Originally posted by: Iorua https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/8777724
(work in progress)
Ham/Han
Ham is used
- after a preposition (*Jeg ga den *til ham – I gave it to him)
- as direct object (Jeg så ham – I saw him)
- as indirect object (Jeg ga ham sjokoladen– I gave him the chocolate)
Ham and han are fully interchangeable in the contexts listed above. This has been the case for nearly eighty years. Distinguishing the two in speech is difficult.
In the course you will often see that only ham is in the best translation. This does not mean that they are not equal. Since we have to limit the number of best translations, we often only include ham. However, if you ever get a typo warning for han in a context listed above, send us a report.
The missing indefinite article
In English you always include the indefinite article (except in rare cases and in certain expressions). In Norwegian you can often omit the article for countable nouns. When you should and when you cannot omit the indefinite article is something that is natural for a native speaker, and it can be very tricky for a beginner. The following is a set of rules and guidelines that should help:
- The indefinite article is omitted when the noun characterises rank, occupation, (social) class, position/job, nationality, religion etc.:
- Hun er lege
- Abel ble sauegjeter
- Han er sosialdemokrat og katolikk
- De valgte ham til konge
- However, when the predicate noun characterises a person, attributing him/her, the article is used:
- Han er en tyv
- […] en lögner
- [...] et fjols
- [...] et svin
- Also when you add an adjective, you need to use the article:
- Han er offiser
- Han er en tapper offiser - You cannot say "Han er tapper offiser"
- When the subject is det you need the article:
- Det var en lege
- Det var en bedrager
The following pairs should hopefully demonstrate important differences between including and omitting the article:
Han er klovn: He is a clown by profession
Han er en klovn: He is a clown/oaf
Han var lærer for meg: He was my teacher (teacher by profession)
Han var en lærer for meg: He was teaching/tutoring me, but he was not necessarily a teacher (by profession)
Harald er konge: Harald is a king (a monarch)
Bach er en konge i musikken
- Hun er mor (til fem barn): She is a mother
- Hun er en mor for dem: She is like a mother to them
The disagreeing adjective agreement
In the adjective skill you learned that adjectives must agree with the noun: They receive the suffices -t or -e, depending on gender, number and definite form. That is obviously too easy, so let us look at some exceptions:
Let us start by looking at the following sentences:
- Gutten er frisk
- Barnet er friskt
- Barna er friske
Then let us study these:
- Vitnet ble usikker
- Barnet er usedvanlig frekk
- Geniet var gal
In the latter examples the adjectives were not suffixed with -t. This would normally be the case for neuter nouns, but in these sentences the nouns' natural gender were considered. vitnet (the witness, a man or a woman) is considered male or female, hence the agreement with masculine/feminine. The same goes for barnet (the child, a girl or a boy) and other (neuter) nouns that characterise a person. This rule/exception will probably not be a big problem for a learner, but keep it in mind when declining predicatives.
Expressions and idioms
Adjectives are generally left uninflected when they are part of an expression. This is best illustrated with a series of examples:
De var redde - They were afraid
De var redd for elgen - They were scared of the moose
De var klare - They were ready
De var klar over problemet - They were aware of the problem
Vi er glade - We are happy
Vi er glad i å bade - We love to go swimming
Vi er glad i deg - We love you
Dyret er trygt - The animal is safe
Dyret er trygg for rovdyr - The animal is safe from predators
Dyret føler seg trygg - The animal feels safe
Hestene var frie/fri - They were free
Kvinnene er fri for bekymringer
Varene er fri for avgifter
Er fengslene sikre? - Are the prisons secure/safe?
Er dere sikker på det? - Are you sure about that?
Pingvinene var tålmodige - The penguins were patient
Pingvinene var tålmodig med fotografen - The penguins were patient with the photographer
Søstrene er like - The sisters are alike/similar
Barna er lik sin far - The children are like their father
You will find many more expressions like these. There are also many verb + predicative combinations that behave the same way.
Sometimes the difference between the inflected and uninflected form changes the meaning of the sentence:
Vi har alltid vært glad i dette huset - We have always liked this house
Vi har alltid vært glade i dette huset - We have always been happy in(side) this house
Vi er ikke enig - We do not agree (with you) (But we agree with each another)
Vi er ikke enige - We do not agree with each other
Ola og Kari er gift - Ola and Kari are married (to each other)
Ola og Kari er gifte - Ola and Kari are both married (but not to one another)
Unless choosing the wrong form changes the meaning of the sentence, you will most likely always be understood, even if you make a mistake. It is not uncommon for native Norwegians to make these mistakes. Having access to a good dictionary with extensive lists of expressions and usage examples will be of great help when learning the differences.
Collective nouns
Certain words can refer to numerous people. You may think of the following words as plural, even though they are strictly singular: ektepar, befal, ledelse, styre, personale etc.:
- Ekteparet var lykkelige
- Befalet er sinte
Whether words like these are considered singular or plural depends on whether they are considered as one unit or a group of people. Context is also important. Teams, like football teams, are often used as plural:
- Brann var sjanseløse
(Brann (meaning fire) is a Norwegian football team.)
Jeg og du er flink...e?
When numerous nouns in singular are coordinated, use plural:
- Ola og Kari er trøtte
However, when referring to the nouns as one, use singular:
- Håret og skjegget til mannen var langt
Den blå(e)
Adjectives ending with a stressed vowel do not need -e in definite form:
- en sky hest - den sky/skye hesten - de sky/skye hestene
- ei rå gulrot - 0den rå/råe gulroten - de rå/råe gulrøttene
- en blå blyant - den blå/blåe blyanten - de blå/blåe blyantene
Sunt, godt, populært, dyrt
You may have seen sentences like
- Sjokolade er godt
- Røyking er usunt
- Å gå med briller er populært
These are perfectly fine, yet they do not follow the rules: You would expect Sjokolade er god, since sjokolade is masculine. Certain adjectives, like sunn, god, populær and dyr are written with -t when used like this:
- Å spise for mye er ikke sunt
- Elektriske tog er lønnsomt (or Det er lønnsomt med elektriske tog)
- En ny bil ville ikke være så dumt
- Grønnsaker er både godt og sunt