Beginner's Guide To Norweigan (Bokmal)

[omar_2133]

Assalmu-Alaikum,

I'm not a Norweigan speaker myself, and I'm still learning the language, but I just thought it would be of benefit both to me and everyone else if I shared some of what I've learnt so far. I'll be splitting the lessons into weeks so it will take a week to learn what's listed, and I hope to update the forum with different lessons once per week.


Introduction

There are two types of languages spoken in Norway; Bokmal and Nyorsk. In this brief course, we'll go through the former, Bokmal which is the older, but more widely spoken language (spoken by 85% of Norweigans).

If you're familiar with English, then Norweigan shouldn't be too hard to grasp:), as surprise surprise, it is part of the same family of northern European Germanic languages.


Links

Lesson 1 will start as of next week. In the meanwhile, you can get yourself immersed in the style of the language, and get used to the sight of Norweigan words and sentences, by going on this Norweigan website of a national newspaper in Norway, which also provides an English version of it's site:

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/ (Click on "Norweigan Frontpage")

Or browse the Norweigan Wikipedia:

Norweigan (Bokmal) Wikipedia


Final Notes

Please, don't be put off by the little signs on top of the letter, or between it, such as : ø or å.

They are just simple accents, and once you actually begin to learn the language, you'll forget about any discomfort you had, just looking at Norweigan text.

[wafa islam]

Salamu alaykum brother!

Så fint at du lærer norsk.

Means so nice that you are learning norwegian!

Wa alaykum salam

[omar_2133]

Before I begin the lessons, just to inform you that the basic format for the majority of the lessons will be of a pragmatic approach and will contain the following:

• Word & Vocabulary bank; this will contain basic words which are relevant to the lesson
  
• Verb bank; again which is relevant to the words and the lesson
  
• Model sentences
  
• Occasional questions

Emphasis will be placed on learning how to read and write Norwegian Bokmal, but if you also want to learn speaking, then you can practise and repeat sentences to yourself whether mentally or actually verbally, as you go about your daily routine.

Okay, so let's begin...

[omar_2133]

LESSON 1

Read and consider the following dialogue:


Marc:

Hei! Jeg heter Marc! Hva heter du?

Jill:

Hei! Jeg heter Jill!

Marc:

Hvordan gar det, Jill!

Jill:

Takk, jeg har det bra!

Marc:

Hvor bor du?

Jill:

Jeg bor I [Country]

Marc:

Jeg trenger ga. Ha det bra!

Jill:

OK, ha det!

--------------------------------
You might not have understood the above, but I'm sure you would have got a very rough idea on what was being spoken - but let's just go through it.


Hei! Jeg heter Marc! Hva heter du?

Hi, I am called Marc! What are you called?


Hei! Jeg heter Jill!

Hi! I am called Jill


Hvordan gar det, Jill!

How is it going, Jill? (Norweigan for "How are you?")


Takk, jeg har det bra!

I have it well, thank you (Norwegian for "I'm fine thank you"


Hvor bor du?

Where do you live?


Jeg bor I [Country]

I live in [Name of Country]


Jeg trenger ga. Ha det bra!

I need to go. Bye!


OK, ha det!

Okay, bye!

------------------------------
Carefully study the setences, and the reply. As you might have guessed, we can effectively tell the English equivalent for each of the words. For example, look at the words "Jeg" and "Du". If you looked at the preceeding translations, then you would have worked out that "Jeg" means "I" and "Du means "You"and that they are both pronouns. Below is a list of all the pronouns in Norwegian.

Jeg

I

Du

You

Han

He

Hun

She

Den/Det

It

Dere

You (plural)

Vi

We

De

They

Write the above on a piece of paper, including the English translations. Then repeat and practise until you know what is what, and when you feel you're ready give yourself a mini-test, on a new piece of paper, covering the other piece of paper as to avoid cheating, amd write a list of English pronouns next to them.

------------------------------

Present Tense Norwegian Verbs

Before you lament that we're already moving on to complicated stuff, let me just inform you that this very topic is probably the easiest and most useful part of learning Norwegian for most people.

Unlike English, French, German, Spanish and the overwhelming majority of other European languages, the verb doesn't change according to the pronoun that it is coming after, and there is no need to conjugate verbs.

Take for example, the Norwegian verb: heter in the present tense, which means "to be called" or "to be named" and look below.


Jeg

heter

I am called

Du

heter

You are called

Han

heter

He is called

Hun

heter

She is called

Den/Det

heter

It is called

Vi

heter

We are called

De

heter

They are called

As you can see, there is no difference between the verbs, regardless of the pronoun they come after, and they are all uniform and are the same. By this logic, you only need to learn one verb form per tense to use it fully, and this makes the whole process a lot more faster and hassle-free.

-------------------------------

Modal Sentences

Okay, so now you know the pronouns and one verb, write this sentence in English.

Jeg heter Sam

Yes, if you've done what I asked you, then your answer should be: "I am called Sam".


So, then you should be able to translate the following sentences into Norwegian:


I am called Jonathan; she is called Elizabeth _____________________________________


You are called Nathan ________________________________


They are called Andrew and Simon; He is called Edward __________________________


(The answer's will be mentioned in the preceeding post)

----------------------------------

Forming sentences - Word Bank

If you look at the above sentences, ou will see that we are lacking words like "and" and "but" and other tiny, but important words. These are called connectives, and connect a sentence or clause to each other, which is one of the pillars of a language. Here are some important Norwegian words, for you to take away this week:


and

og

or

eller

but

men

while

imen

Revise the above on a piece of paper

Then write the Norwegian translations for the following:


I am called Mark, but he is called Sam and she is called Jill


Although he is called Matt, she is called Grace


He is called Matt, but I am called Matthew.

------------------------

Verb bank

You might have realized that by only using the verb "heter", we are very restricted. Well here are the obvious and most important verbs in Norwegian, in the present tense


Learn the following, verbs and words


er

to be

(e.g. I am, You are, She is, We are, They are e.t.c)

har

to have

(e.g. I have, He has, We have, They have e.t.c)

gar

to go

(e.g. I am going, He is going, We are going, They are going e.t.c.)

snakker

to speak

(e.g. I speak, He speaks, We speak, They speak e.t.c.)

forstår

to understand

(e.g. I understand, He understands, We understand, They understand)


ikke

Add this at the end of a verb to make it negative (e.g. I have - Jeg har, I don't have - Jeg har ikke)

.

Norge

Norway

nyorsk

Norwegian in general

engelsk

English

----------------------
Then translate the following sentences into Norwegian:


1) She is called Samantha, but I am Sam.


2) I am going, do you understand? (Questions are formed by putting the verb before the pronoun, for example, "Heter du Sam?")


3) I speak English, but I don't speak or understand Norwegian


4) You (pl) have Matt, but we have Jonathan and he understands Norwegian


5)I am going to Norway, but I don't understand Norwegian


6) I speak English and I don't understand Norwegian


7) I have it well


8) Do you speak or understand English?


9) Where are you going? (Hvor = where)

LESSON 1 COMPLETED

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[omar_2133]

(Do not cheat, and remember, Allah is watching you)

Answers to LESSON 1

-------

Jeg heter Jonathan; Hun heter Elizabeth


Du heter Nathan


De heter Andrew og Simon, han heter Edward


---------


Jeg heter Sam, men han heter Sam og hun heter Jill


Imen han heter Matt, hun heter Grace


Hun heter Matt men jeg heter Matthew


-----------

1. Hun heter Samantha, men jeg er Sam
   
   
2. Jeg gar, forstår du?
   
   
3. Jeg snakker engelsk, men jeg snakker ikke eller forstår norsk
   
   
4. Dere har Matt, men vi har Jonathan og han forstår norsk
   
   
5. Jeg gar Norge, men jeg forstår ikke norsk (Forget about, "to" for now)
   
   
6. Jeg snakker engelsk og jeg forstår ikke norsk
   
   
7. Jeg har det bra
   
   
8. Snakker ellen forstår du engesk?
   
   
9. Hvor gar du?

[omar_2133]

LESSON 2

Introduction

Consider what would be the difference between these two:


a book over there

the book over there


Yes, the first one refers to something vague, and unspecific, or you could say "indefinite", while the second one refers to a specific book in mind, or a definite one.

Both are denoted by the words, "a" (changing to "an" before a vowel) and "the".

Now let's look at the difference between the following:


The people were evacuated from the area

People were evacuated from the area


In the first one, it is referring to specific people being evacuated and we call this the plural definite form, while in the second one, it refers to generally, people being evacuated and we call this the plural indefinite form.


The same occurs in Norwegian, with a few differences:

• In Norwegian Bokmal, there are three genders (like German)
  
• There is a different plural definite and indefinite form also, which is determined by the gender, or singularity/plurality of the nouns
  
• The definite form is a suffix at the end of a noun

So let's look at the Norwegian equivalents.

--------------------------
SINGULAR
--------------------------
Indefinite Article


en - masculine

ei/en - feminine

et - neuter

As you can see, the indefinite article changed depending on the gender of the noun.

However, one important note, the use of the feminine "ei" is fast declining, and it is both acceptable and common to just change it to a masculine one.

The only noun gender you should be consciously learning is the neutral nouns, which has an independent gender.

Drill this firmly into your head, by practising it, and then answer the following questions:


Questions

The following are some Norwegian nouns in the indefinite article. Write down "M" if they are masculine, "F" if they are feminine and "N" if they are neutral.

Et tre ___________

En økonomie __________

Ei/En jente __________

Et løp _______________

Ei/En søster _________________

Et skilt ________________

En jord ________________


Definite Article

In Norwegian, the definite article works slightly differently to English. The Norwegian word for "the" (depending on the gender) is attached to the end of the noun, or i.e. is a suffix.

For example, look at the following:

et papir

= A paper.

To make it definite, we would have to add -"et" at the end of the noun as a suffix:

Papiret

= The paper.

Here are both possible definite articles:

- en

Masculine / Feminine

- et

Neuter

Of course, if the word ends in the vowel "e", then you just need to include a "n" or "t", depending of course if the noun is masc./fem. or neuter.

Write the definite article for the following words.

Et tre ___________

En økonomi __________

Ei/En jente __________

Et løp _______________

Ei/En søster _________________

Et skilt ________________

En jord ________________


Plural Indefinite

If you want to say something in general, then the plural indefinite article is used. For example:


I like cats


Dogs are a man's best friend


Various studies have revealed...


You wouldn't say the following: "I like the cats", "The dogs are the man's best friend" or "Various the studies have revealed". Those are all examples of the plural definite article, i.e. something which is referred to specifically in a plural form. Here are all the possible versions:


- er

Masculine / Feminine

- add nothing

Neuter

For example:

okonomi-er

soster-er

et brav -----> brav Add nothingl; leave it as it is


Here are a few examples of this in action:


en gjest

guest

gjester

guests

en koffert

suitcase

kofferter

suitcases

Take some time studying that before answering the following questions, changing the singular indefinite form into the plural indefinite form



Et tre ___________

En økonomi __________

Ei/En jente __________

Et løp _______________

Ei/En søster _________________

Et skilt ________________

En jord ________________


Plural Definite Article

If we want to refer to more than one thing which is "definite" and "known", then we use the plural indefinite article. For example:

book

the books

e.g. "Where did you keep the books

pencil

the pencils

e.g. "Where did you keep [B]the pencils[/B]

calculator

the caculators

e.g. "The calculators and the pencils are there!

In Norwegian, this is simply done by adding the suffix "-ene" to the end of the noun. Now the good thing about this is that it doesn't change no matter what gender you use.

For example:

en gård

garden

gårdene

the gardens

.


Now you should be able to answer the following questions, writing down the plural definite form of these nouns.


Et tre ___________

En økonomi __________

Ei/En jente __________

Et løp _______________

Ei/En søster _________________

Et skilt ________________

En jord ________________


Well done! You have reached the end of the lesson, and it is time for the end of lesson review. If you managed to answer all those questions, and without referring back (which you shouldn't have done if you had revised it), then the following questions wil be a piece of cake! Okay, so here they are:

Write down the appropiate articles for the following nouns:

1)Write down the indefinite singular article for the word, "hunden" _________________________

2) Write down the indefinite plural article for the word, "en kunst" _______________________

3) Write down the definite singular article for the word, "et vell" _______________________

4) Write down the definite plural article for the word, "en amatør" ________________________

5) Write down the indefinite singular article for the word, "ambisjoner"________________________ (proper noun: ambisjon)


The answers will be provided in a few days time. Now that you fully know the noun articles, genders and the basic structure of the grammar, we can begin properly learning Norwegian from the next lesson onwards.

LESSON 2 COMPLETED

[omar_2133]

ANSWERS

These are the answers to the end of review questions. DO NOT LOOK, otherwise that's cheating and it is a sin.


1) en hund

2) kunster

3) vellet

4) amatørene

5) en ambsijon