9 Grammar

9 Grammar

POSSESSIVES

The possessives give information about ownership. If the owner is jeg (I), you indicate possession by using either min, mi or mitt depending on the gender of the «owned» noun. If the «owned» noun is in plural, you choose mine:

Faren min er lærer. My father is a teacher.
Mora mi er også lærer. My mother is also a teacher.
Huset mitt er gammelt. My house is old.
Bøkene mine ligger i sekken. My books are in the bag.


The possessives din (your/yours) and vår (our/ours) also agree in number and gender with the noun while hans (his), hennes (her/hers) and deres (their/theirs) are invariable.

Owner Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
I faren min
my father		 mora mi
my mother		 huset mitt
my house		 bøkene mine
my books
you faren din
your father		 mora di
your mother		 huset ditt
your house		 bøkene dine
your books
he faren hans
his father		 mora hans
his mother		 huset hans
his house		 bøkene hans
his books
she faren hennes
her father		 mora hennes
her mother		 huset hennes
her house		 bøkene hennes
her books
we faren vår
our father		 mora vår
our mother		 huset vårt
our house		 bøkene våre
our books
you faren deres
your father		 mora deres
your mother		 huset deres
your house		 bøkene deres
your books
they faren deres
their father		 mora deres
their mother		 huset deres
their house		 bøkene deres
their books


In Norwegian, the possessives can be placed either after the «owned object», like in the table above, or in front of the «owned object»: faren min or min far.

Note that the noun takes the definite form in the first case while it takes the indefinite form in the latter:

faren min but min far
mora di di mor
huset hennes hennes hus
bøkene våre våre bøker
faren deres deres far

NOUNS

Compound nouns

Sometimes, two or more nouns are needed to give a precise description of an object. In such cases, the nouns are written as one word in Norwegian. The last part of the compound noun tells you what kind of thing it is, while the first part gives more precise information:

et møte + et rom = et møterom (a meeting room, a room for meetings)
et prosjekt + en leder = en prosjektleder (a project leader, a leader of a project)


The last part of the compound noun defines its gender and inflection:

ei stue + et bord = et stuebord – mange stuebord (bord is a short neuter)
(a living room table – many living room tables)


In some compound nouns an -s- or an -e- is used to combine the words:

en tid + en frist = en tidsfrist (a deadline)
et barn + en hage = en barnehage (a kindergarten)

WORD ORDER

Relative clauses

The English relative pronouns who, which and that are all translated with som in Norwegian, regardless of whether it is referring to people, animals or objects:

Jeg har en bror. Han er 30 år gammel.
I have a brother. He is 30 years old.		 Jeg har en bror som er 30 år gammel.
I have a brother who is 30 years old.
Jeg har en katt. Den er søt.
I have a cat. It is cute.		 Jeg har en katt som er søt.
I have a cat which is cute.
Jeg har en bil. Den er ny.
I have a car. It is new.		 Jeg har en bil som er ny.
I have a car which is new.


A relative clause is a subordinate clause, and therefore adverbs like ikke are placed in front of the verb:

Jeg har en bil som ikke er ny. I have a car which is not new.


In the examples above, som is also the subject of the relative clause. If som is not the subject of the relative clause, the subject will come directly after som, as for any subordinating conjunction:

Jeg har en bil som jeg kjøpte i juni. I have a car which I bought in June.


Da - når

Both da and når mean when.

We use da about a single occurrence or a continuous period of time in the past:

Alex traff Jens da han begynte i barnehagen.
Alex met Jens when he started in kindergarten.


We use når for customary or repeated actions, even for repeated actions in the past:

Jeg liker å slappe av når jeg kommer hjem fra jobben.
I like to relax when I come home from work.
Jeg likte alltid å slappe av når jeg kom hjem fra jobben.
I always liked to relax when I came home from work.


We also use når for actions in the future:

Jeg skal ta eksamen når kurset er ferdig.
I will take the exam when the course is finished.