Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Filip: Hi everyone, I am Filip.
Becky: And I’m Becky. Welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 9 - Finding Your Way Around a Norwegian Airport.
Filip In this lesson, we’ll revisit the airport for some more directions.
Becky: Correct. We will also learn some airport-related vocabulary, but most importantly, we’ll learn how to ask for directions and see some examples of directions.
Filip: Kjersti is on her way to Tromsø, but can’t find the check-in counter, so she’s asking for help.
Becky: Okay, let’s listen to the conversation.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: It shouldn’t be that hard for her to find, right?
Filip: Not at all. Airports in Norway, even Oslo Airport, are relatively small and not hard to navigate.
Becky: And I think most signboards are in both English and Norwegian.
Filip: Not only that - these days most text on the signs has been replaced by icons, so you don’t have to be able to read to get around.
Becky: Yeah, so if you find yourself lost at an airport in Norway, you must have done something really wrong.
Filip: Right, and even if it does happen, all the staff are required to speak English, so you won’t have any problems.
Becky: But knowing how to ask for directions in Norwegian will be useful in other places, like the countryside or in museums and office buildings.
Filip: Ok, let’s look at the vocab.
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Filip: First up is ‘å ligge’
Becky: It means “to lie down” or “to lie”. But depending on context, it can also mean “to exist at some location”. Just like we would use the English verb “to lie” for that same purpose. “The house lies just over there.”
Filip: In Norwegian, that would be ‘Huset ligger rett der borte.’ The next word is ‘ned.’
Becky: This can be a bit tricky. It translates as “down”. But depending on the context, again this word can have a lot of different meanings attached to it.
Filip: For example, like our sample sentence. ‘Kjøkkenet er nede’...
Becky: ...would translate as “The kitchen is downstairs.” But if you left something on the ground while you were climbing a tree, you would say that that thing on the ground...
Filip: ...‘den ligger nede.’
Becky: “It lies down on the ground”
Filip: Then we have ‘å gå ned’. Which could mean either...
Becky: “To go/climb/walk down” or “to go downstairs”. We can also use ‘ned’ in the context of something that should work but doesn’t. Like if an Internet connection was “down”, we would say
Filip: ‘Internettet er nede’ meaning “The internet is down”. Finally we have the phrase ‘da er det...’
Becky: This translates as “then it is”. But in the context of our dialogue, it would be more similar to “In that case”.
Filip: Take for example ‘Da er det ikke mulig å dra.’
Becky: “In that case it’s impossible to go.” Great, let’s look at some more examples using these words and phrases.
Filip: Sykkelen ligger her nede.
Becky: “The bike is down here”
Filip: Jeg sitter nede
Becky: I am sitting downstairs/under
Filip: OM zombier kommer da er det beste valget å løpe
Becky: “If zombies are coming, then the best choice is to run” Okay, now onto the grammar.

Lesson focus

Becky: In this lesson we’re going to learn how to ask for directions and we’ll look at some general directions that you might get.
Filip: When you’re in trouble and don’t know where you’re supposed to go, the best thing is to ask someone for directions. Let’s say you want to ask where something is. In Norwegian we would say ‘Hvor er’ or ‘Hvor ligger...’ followed by the thing or place you’re looking for.
Becky: “Where is” or “where lies” respectively.
Filip: Of course, when you ask it’s always best to put an ‘Unnskyld’ or “Excuse me” in front just to be polite and get their attention. If you were at the airport looking for the toilets, you’d say ‘unnskyld, hvor er toalettet’ or ‘hvor ligger toalettet.’
Becky: Either is fine and you can use them interchangeably. Both of them mean, “Where is the toilet?” Now, let’s say you’re looking for an unspecified thing, for example something there can be many of, like a toilet, or an ATM.
Filip: You need to add one word to these phrases, so they become ‘Hvor er det’ and ‘hvor ligger det.’ So you just add ‘det’.
Becky: Or “there, that, it,”.
Filip: You would also need to add the article of the noun sometimes. Let’s take the example of an ATM - you would ask ‘hvor ligger/er det en minibank?’
Becky: The article here, ‘en’, means that ‘minibank’ is a masculine or feminine noun. Let’s look at a few more examples of how you could ask.
Filip: Hvor ligge det tax-free?
Becky: Where is duty-free?
Filip: Hvor er toget?
Becky: “Where’s the train?”
Filip: Hvor er det en bank?
Becky: “Where is there a bank?”
Filip: Now let’s talk about how to answer these questions. Obviously, there are many directions you can talk about. But the beginning phrase is easy. It’s either ‘det er’ or ‘den er’ which means “it is”, OR we can also say ‘det ligger’ or ‘den ligger’ which mean “It lies”.
Becky: The difference between ‘det’ and ‘den’ is simply whether the noun is a neuter gender, which uses ‘det’, or a Masculine/feminine gender noun, which uses ‘den’. Let’s start by looking at the most common directions in Norwegian. Filip will say a word, and I’ll translate.
Filip: Høyre
Becky: Right
Filip: Venstre
Becky: Left
Filip: Rett fram
Becky: Straight ahead.
Filip: Oppover
Becky: Upwards
Filip: And Nedover
Becky: “Downwards.” Great, now let’s look at some sentences.
Filip: Den er rett frem og til venstre
Becky: “It is straight ahead and to the left”
Filip: Det er rett til høyre og nedover gangen.
Becky: It is to the right and down the corridor
Filip: Den ligger på venstre side av inngangen
Becky: It lies on the lefthand side by the entrance.
Filip: Bort mot skranken og opp trappen.
Becky: Over towards the counter and up the stairs.
Filip: Ned rulletrappen på høyre side
Becky: Down the escalator, on the right side.
Filip: And, fortsett nedover til du ser banken på høyre side
Becky: Continue down until you can see the bank on the righthand side.

Outro

Becky: Great, well that’s it for lesson. Make sure to check the lesson notes, and we’ll see you next time!
Filip: Sees neste gang!

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