Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Gina:Hi, I am Gina.
Nora:And I am Nora.
Gina:And welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com. This is Beginner season 1, Lesson 13 - Getting Involved in the Cleaning in Norway. This is our last lesson on “if”. But we won’t concentrate that much on what the different “ifs” are, or even the difference.
Nora:To refresh your memory, the two versions are hvis and om. But in this lesson, we are focusing on the phrase “if” plus the preposition + “can”, which is Om du kan. And we’ll also take a look at another phrase.
Gina:Which is “it would be + adjective.”
Nora:In Norwegian, det hadde vært ...In our dialogue, Kjersti has taken on the responsibility of cleaning the house, since Espen said he was busy.
Gina:However this time it seems he learned something from their last argument, and hurries to help Kjersti when she calls on the phone. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Gina:As we’ve said before, Norwegians like to keep their houses clean.
Nora:Weekly cleaning is quite common, but what you’ll also see is spring cleaning - “vårrengjøring”, and Christmas cleaning - “Julevasken”.
Gina:But these major cleanups are a common sight in other countries as well.
Nora:That’s true, but they’re a deeply embedded part of Norwegian culture, and mentioning either of these words will send chills down the spines of men, women, and children alike!
Gina:Of course, some people enjoy the major cleanups, but it’s often seen as a traditional chore that can’t be avoided.
Nora:If you’re ever fortunate enough to visit a Norwegian family during their spring clean-up, make sure you try to join in!
Gina:(sarcastic) Uh, I don’t know about that.
Nora:(laughs) Ok. Maybe that’s overdoing it!
Gina:Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab.
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Gina:Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Nora:The verb “å rydde” means “to clean”
Gina:Or more explicitly “to tidy”. In English, you often say “to tidy up”
Nora:The same is common in Norwegian “å rydde opp.” The distinction between “å rydde” and “å vaske” is also the same as English.
Gina:As in “to tidy” and “to clean.”
Nora:Although “å vaske” could also imply that one is tidying as well as washing.
Gina:Let’s look at some examples.
Nora:“Har du ryddet rommet?”
Gina:“Have you tidied your room?” and
Nora:“Jeg skal rydde opp eskene senere”
Gina:“I’ll tidy/remove the boxes later.” Not too difficult, I think.
Nora:Ok, let’s move on. “Å komme” means “to come”.
Gina:Like in English, you say “to come home” and it’s the same in Norwegian.
Nora:Å komme hjem.
Gina:However, in English you also say “Did you get home?” using another word, “to get”.
Nora:But in Norwegian, you can’t do this. In Norwegian you’d use the same “å komme.”
Gina:So let’s look at some examples
Nora:“Kom du deg hjem?”
Gina:“Did you get home?”
Nora:“Kom deg hit nå!”
Gina:“Get here ASAP!” Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Gina:In this lesson, we’re going to take a final look at hvis and om. But we won’t be explaining them more, because we’ve done that in the previous lessons.
Nora:Right. Instead we’ll be focusing on the phrase Om du kan
Gina:Which translates as “if you can”.
Nora:We’ll also be taking a look at the phrase det hadde vært ...
Gina:Which in English is “It would have been ..” So, without further ado let’s dive right in and look at the dialogue sentence.
Nora:Det hadde vært fint om du kunne hjelpe meg med å rydde her.
Gina:This sentence translates as “It would be nice if you could help me clean this place up.” Now let’s look at it word by word.
Nora:The first word is the pronoun det
Gina:Which means “it”.
Nora:Next we have the pluperfect tense hadde vært of å være
Gina:In English “to be”.
Nora:Then we have om
Gina:You should remember this one, “if”.
Nora:After this comes the pronoun du
Gina:It means “you”.
Nora:Next we have the simple past tense kunne of the verb å kunne
Gina:“To be able to” in English. This is the modal verb used with another verb that follows it.
Nora:Hjelpe
Gina:“To help” in English.
Nora:Following this we have the passive pronoun meg
Gina:Which means “me”.
Nora:This is followed by the conjunction med
Gina:Which means “with”.
Nora:Next we have the infinitive verb å rydde
Gina:It means “to tidy/clean”.
Nora:And finally the preposition her or “here” in English.
Gina:This sentence is quite long and complex.
Nora:But the two main parts of it are the Det hadde vært fint phrase, and the om du kunne phrase.
Gina:And those are the two we’ll focus on now.
Nora:Let’s start with the Om du kunne or Om du kan.
Gina:The difference between the two is simple, one is in future tense and one is in present tense.
Nora:Now before we start actually explaining the phrase, you must be wondering whether om can be replaced with hvis...
Gina:And the answer is yes. But the most common way to construct this phrase is with om.
Nora:The phrase is built up around the modular verb å kunne, so it needs a verb to modulate. This verb will always be in the infinitive.
Gina:Let’s look at some examples of it.
Nora:Jeg lurte på om du kan donere litt til Redd Barna?
Gina:"I was wondering if you could help donate (something, here meaning money) to the Save the Children?"
Nora:Det går bra om du kan kjøre meg hjem
Gina:“It’s ok if you can drive me home”
Nora:Next let’s look at the det hadde vært ...
Gina:This phrase utilizes a verb tense we haven’t talked much about yet, but we’ll come back to this later. However, this phrase translates closely to “It would be ...”
Nora:After det hadde vært, you need to add an adjective. This phrase then works like that alone. Usually as a response to an offer.
Gina:Let’s look at an example.
Nora:Skal jeg hjelpe til? -Takk, det hadde vært hyggelig!
Gina:“Should I help?” -“Thanks, that would be kind of you!”
Nora:Finally, these two phrases we just talked about are just begging to be coupled together, just like our dialogue line.
Gina:Okay! Let’s put them together in some examples.
Nora:Det hadde vært bedre om du kunne tatt bussen
Gina:“It would be better if you could take the bus”
Nora:Det hadde vært fint hvis du kom på besøk
Gina:“It would be nice if you came to visit”
Nora:Great, well, that was a lot in one go. But I hope the listeners got it all!

Outro

Gina:Well, that’s all for this lesson.
Nora:If you need to listen to this again, please do.
Gina:And remember to check the lesson notes. And we’d love to get your feedback on the lesson in the comments section!
Nora:Thanks for listening and see you next time!
Gina:Bye!
Nora:Ha det

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