

vike - viker - vek / veik - veket - yield

vinne - vinner - vant - vunnet - win

Hey there!! c: 

I don’t mind sharing some common swears - you’re gonna hear them a lot in Norway, especially if you’re around younger people, so a little list would probably come in handy. I’m gonna steer clear of the more extreme ones, though - ‘cause some of those can be quite offensive and you don’t wanna be throwing those around.

Here are some of the more common swears you’re likely to hear:

MILD ‘NOT-REALLY-SWEARS’- SWEARS (some are “slang”-versions derived from English, while some are just often used by elderly, or in situations where you really shouldn’t be swearing - and some are in the grey zone)

Dritt - Crap (techincally “shit”, but it’s not seen as an actual swear)Drittsekk - Douchebag (literally “shit-bag”)Drittunge - Brat (literally “shit-kid”)Dust - DorkForbanna - Damned (literally “pissed”, but you’d use it as an amplifier)Fy flate - Holy cow (can’t really be translated directly)Føkk - Damn (Derived from the English “fuck”, but it’s not seen as an actual swear (probably for that very reason))Føkkings - Damned Herregud - Oh my god (literally “Lord God”)Idiot - IdiotPikk - Dick (though milder)Pokker - DamnShit/Skitt - Crap (not as severe as the English “shit”)Søren - Darn (actually derived from the word “Satan”)

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COMMON SWEARS YOU’LL PROBABLY HEAR A LOT

Faen - Fuck/shit (derived from “fanden” which means “the devil”)Fy faen - Holy fuckHelvete - Fuck/shit (literally “hell”, though a bit more severe than in English)Jævel - Fucker (literally “devil”)Jævla - Fucking (amplifier)Rasshøl - AssholeSatan - Fuck/Shit (literally means, well….“Satan”. Again. I’m starting to think we’re undercover satanists here)

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I think this is one of the biggest struggles of the langblr community because once you’re done with duolingo it’s kind of like you’ve just been thrown out on your own with no direction. In all honesty it took me a LOOONG time to figure out what to do with myself and how to keep progressing once I finished the tree, but now I’m at a point in my language journey where I speak my L2 every single day with my native friends. I wouldn’t consider myself fluent, but I’m definitely conversational.

Do the reverse tree I seriously cannot stress this enough. Go through and do the reverse tree of your language (if it’s available, of course). What I mean by this is when I finished the Italian tree for English speakers, I went through and did the English tree for Italian speakers. It may seem redundent, but at least for those two trees, the vocabulary the two trees offered was actually quite different and I ended up learning loads of new vocabulary. Not just new vocabulary, but you’ll have access to the duolingo forums in your target language. You can ask questions to an unrestricted amount of natives, and you could possibly offer help to a bunch of natives who have questions. Also for all of the brave ones out there learning more than 1 language at a time, try to see if there’s a duolingo tree for your L2 to your L3 (for a while I was learning French for Italian speakers)

Flashcards & Vocab Remember to be SMART about the vocab you learn. Learn words that you’ll actually use in day-today conversation. IF you never speak in your native language about a topic, don’t waste your time learning the words in your target language. Vocab isn’t just about acquisition of words, it’s about acquisition of words you will actually need and use. Memrise is my go-to for new and GOOD vocabulary. All of the vocab lists are user-submitted, so you’re guaranteed to get good, commonly used, and NATURAL vocab words that have been put into lists created by native speakers! There are so many thousands of lists for hundreds of languages and it’s honestly a gold mine. They have a mobile app for which you can download lessons so that you have access to them when you’re offline (aka perfect when you don’t want to use cell data or you have crappy service) AND THE BEST PART IS THAT WHATEVER YOU DO OFFLINE GETS SAVED AND YOU CAN JUST PICK BACK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF. Not only that, but they have an “ignore” option so that you don’t have to repeat any words that you already know. I love memrise. I’ve even made a few of my own lists just because I’m a hoe for a good deck of flashcards and I love the repetition method of memrise. Also, Memrise is a lot like duo in the aspect that you can add a bunch of friends and it keeps track of your experience points so that you can compete with people if that’s something that helps keep you motivated. They even have different rankings once you accumulate a certain amount of experience (personally, this is a HUGE motivator for me). All in all I love memrise. ALSO it has lots of other things completely unrelated to languages, so even if you dont study languages I would still check it out! ALTERNATIVELY: Anki! Just find somewhere to MAKE FLASHCARDS AND STUDY THE DAMN THINGS. I’ve never used Anki before so I can’t really give a good review on it (however if someone who has used anki wants to shoot me a message, I can add their review to the post or smth). I, personally, used an app called StudyBlue (there’s a desktop version as well) when I was making flashcards because it would let me make decks of like 1,000 words and then I could take quizes (you have the option of doing multiple choice, true/false, and fill in the blanks) and it’ll keep track of your progress and stuff. Also, you have access to other user-submitted flashcard decks so it’s pretty cool in that sense!

LEARN THE DANG GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES (Honestly you’d think this one would go without saying) I think people get too caught up in the accumulation of new words to stop and realize that knowing 8,000 fancy words is completely pointless if you don’t know how to put them in a sentence. To me, this is 900000000% more important than vocabulary, because if you don’t know a word you can quick do a simple search for a single word and slap it into a sentence, but if you don’t know an entire sentence structure you’re dead meat, kid. Please make notes and try to form simple sentences for all of the grammatical conventions, different verb tenses, etc. Also, don’t just learn HOW to use them, but WHEN to use them. — A really good website for explaining grammatical conventions in super simple terms is about.com. They have AMAZING resources! Lots of vocab lists, information on grammatical structures, verb conjugations, verb charts, etc. Plus, you can even sign up for newsletters, “word of the day” emails, and things of that nature. Here are the language subsections of the website that I’m aware of: Italian About, Spanish About, French About, German About. There might be more, but I’ve never checked. It should be easy to find out if they have a subsection for the website that you’re looking for, just type in “LANGUAGEHERE.about.com” into the browser and try your luck! — If there isn’t an about page for your language, google is your BEST FRIEND I PROMISE.

Switch to your target language This one is pretty simple: change your phone and all of your social media over to your target language. If you’re feeling really brave; change your entire computer over to your target language. This one didn’t particularly do a whole lot for me as far as learning new vocabulary and sentence structure, but I’ve always been really bad at trying to remember days of the week, names of the month, telling time, etc. and changing my phone over to my target language helped solidify that information in my brain and now I can throw out dates and times like I was born to do it. – ALSO: Since I know you’re on tumblr if you’re reading this post, FOLLOW BLOGS THAT POST CRAP IN YOUR TARGET LANGUAGE. I follow so many Italian blogs, and honestly it’s just super great exposure for my dash to be half Italian, half English.

YOUTUBE God I frickin love youtube. There are LOTS of super great language-learning youtubes out there, and lots of channels that have subtitles. BASICALLY YOUTUBE IS AN UNLIMITED BOX OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LISTENING SKILLS. You like watching monthly favorites videos? Plug the line “my monthly favorites” (in your target language ofc) into the search bar and BOOM. You like watching pokemon letsplays? FIND U A DAMN POKEMON LETSPLAY SERIES IN YOUR TARGET LANGUAGE. You wont understand everything at first, but trust me just hearing the language makes life easier. One thing I like to do is listen to asmr videos in my target language because people tend to speak more slowly in ASMR vidoes and it’s far easier for me to understand them.

NETFLIX On the note of listening skills, WATCH NETFLIX IN YOUR TARGET LANGUAGE. There’s this really great google chrome extension called “Hola!” (the picture is a little flame with a face on it) that is basically a proxy extension so you can change what country you’re browsing the internet from, and–in turn–access netflix in different countries. This lets you have access to web-series’ and movies that might not be on the netflix in your country (fun fact, the first two Kung Fu Panda movies aren’t on America’s netflix list, but they’re on Italy’s netflix list in case you want to watch), and also access to films and series that were CREATED IN YOUR TARGET LANGUAGE!!! Not to mention access to subtitles, which is always a wonderful thing. (p.s. you can use Hola! for any website you want to, and it doesn’t slow your internet down ;) )

MUSIC PLEASE LISTEN TO MUSIC IN YOUR TARGET LANGUAGE. Not only will you feel super cool and empowered once you can start singing along to songs in a foreign language, but you’ll feel even MORE super cool and empowered when you start understanding the lyrics of the songs you’ve learned. Also: please, please, please look up the lyrics to the songs you’re listening to. It’ll prevent you from singing along and mis-singing (is that a word lmao) lyrics and making silly errors, you feel me. A big bonus of listening to music is that you inadvertently pick up pronunciation skills! It’s great fun, I love music. – One way you can find foreign music is through spotify. You can go to the top 50 charts of different countries, and that’s a great way to get exposure to boppin’ tunes in your target language. Just go to the main menu then to charts, and then click “top 50 by country” and find the country you’re looking for and TADA. // CONVERSELY: If you don’t like spotify, use pandora, or find some songs you like in your target language and plug them into the youtube search bar and then weed through the recommended videos on the sidebar and find new music that way!

Children’s books This might not be for everyone, but sincerely googling and reading children’s books in your target language is a great way to get used to sentence structure. You might not know all the words, but sometimes it’s just such a wonderful thing to read such simple sentences and to just practice that sort of stuff. – If reading children’s books isn’t your style, then read books that you ARE interested in. Read translations of your favorite books, read books that were written originally in your target language, just read books man.

ASK QUESTIONS PLS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD This one can get to be a little tricky because it might be hard to find someone to ask questions to, but please keep in mind that there are lots of different native languages in the langblr community and we’re all here for the sole purpose of helping each other out so please don’t be afraid of asking a native (or even someone who’s fluent) to explain something or to correct your sentences, etc.

Find speaking partners Personally, I think this should be the LAST thing on your list of priorities. I KNOW LOTS OF PEOPLE WILL DISAGREE WITH ME BUT HEAR ME OUT: I think it’s rather discouraging to try and pressure yourself to speak your target language and realize “wow I’m not as good as I thought I was”, or to feel like you’re bad because you know so many words and you study your verb tenses but you still can’t make good conversation, etc. I THINK YOU SHOULD WAIT A WHILE BEFORE FINDING A SPEAKING PARTNER, but you definitely need to do it. I would wait until you’re comfortable reading and understanding your target language as well as forming basic sentences and stuff like that. JUST A WARNING, FINDING A LANGUAGE PARTNER IS HARD AS HELL. IT’S LITERALLY A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK ORDEAL. I used Hellotalk to find all of my language partners, however you could probably just as easily find language partners on other social media outlets like tumblr, facebook, twitter, etc. (Actually, using those types of social medias might be more comfortable for most people). A good way to find people on facebook is to join a bunch of language groups on facebook, and even if you don’t find language partners you can still see posts in your target language. REMEMBER IT’S ALL ABOUT EXPOSURE FOLKS. The more exposure the better. Like I mentioned: I do think you need to hold off a bit on finding a speaking partner, but I will say that for absolute certain speaking partners are astronomically more helpful than anything I’ve mentioned on this list. You can listen and read and make flashcards and write sentences to yourself, but at the end of the day is netflix REALLY going to fix that grammatical error you made?

which I learned while reading my first norwegian book (and haven’t yet come across on Duolingo)

fortiden - the past

en forskjell - a difference

å nøle - to hesitate

gradvis - gradually

våte - wet

uunngåelig - unavoidable

mistenksom - suspicious

en skuffelse - a disappointment

å ydmyke - to humiliate

nådeløs - ruthless

i det minste - at least

bortsett fra - apart from

engang - once

ivrig - eager

fortrolig - confidential

forhåpentligvis - hopefully

neppe - hardly

uheldig - unfortunate

å vende - to turn

å tiltre - to join

varsom - cautious

å forstyrre - to disturb

å nevne - to mention

en forventning - an expectation

å plage - to bother

å hviske - to whisper

forbauselse - astonishment

stødig - steady

Based on @svensklangblr ’s post here and requested in tags by @fremmedsprak

• unnskyld? - excuse me? • hva? - what? • hva sa du? - what did you say? • jeg gikk glipp av det - i missed that • jeg hørte ikke det siste - i didn’t hear that last part • kan du ta det igjen? / kan du gjenta det? - could you repeat that • kan du snakke litt langsommere? - could you speak a bit more slowly? • kan vi snakke engelsk isteden? - could we speak english instead? • hæ - huh • hva er det? - what’s that? • hva betyr det? - what does that mean? • jeg forsto ikke det ordet - i didn’t understand that word • jeg forstår ikke hva du sier - I don’t understand what you’re saying • jeg vet ikke hva det betyr - I don’t know what that means • hva mener du? - what do you mean? • hvordan sier man…på norsk? - how do you say…in Norwegian? • hvordan uttaler man dette? - how do you pronounce this? • kan du forklare dette? - can you explain this? • skulle du kunne forklare dette? - can you explain this? (more polite) • takk! - thank you • vær så snill/vennligst - please *You can also use kunne instead of kan, it’s just like saying could instead of can

A while ago I shared my full vocabulary and translation to one of these, the post was kjempestor and I vowed never to post one again. I still practiced by translating these as they are fairly simple but had enough new vocabulary and expressions for me to learn. The English version always helped me in the end, to check everything and learn by seeing the correct translation, or I opened it if I was absolutely stuck during translating. The last few I did, I translated from English to Norwegian, which is something you can try if you are a little more confident (and then you can check and compare with the official Norwegian translation).

Here are some links to children’s books, some have the English version as well: Tyrannus den Grusomme — Tyrone the Gruesome Ikke gi opp, Josefine! — Don’t give up, Josephine! Fortell meg om Gud, Waldo — Tell me about God, Waldo

Å holde tett - to keep it (mouth) silent. To keep a secret. To keep (your/the) mouth shut.

Lov meg at du ikke sier det videre - promise me that you won’t tell anyone. Det er en hemmlighet. - It’s a secret.

Æresord - literal translation is word of honor. But it’s used more as pinky promise. Like old people doesn’t say this only young people.

Det er vår hemmlighet. - it’s our secret.

La det/dette være vår hemmlighet. - Let it this be our secret.

Jeg lover - I promise.

Jeg gjorde et løfte og jeg har tenkt å holde det. - I made a promise and I will keep it.

Alle har hemmligheter, men ikke alle vil innrømme det. - Everybody has secrets, but not everyone wants to admit it.

Jeg lover å være din og ingen andres. - I promise to be yours and no one elses. Det er ikke nødvendig å si alt til alle. - it isnt necessary to tell everyone everything.

Jeg stoler på deg - I trust you.

Jeg stoler på deg med mine hemmligheter. - Jeg stoler på deg med mine hemmligheter.

Mitt liv er i dine hender. - My life is in your hands.

Jeg kan ikke si det. - I can’t say it.

Jeg lovte å holde det hemmelig. I promised to keep it secret.

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.

WordBrewery is great for improving your vocabulary.  It gives you a random sentence at either beginner, intermediate, advanced or master level, and you can make lists of words or sentences that you’d like to learn.   It includes the following languages:

Spanish

English

Chinese

Arabic

Portuguese

Russian

Japanese

German

French

Italian

Polish

Ukrainian

Korean

Serbian (Latin)

Serbian (Cryillic)

Hungarian

Greek

Swedish

Gå på kino - go to the movies

Male - paint

Tegne - draw

Surfe på Internett - surf the internet

Spille spill - play games

Lage mat - cook

Gå på teater - go to the theater

Gå på konsert - go to a concert

Gå på restaurant - go to a restaurant

Snekre - do carpentry work

Stelle i hagen - work in the yard

Spille kort - play cards

Spille TV-spill - play video games

Spille korps - play in a band

Se på TV - watch tv

Gå på bibliotek - go to a library

Høre på radio - listen to the radio

Lese ei bok - read a book

Mekke på biler - work on cars

Gå på kunstutstilling - go to an art exhibit Spille piano/gitar - play piano/guitar

Heiii!! <3

“Skal” is usually translated as “will” (as in “I will do something”) – while “kommer til å” is more like saying “going to”, but I think it’s easier to break it down like this:

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Sometimes they can be interchangeable, but usually you’d use “skal+infinitive” when you (or the subject in question) have an intention/plan, or can somehow control the results of the thing you’re talking about, like so:

“Jeg skal lage middag idag.” - “I will make dinner today.” 

“Moren min skal til Spania imorgen.” - “My mom will go to Spain tomorrow.”

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And usually you’d use “kommer til å+infinitive” when you don’t have an intention/plan, or can’t control the results, like so:

“Jeg kommer til å stryke på denne prøven!” - “I’m going to fail this test!”

“Jeg tror det kommer til å regne imorgen.” - “I think it’s going to rain tomorrow.” 

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