Learn about diminutives in Norwegian
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What are diminutives and how are they formed in Norwegian? |
| Inger: And are they commonly used? |
| Michael: At NorwegianClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Kristine Karlsen points out a cute kitten to her daughter, Karoline Karlsen. She says, "Look at the kitten!" |
| Kristine: Se på den kattungen! |
| Dialogue |
| Kristine: Se på den kattungen! |
| Karoline: Den er søt! |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Kristine: Se på den kattungen! |
| Michael: "Look at the kitten!" |
| Karoline: Den er søt! |
| Michael: "How cute!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Did you notice how Kristine replaces the word, |
| Inger: katt |
| Michael: with |
| Inger: kattungen? |
| Michael: She attaches the suffix, |
| Inger: -ungen |
| Michael: to create what is called a diminutive, or |
| Inger: diminutiv. |
| Michael: A diminutive is a word that has been modified to convey the smallness of its root meaning. Diminutives are created by attaching certain suffixes to nouns, and in some cases, adjectives, and verbs. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let’s take a closer look to understand this better. Do you remember how Kristine says, "Look at the kitten?" |
| [pause 4 seconds] |
| Inger as Kristine Karlsen: Se på den kattungen! |
| Michael: Here, Kristine attaches the suffix, |
| Inger: -ungen |
| Michael: to the root noun, |
| Inger: katt |
| Michael: which means "cat" in Norwegian. The suffix is derived from the word, |
| Inger: ung |
| Michael: which means "young," and is often attached to names of animal offspring. Another example would be |
| Inger: andunge |
| Michael: which means "duckling," or "young duck." Diminutives in Norwegian are also used in affectionate names. For instance, we have the name |
| Inger: Stina, |
| Michael: which is derived from the name |
| Inger: Kristina. |
| Michael: For males, we have names like |
| Inger: Olly |
| Michael: a diminutive of the name |
| Inger: Oliver. |
| Michael: As you can see, there are no rules on how to form diminutives for people’s names. Most of the time, it’s not simply to shorten the name but to make the name sound sweeter or cuter. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: So far, we have learned that diminutives are words that have been modified to convey the smallness of their root meaning. In Norwegian, they are often used in the names of animal offspring, as well as for forming affectionate names for family members. |
| Cultural Expansion |
| Michael: What makes Norwegian diminutives unique is that they are formed not only by attaching suffixes but also prefixes to root words. In fact, most Norwegian diminutives are formed using prefixes. One such prefix is |
| Inger: mini- |
| Michael: such as in the word |
| Inger: minibuss |
| Michael: which means "mini lesson." Another one is |
| Inger: lille- |
| Michael: such as in the word |
| Inger: lille lørdag |
| Michael: which means "little Saturday," a term used to refer to midweek afterwork activities. Another common Norwegian diminutive prefix is |
| Inger: små- |
| Michael: such as in the word |
| Inger: småbarn |
| Michael: or "toddler." Finally, there’s the prefix, |
| Inger: ør- |
| Michael: which is used for words like |
| Inger: ørliten |
| Michael: which means "tiny" or "exceptionally small." |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Inger: Ha det! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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