The Focus Of This Lesson Is Discussing Experience in An Elaborate Way
Hei. Jeg er Gunnar. Har du noen erfaring med å jobbe i matbutikk?
"Hi. I'm Gunnar. Do you have any experience with working in a grocery store?"

1. Past tense and present perfect

How to use and form the present perfect tense

We use the present perfect tense to talk about actions that have happened at an unspecified time in the past. For example, we can use this tense with general time phrases such as "before," "previously," "once," and "already." When we use the present perfect tense, the importance lies on the consequence and not when something happened.

For example: Det har regnet meaning "It has rained." The importance lies in the consequence, which, in this case, would be that it is still wet outside because it rained.

Let's see an example from the dialogue. Anne says Jeg har jobbet i en klesbutikk tidligere ("I have worked in a clothing store before") to explain that she has experience of working in a clothing store.

It is also used to talk about changes that have happened over a period of time. For example, Du har fått langt hår meaning "Your hair has gotten long."

The verb should be in the past participle form.

[subject] + har + [past participle]

Present perfect vs past tense

Let's compare now the present perfect with the past tense.

If an event occurred before now and is also complete, we use the simple past form of the verb. We often use the simple past tense with specified time expressions such as "an hour ago," "yesterday," "last week" and "last year."

We use the present perfect form to talk about situations that began in the past and continue to the present, as well as for recently completed actions. The focus is on the situation or consequence of the situation, not when it happened.

Let's have a look at some examples.

Simple past

1. Det snødde forrige uke.
   "It snowed last week."

In this example we see that it snowed last week, and the action of "snowing" is complete. For all we know, there could be no snow left at all.

Present perfect

1. Det har snødd tidligere.
   "It has snowed earlier."

In this example we see that it has snowed earlier and the consequence is most likely that there's snow outside.

1. Det har snødd i mange timer.
   "It has snowed for many hours."

This is an example of an ongoing situation, it has snowed and it's still snowing.

2. Nominalization of Verbs

Nominalization is when a verb is modified into a noun. In Norwegian, nominalizations are often technical concepts and are used to express oneself more precisely. Also, when we use nominalizations we sound more formal.

In the dialogue Gunnar used the noun erfaring meaning "experience." This word comes from the verb å erfare ("to experience.")

The suffixes -ing and -ning are often added to the end of the verb to change it into a noun.

-ing often indicates the verb action, and -ning often indicates the result of the verb action. Usually -ing is used the most, because -ning can't be used on verbs that end in -ere, like å studere meaning "to study." The noun of this verb can only be studering "studying." -ning can't be used on verbs that end on -re, -rre,-ne and stress vowels. Therefore -ing is often preferred.

Let's have a look at the difference between -ing and -ning.

å bygge ("to build/construct")

bygging ("construction"): This is the action of building something.

bygning ("building"): This is the result of the action, therefore a building.

We can also use the suffix -sjon to indicate a result of an action, just like -ning.

Let's take the verb å motivere meaning "to motivate." The noun will be motivasjon meaning "motivation." Motivering ("motivation"), on the other hand, is the action "to motivate."

You might also have seen nouns that end with the suffix -else. The suffixes -else and -ing can often both be used, but -else sounds more formal and is often used in written form.

Let's take å rette meaning "to correct." We can say both retting and rettelse meaning "correction."

Finally, we also have something called zero-derivation, a nominalization which we don't need a suffix. -ing and zero-derivation can both be used, but zero-derivation is the noun that is often used in compound nouns and newspapers.

Let's take the verb å vaske meaning "to wash." Vasking ("washing") will be the action of "to wash." Vask ("wash") can be used as it is, or be used as a compound word such as klesvask meaning "washing of clothes."

Examples from the dialogue:

1. Nei, men jeg har jobbet i en klesbutikk tidligere, så jeg er serviceinnstilt og kan håndtere stress godt.
   "No, but I've worked in a clothing store before, so I'm service-oriented and can handle stress well."
2. Har du noen erfaring med å jobbe i matbutikk?
   "Do you have any experience with working in a grocery store?"

Sample Sentences

1. Det har regnet.
   "It has rained."
2. Det har snødd i mange timer.
   "It has snowed for many hours."
3. Du har fått langt hår.
   "Your hair has gotten long."

å søke ("to apply," "to look for," "to search for")

Å søke literally means "to search," "to look" or "to seek." It can also mean "to apply for."

You use å søke when you are looking for something, searching for something, or applying for a job. Å søke jobb literally means "to search for work," but is used more as "to apply for a job" or "to seek employment."

You can use this verb both for abstract and actual things and you often use it when you search for something on the Internet. For example, Jeg søkte på Google. which means "I searched on Google."

When the word is used as "to search" or "to look," in everyday life it can sound a bit formal. In that case, you can use å lete instead. For example, Jeg leter etter deg, which means, "I am looking for you."

For example:

1. Vi søker etter en organisert og effektiv person.
   "We're searching for an organized and effective person."

høres bra ut ("sounds good")

å høre means "to sound," bra means "good" and ut means "out."

You use høres bra ut when you hear an idea that sounds good.

As it means "the idea sounds good," you can also use å virke bra/god ("to seem good"). For example, Det virker som en god idé ("That seems like a good idea.").

For example:

1. Jeg synes Per sitt forslag høres bra ut.
   "I think Per's suggestion sounds good."

helst ikke ("rather not")

Helst is an adverb and means "preferably." Ikke means "not." Put together they mean "rather not."

You use this expression when you would prefer to not do something. It doesn't mean that you can't do it, just that you don't really want to.

You can answer a yes or no question with helst ikke, if you want to make your negation less strong.

For example:

1. Jeg vil helst ikke spise kokte poteter hver dag.
   "I would rather not eat boiled potatoes every day."

Part-Time Jobs in Norway

In Norway many students have part-time jobs. Common jobs are in restaurants or supermarkets. If you are under the age of 13, you need a written permission from your parents in order to work. A person who is over the age of 15 can work up to 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, but people under 18 are not allowed to work between 11 p.m and 6 a.m. Norway has strict laws that protect working youth. The salary is also pretty high for part-time jobs, even though the salary you get depends on your age and work place. A person over 16 years old working in a store might get around 110NOK an hour while a 18 year old might get 148 NOK an hour. If you don't earn more than 50 000 NOK a year, you don't have to pay taxes.

9,5 NOK is about 1 Euro.

*Based on 2015 data

Useful expression:

1. kroner i timen
   "crowns per hour"