Asking "Why" in Norwegian

Learn how to ask "Why?"

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Lesson Transcript

Hei, jeg heter Nora. Hi everybody! I’m Nora.

Welcome to NorwegianClass101.com’s “Norsk på 3 minutter”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Norwegian.

In the last lesson, we learned how to ask "Who" questions in Norwegian.

In this last lesson, we are going to ask "Why" questions.

Imagine your boss is giving you a call because you are not at work today... He will ask you Hvorfor er du ikke på jobb i dag?

[slowly] Hvorfor er du ikke på jobb i dag?

So let’s break down this question.

First we had-

Hvorfor, which is the basic translation of "Why" in Norwegian.

er is the present tense of the verb å være.

du is the word for “you”.

ikke which is "not”.

Then på jobb means “at work”

And finally i dag which is "today"

All together, it is Hvorfor er du ikke på jobb i dag?

So in Norwegian, Hvorfor is the translation of "Why"

For example, if your boss is asking you Hvorfor er du sen i dag? that means "Why are you late today?"

Let’s look at some other uses for hvorfor.

If someone says something you don’t agree with, you can tell them hvorfor tror du det? “Why do you think that?”

[slowly] Hvorfor tror du det?

Or if you are upset about the train being late you can ask someone, hvorfor er toget sent? “Why is the train late?”

[slowly]hvorfor er toget sent?

The answer to these questions could then easily be...

Jeg vet ikke hvorfor. “I don’t know why.”

[slowly]Jeg vet ikke hvorfor

Now it’s time for Nora’s Insights.

A popular Norwegian expression is Hvorfor ikke? which means "Why not?"

You can use it to accept a suggestion if you're not really excited about it. Or, if it was not planned in advance.

For example if a friend asks you suddenly "Do you want to go to the movies tonight?"

You can answer Hvorfor ikke? "Why not?"

This lesson is the last of this Absolute Beginner video series.

But it’s hopefully not the last you learn about the Norwegian language! To take your language ability to the next level, check out NorwegianClass101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Norwegian.

Hade bra!

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