| In this lesson, we will learn a question that will help you expand your Norwegian vocabulary without looking at a single page of a dictionary. “How do you say (blank) in Norwegian?” is a sentence that will amazingly replace your pocket dictionary and phrasebook. |
| Norway is famous for salmon, so let’s assume that you want to buy some but have no idea what to call it in Norwegian! |
| ・ |
| “How do you say “salmon” in Nynorsk?” is |
| Korleis seier ein «salmon» på norsk? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Kor-leis sei-er ein «salmon» på norsk? |
| Once more: |
| Korleis seier ein «salmon» på norsk? |
| The first word, korleis means, “how.” |
| (slow) Kor-leis. |
| Korleis. |
| This is followed by seier, a verb meaning “say.” |
| (slow) Sei-er. |
| Seier. |
| Next, we have ein, which means “one,” but here the translation is “you.” |
| (slow) Ein. |
| Ein. |
| After ein we have the word in English, which in this case is “salmon.” |
| And at the end of the question we have på norsk, which means “in Norwegian.” |
| (slow) På norsk. |
| På norsk. |
| All together, we have |
| Korleis seier ein «salmon» på norsk? |
| Literally, this means, “How says you 'salmon' in Norwegian?” |
| And the answer, by the way, is laks. |
| ・ |
| You can also use this expression without using any English. Simply ask “How do you say this in Norwegian?” In Nynorsk, “this” is |
| Dette |
| (slow) Dette. |
| Dette. |
| So in Nynorsk “How do you say this in Norwegian?” is |
| Korleis seier ein dette på norsk? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Kor-leis sei-er ein det-te på norsk? |
| Once again: |
| Korleis seier ein dette på norsk? |
| The structure is exactly the same as the previous sentence, except that instead of “salmon” we have the word dette, which means “this.” |
| All together, we have |
| Korleis seier ein dette på norsk? |
| While asking this question you can point at the specific something that you are curious about. |
| ・ |
| To ask, “How do you say that in Norwegian?” simply substitute the word dette with det (“that”). |
| (slow) Det. |
| Det. |
| The phrase will sound like this: |
| Korleis seier ein det på norsk? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Kor-leis sei-er ein det på norsk? |
| Once more: |
| Korleis seier ein det på norsk? |
| ・ |
| Let’s look at another example. Let's pretend that you have been invited to a birthday party. You want to know how to say “Happy birthday” in Norwegian. The question you should ask is: |
| Korleis seier ein «happy birthday» på norsk? |
| “How do you say happy birthday in Norwegian?” |
| (slow) Kor-leis sei-er ein «happy birthday» på norsk? |
| Korleis seier ein «happy birthday» på norsk? |
| The answer is gratulerer med dagen! |
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