LESSON NOTES

Lower Beginner S1 #1
Reviewing the Norwegian Basics

CONTENTS
2 Norwegian
2 English
2 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
4 Vocabulary Phrase Usage
5 Grammar
6 Cultural Insight

# 1
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 NORWEGIAN

1. Kjersti: Hei, jeg heter Kjersti.

2. Ole: Hei, jeg heter Ole, hyggelig.

3. Kjersti: Hyggelig å møte deg.

4. Ole: Hva gjør du her?

5. Kjersti: Jeg er på ferie.

6. Ole: Jeg er på businessreise.

ENGLISH

1. Kjersti: Hi, my name is Kjersti.

2. Ole: Hi, I am Ole; nice to meet you.

3. Kjersti: Nice to meet you.

4. Ole: What are you doing here?

5. Kjersti: I am on vacation.

6. Ole: I am on a business trip.

VOCABULARY

Nor w e gian English C lass

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 jeg I pronoun

å hete to be called verb

hyggelig pleasant (Nice to meet you) adjective

gjøre do verb

hva what adverb

her here preposition

du you pronoun

ferie vacation noun

businessreise business trip noun

å være to be verb

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Jeg er ikke hjemme nå. Jeg liker ikke servitøren.

"I am not at home now." "I don't like the waiter."

Jeg kjenner ikke henne. Jeg heter Arne.

"I don't know her." "My name is Arne."

Heter du Olav? Hyggelig å møte deg.

"Are you Olav?" "Nice to meet you."

Kvinnen gjør husarbeid. Hva vil du gjøre?

"The woman does housework." "What do you want to do?"

Ta denne asjetten her. Her er greia jeg pratet om.

"Take this platter here." "Here's the thing I was talking about."

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Jeg er her. Hei, Hvordan har du det?

"I'm here." "Hi, how are you?"

Jeg trenger en ferie. Jeg skal på businessreise.

"I need a vacation." "I am going on a business trip."

Hva er klokken? Er du tørst?

"What time is it?" "Are you thirsty?"

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

Since this is the first lesson, let's go over some of the words with more ambiguous meanings.

hyggelig
Hyggelig is an adjective, and it means "pleasant" or "nice." When we use it during a person-to-
person introduction, it takes on the meaning of Hyggelig å møte deg ("Nice to meet you"), and
it's a shorter, more casual way of greeting someone.

Casual in Norwegian does not necessarily mean informal, although you can often think of the
two as the same. That said, Norwegians tend to use casual parts of speech or phrases even
in formal situations. It depends on how you want to appear to the person you are speaking to.
And hyggelig gives off a slight note of indifference.

å hete
Å hete is a slightly tricky one since the equivalent doesn't really exist in English. The closest
you get is "to be called," but there's a difference between the two. To say jeg heter only
implies "my name is." On the other hand, "I am called" could also be followed by a nickname
or a title. So be careful, only use jeg heter when telling someone your name.

å være
Å være ("to be") is an irregular verb, so is å gjøre ("to do") too. However, å være can be a bit
tricky. It conjugates into er when in the present tense and var in the past tense.

For Example:

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1. kan du være her?
"Can you stay (be) here?"

2. Jeg er her.
"I am here."

3. Jeg var her.

"I was here."

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson Is Basic Introductions.

Hei, jeg heter Kjersti. Jeg er på ferie.
"Hi, my name is Kjersti. I am on vacation."

First off, if you followed our Absolute Beginner Series, then you might already be familiar with
or remember how to introduce yourself in Norwegian.
It can be as easy as simply saying your name while shaking the other person's hand, or you
can elaborate on the introduction by adding words or phrases like Jeg er... ("I am..."), Jeg
heter... ("I am called..."), or Mitt navn er... ("My name is..."). The common way we Norwegians
introduce ourselves is simply by saying our name or using Jeg heter. Of course, adding a hei
("hi") first is always good practice.
After our name, we usually add either hyggelig å møte deg ("nice to meet you"), or the
shorter form, hyggelig ("pleasant"), to add a bit more courtesy. Norwegians don't always
include this extra phrase; we do it when we feel comfortable and like being pleasant.
For Example:

1. Hei, Kjersti. Hyggelig.

"Hi, Kjersti. Pleased to meet you."

2. Hei, jeg er Ole.

"Hi, I am Ole."

3. Hei, jeg heter Kjersti. Hyggelig å møte deg.

"Hi, my name is Kjersti. Nice to meet you."

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4. Hei, mitt navn er Ole. Hyggelig.
"Hi, my name is Ole. Pleased to meet you."

It's fairly easy to understand how this works, and it's best to think of them as phrases, as some
of these aren't full sentences, and some words have very specific meanings applied to this
context. That means you shouldn't try to break up these sentences and use some of the words
or word orders in other sentences as it might end up not making any sense in another context.
For example, a common greeting Hei, Kjersti, heter jeg changes the whole sentence structure
from what you are used to. It's like listening to Yoda saying "Hi, Kjersti, named am I." It is
perfectly OK to use this greeting, but in any other context, this would just confuse people.
For Example:

1. Hei, Ole, heter jeg.

"Hi, Ole, named am I." ("Hi, I am called Ole.")

2. Bussjåfør er jeg.
"Bus driver am I."

The first greeting is perfectly safe when introducing yourself. The latter only makes sense in
one very specific context, which we would have to explain at a later stage. Otherwise, the
latter sentence would only sound weird to the listener.

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Watch Your Tone When Speaking Norwegian

It is funny how we look at formal language and informal language in Norwegian. Most
foreigners tend to be very formal when speaking Norwegian in order to sound polite.
However, most Norwegians speak with their feelings. That isn't to say that when we're happy
we become formal, but when we're angry, we get very informal. It's partly true that Norwegian
depends heavily on body language and tone when speaking. If your tone is light, your
language can still be informal but sound pleasing to the listener. And if your tone is really
condescending, not even the most formal language will please the listener. That's why when
you speak Norwegian, don't think so much of how formal your vocabulary is; instead, think of
your body language and the tone you speak in.

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