8 Grammar

8 Grammar

PRONOUNS

Possessive pronouns

sin - si - sitt - sine

In Chapter 7 you were introduced to the possessive pronouns - the different forms of min (my/mine), din (your/yours singular) and vår (our/ours) and hans (his), hennes (her/hers) and deres (your/yours plural + their/theirs).

There is, however, a reflexive form of hans/hennes (3. person singular) and deres (3. person plural: their/theirs). The reflexive form is used when the subject of the sentence owns the object, and the other form is used when the subject does not own the object:

Læreren tok bilen sin.
The teacher took his car.		 → Lærerens bil
Dai Wu tok bilen hans.
Dai Wu took his car.		 → Anbos bil

The form, sin, agrees in gender and number with the owned noun, where sin is the masculine singular form, si the feminine singular, sitt the neuter singular form and sine the plural form (see table).

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
faren sin
his (own) father

mora hans
his mother
mora si
his (own) mother

huset hans
his house
huset sitt
his (own) house

bøkene hans
his books
bøkene sine
his (own) books

she

 

faren hennes
her father
faren sin
her (own) father

mora hennes
her mother
mora si
her (own) mother

huset hennes
her house
huset sitt
her (own) house

bøkene hennes
her books
bøkene sine
her (own) 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
faren sin
their (own) father

mora deres
their mother
mora si
their (own) mother

huset deres
their house
huset sitt
their (own) house

bøkene deres
their books
bøkene sine
their (own) books

Other examples:

Dai Wu finner ikke mobiltelefonen sin.
Dai Wu can not find his cell phone.		 → Dai Wus mobiltelefon
Dai Wu finner ikke mobiltelefonen hans.
Dai Wu can not find his cell phone.		 → Antons mobiltelefon
Etterpå går Dai Wu til rommet sitt.
Afterwards, Dai Wu goes to his room.		 → Dai Wus rom
Han (Dai Wu) skriver en tekstmelding til mora si.
He writes a text message to his mother.		 → Dai Wus mor
Han (Dai Wu) har gledet seg til turen sammen med
de nye vennene sine på norskkurset.
He has been looking forward to the trip with
his new friends from the Norwegian course.		 → Dai Wus venner

Note that sin - si - sitt - sine can not be used in the subject:

Subject
Mobiltelefonen hans er ny.
His cell phone is new.
but:
Subject Object
Han finner ikke mobiltelefonen sin .
He can not find his cell phone.

ADJECTIVES

Comparison

a) Normally the adjectives are compared in the following way:

Positive Comparative (+ «enn» = than) Superlative  
fin finere finest fine - finer - finest
kald kaldere kaldest cold - colder - coldest
varm varmere varmest warm - warmer - warmest

Example:

Vinteren er kald i Narvik.
The winter is cold in Narivk.
Vinteren er kaldere på Bjørnfjell enn i Narvik.
The winter is colder in Bjørnfjell than in Narivk.
Vinteren er kaldest på vidda.
The winter is coldest on the mountain plateau.

b) Exceptions:

1) Adjectives ending in -(l)ig and -som take only -st in the superlative form:
Positive Comparative (+ «enn» = than) Superlative
billig billigere  billigst cheap
hyggelig  hyggeligere hyggeligst nice
morsom  morsommere  morsomst amusing/funny
2) An -e disappears in the comparative and superlative form when the adjectives end
in -el, -en and -er:
Positive Comparative (+ «enn» = than) Superlative
enkel enklere enklest simple
moden modnere modnest ripe, mature
vakker vakrere vakrest beautiful
3) Many adjectives ending in -sk and adjectives ending in -e are compared with mer (more) and mest (most).
Adjectives from the present perfect (example: berømt) and several long words and some foreign words are also compared in the same way:
Positive Comparative (+ «enn» = than) Superlative
praktisk mer praktisk mest praktisk  practical
moderne mer moderne mest moderne modern
berømt mer berømt  mest berømt famous
interessant mer interessant mest interessant interesting
absurd mer absurd mest absurd absurd

c) Some adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms:

Positive Comparative (+«enn» = than) Superlative
dårlig  verre verst bad
god/bra bedre best good
gammel eldre eldst old
ung yngre yngst young
stor større størst big
liten mindre minst small
lang lengre lengst long
tung tyngre tyngst heavy
Example:
Dai Wu er ung.
Dai Wu is young.		 Dai Wu er yngre enn Anton.
Dai Wu is younger than Anton.		 Boyana er yngst.
Boyana is (the) youngest.

Note the following:

1) The comparative form is invariable. The gender of the noun and the number (singular or plural) does not matter:

Dai Wu er yngre enn Anton.
Catalina er yngre enn Anton.
Catalina og Dai Wu er yngre enn Anton.

2) When the superlative form is placed in front of a definite noun the adjectives end in -e. In addition, the definite articles den, det and de, which agree in gender and number with the noun, are required (see also Adjectives, the double definite construction, chapter 6):

den yngste jenta
the youngest girl 		det fineste huset
the nicest house		 de beste bøkene
the best books

3) When the superlative form appears as predicate after verbs like å være (to be) we can use the indefinite or the definite form of the superlative:

Boyana er yngst i klassen. Boyana er den yngste i klassen.
Boyana is (the) youngest in her class.

4) We use the superlative form when we compare two items:

Hvem er eldst/den eldste, Dai Wu eller Anton?
Who is older/the older, Dai Wu or Anton?
Hvilken jakke er billigst/den billigste, den røde eller den svarte?
Which jacket is cheaper/the cheaper, the red or the black one?
Hvilken by er størst/den største, Narvik eller Oslo?
Which city is bigger/the bigger, Naror Oslo?

PREPOSITIONS

Time expressions

A lot of time expressions are formed together with prepositions. Below you are presented with some of these expressions:

The preposition I is used

a) in front of years, months, holidays and other expressions regarding time:

i 2009, i oktober, i jula (for/during Christmas),
(i) neste uke (next week), i kveld (tonight), i morgen (tomorrow).

b) in front of seasons. The season you refer to is a specific one, and the tense of the verb will indicate whether you refer to the present season, to the coming season or to the last season. Note that we use the indefinite form of the noun (the season):

Dai Wu går på norskkurs i høst.
Dai Wu takes a Norwegian course this autumn.
Anton skal studere prosessteknologi i høst.
Anton is going to study process technology this autumn.
I høst dro studentene på hyttetur.
This autumn the students went on a cabin trip.

c) in front of periods of time:

Boyana har bodd i Narvik i tre måneder.
Boyana has lived in Narvik for three months.
Hun skal være her i to år.
She is going to stay here for two years.

The preposition OM is used

a) in front of seasons and other periods of time when the periods are repeated.

Note the definite form of the noun:

Marinela liker å bade om sommeren.
Marinela likes to go for a swim in the summer.
Om kvelden ser Anton på TV.
In the evening, Anton watches TV.

b) to express future:

Studentene skal reise på tur om to dager.
The students are going for a trip in two days.
Kurset begynner om 15 minutter.
The course starts in 15 minutes.

The discontinuous preposition FOR – SIDEN

We use the discontinuous preposition for - siden to express ago:

Boyana kom til Narvik for tre måneder siden.
Boyana came to Narvik three months ago.

The preposition PÅ

Together with weekdays we use på:

Bussen drar klokka 16.00 på søndag.
The bus leaves at 4 pm on Sunday.
Catalina er på HiN på fredager.
Catalina is at HiN on Fridays.