Learn how to use the Norwegian phrase, Om du kan, which means "if you can"
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| 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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