Twelfth lesson

Seasons and important calendar holidays

Today we meet in the twelfth Norwegian language lesson - leksjon nummer tolv. We will talk about subordinate sentences (leddsetninger) and seasons (årstider) as well as important calendar and non-calendar holidays (viktige fest- og høytidsdager).

dictionary

Dictionary   

notes

Notes   

• - Hei, kjære studenter, hei, Ema.
• - Hei, Jan, god dag, alle sammen.

Today we meet in the twelfth Norwegian language lesson - leksjon nummer tolv. We will talk about subordinate sentences (leddsetninger) and seasons (årstider) as well as important calendar and non-calendar holidays (viktige fest- og høytidsdager). Before starting with the grammar, let’s have a listening exercise - lytteøvelse. Repeat after me:

Han snakker.

Snakker han?

Han ser på TV.

Ser han på TV?

Han er trøtt.

Er han trøtt?

Han drikker kaffe.

Drikker han kaffe?

Han spiller fotball.

Spiller han fotball?

Han kommer.

Kommer han?

Fine. Let’s start the lesson. Let’s learn the seasons -   årstider – and month names -   måneder.

  en vinter

winter

  en vår

spring

  en sommer

summer

  en høst

autumn

Vinter, vår, sommer og høst er årstider - seasons. Let’s ask Ema:

• - Ema, hvilken årstid liker du best? / Which season of the year do you like the most?
• - Jeg liker best sommer. Hvilken årstid liker dere best?

Ema has asked you a question, please answer. Good, bra. Now let’s learn the names of months.

  en måned

month

  måneder

months

So, winter - vinter - consists of the following months:

  Desember

December

  Januar

January

  Februar

February

Spring - vår:

  Mars

March

  April

April

  Mai

May

Summer - sommer:

  Juni

June

  Juli

July

  August

August

Autumn – høst:

  September

September

  Oktober

October

  November

November

Her er alle måneder, vi starter med januar. These are all the months, let’s start from January. Repeat with me:
januar, februar, mars, april, mai, juni, juli, august, september, oktober, november, desember.

Veldig bra! Now listen to what I’ll tell about months and translate it aloud. After a pause I will help you.

I januar er det ofte kaldt.

How did you translate it? Did you say: It is often cold in January? Great, let’s go on.

I februar er det mye snø.

There is a lot of snow in February. Please remember that mye is used with uncountable nouns, and mange - with countable nouns.

I juni skinner sola. - The sun shines in June.

I august spiser vi mange modne frukter. - In August, we eat a lot of ripe fruit.

  moden

ripe (singular)

  modne

ripe (plural)

I november regner det mye. - It rains a lot in November.

I desember fryser jeg. - I freeze in December.

  å fryse

to freeze

Over the year, both the Norwegians and people of other nationalities celebrate a lot of beautiful holidays.

  en høytid

holiday

And ‘holiday’ in the sense of ‘celebration day’ is   en fest or   et stevne.

Å feire høytider

to celebrate holidays

Now let's play as follows: I will say the name of a holiday in English, Ema – in Norwegian, and you will repeat and quickly tell the month when we celebrate the holiday, of course, in Norwegian. Let's start:

New Year

  Nyttårsdag eller   Nyttår

Now tell in Norwegian the month we celebrate Nyttår: Januar.

On the New Year’s Eve, raising a glass of champagne, we greet each other as follows: Godt Nyttår!

Easter

  Påske

The Easter date may vary in various years from 22 March to 25 April. Let us tell in Norwegian ‘March’ and ‘April’:

mars, april

Let’s learn a few more words and phrases, which we need for talking about Easter. What are they? The are of course:

Egg

  et egg

Eggs

  egg

Easter egg

  et påskeegg

And what do we do on Easter? Of course, we dye eggs:

To dye Easter eggs

  å male påskeegg

To break an egg

  å knuse et egg

On May 1, the Labour Day is celebrated. - Første mai.

Let’s say ‘May’ in Norwegian: mai.

The Constitution (Independence) Day is the most important holiday of Norway. Syttende mai eller Grunnlovsdagen, eller Nasjonaldagen.

As you have heard, it is celebrated in May – mai.

I will tell you more about the Constitution (Independence) Day, which the Norwegians have three names for. However, the most common is Syttende mai. If you are really lucky, you may see with your own eyes how the Norwegians celebrate it on May 17. Everyone - young and old - dress in spectacular national clothes

National costume

  en bunad

and go to parades on the streets carrying flags in their hands. Parades of little kids held in Oslo are especially charming, where all of them are greeted by the royal family. This is a massive and very beautiful celebration that culminates with the national anthem of Norway sung by everybody - Norges nasjonalsang is called ”Ja, vi elsker dette landet“...

• - Norges nasjonalsang heter “Ja, vi elsker dette landet“.
• - ... and the royal anthem is ‘Kongesangen’.

Fine, let’s continue with our holiday task. Other holidays:

Mother’s day

  Morsdag

Do you remember when we celebrate this beautiful holiday? Mai.

On the Mother's Day, mothers are presented with flowers.

Flower

  en blomst

A bouquet of flowers

  en blomsterbukett

To present flowers

  å gi blomster i gave

Father’s Day

  Farsdag

Father’s Day is celebrated in June. Juni.

Dew or Midsummer Day

  Sankthans eller   Jonsok

Juni.

On St. John's Eve, we jump over the fire.

Fire

et bål

To jump over the fire

å hoppe over bålet

Christmas

  Jul

Desember. On the cosy celebration - Jul, congratulate each other in Norwegian – God jul.

Christmas evening

  Julekveld

Christmas celebration

  Julefeiring

And what are we waiting for in Christmas? Yes, Santa Claus  In Norway, he is called   Julenissen .

Santa Claus or Julenissen brings us:

A present

  ei en gave

or, if we have been very good,

A lot of presents

mange gaver

These seems to be all main calendar holidays. But of course, we celebrate birthdays as well!

Birthday

  en fødselsdag eller   en bursdag

Wedding

  et bryllup

Bride and groom

  et brudepar

Groom

  en brudgom

Bride

  en brud

Christening

  en dåp

Godparents

  et dåpsvitne

Fint! We have learnt the seasons – årstider, months – måneder and important holidays - viktige fest- og høytidsdager . Shh, I hear Jan talking on the phone, probably with Lisa. Well well... Let’s listen to their conversation on the phone –   en telefonsamtale:

• - Hallo, Jan! Hvordan har du det? / Hello, Jan! How are you?
• - Hei, Lise. Ikke så verst. Det regner og det er kaldt. / Hi, Lisa. Not bad. It's raining and cold.
• - Jan, jeg er i Egypt nå.

Wow, Lisa says that she is in Egypt right now. Let's try and say it using leddsetning: Lise sier at hun er i Egypt nå.

• - Hva sier du? Er du i Egypt? / Really? Are you in Egypt?
  Hvordan har du det i Egypt? / How are you doing in Egypt?
• - Supert! Det er sommer her! Sola skinner hver dag, det er veldig varmt! / Super! It is summer here! The sun is shining every day, it is very warm here!
• - Jeg bader hver dag. / I swim every day.

Å bade

to swim

Hmm ... I'm jealous... Jeg er sjalu...

• - Jeg har det kjempefint! Det er over 25 varmegrader nå. / I feel great! It is over 25 degrees right now.
• - Lise, når reiser du tilbake? / Lisa, when are you coming back?
• - Jeg vet ikke. Du må huske skjerf, Jan. / I do not know, Jan. Du må huske skjerf, literally: “You have to remember a scarf - do not forget to wear a scarf.”

Et skjerf

a scarf

Haha, Lisa is teasing Jan :)

• - Ja, takk, Lise, det skal jeg gjøre. / Yes, thank you, Lisa, I will do it.
• - Jan, jeg må gå nå. Ha det. / Ok, Jan, I have to go now. Bye.

Lisa enjoys the hot Egyptian sun and we will continue to learn Norwegian. Attention, let’s learn subordinate clauses - leddsetninger:

Hun sier at det er sommer i Egypt.

She says that it is summer in Egypt.

Subordinate clauses cannot go alone. They are connected to the main sentence with conjunctions – subjunksjoner. In this lesson, we will learn some basic conjunctions:

  at

that

  om

or

A conjunction is followed by a subordinate clause, whose word order is the same as in the main clause: subject + predicate + object, clauses.

Let’s practice. I'll tell you a statement and we will make a sentence with ‘Hun sier’ – ‘she says’ and a subordinate clause. We will make the first sentence together and after a pause I will help you check the sentence. Er dere Klare? Quickly, let's start:

Det er varmt. – It is warm. Make a sentence with the following beginning: Hun sier ...

Hun sier at det er varmt.

She says that it is warm.

Fine, let’s continue. Det er kaldt i Norge. - It is cold in Norway. Let’s make a sentence with: Hun sier ...

Hun sier at det er kaldt i Norge.

Attention, if we have a subordinate clause with setningsadverbial - clause such as: ikke – not, alltid – always, kanskje - maybe and other clauses that we have already learnt in previous lessons, the sentmodifier will always follow immediately after the subject, i.e. before the predicate. For example: Hun sier at hun ikke skal bade i dag.

Let’s practice following the same model as in the previous task:

Jeg fryser ikke. – I am not freezing. Let's make the first sentence together:

Hun sier at hun ikke fryser.

Great! Let’s continue. Jeg liker ikke vinter. – I don’t like winter.

Hun sier at hun ikke liker vinter.

So far we have been using only one conjunction: at - that. Let’s make other sentences – interrogative clauses – with the conjunction: om – if. The word order in the subordinate clause remains the same as after at. Let's start a sentence with ‘Hun spør‘ - she asks: Er det kaldt ute? – Is it cold outside?

Hun spør om det er kaldt ute.

She asks if it is cold outside.

The next one: Er du sulten? - Are you hungry?

Hun spør om du er sulten.

Excellent. What a surprise, I have got a postcard! I wonder who sent it? Let’s learn a few useful words:

Recipient

  en mottaker

Sender

  en sender

• - Hvem er sender? / Who is the sender?
• - Ema, det er et postkort fra Lise. / It is a postcard from Lisa.
• - Fra Lise? Hva skriver hun? / From Lisa? What is she writing?
• - Hør nå. / Listen to me now. I have used the imperative that we are going to learn in our next lessons.

Hør

listen

Hei, Jan! Jeg koser meg med god mat og drikke. - Hi, Jan! I pamper myself with good food and drink.

Well, it seems, Lisa is having a really good time in the sunny Egypt and I and Emma are freezing amid the Norwegian fjords.

Jeg koser meg med

I pamper myself, I enjoy something

This is a reflexive verb, which we are going to learn in our next lessons.

Jeg ligger på stranda hver dag. Ohhh... - I lie on the beach every day.

  å ligge på stranda

to lie on the beach

It seems Jan will burst with envy.

Jeg elsker Egypt! - I love Egypt!

Hun skriver at hun elsker Egypt! - She writes that she loves Egypt.

Jan, vil dere reise til Egypt? Hilsen, Lise. - Jan, do you want to come to Egypt? Regards, Lisa.

Ema, hun spør vi vil reise til Egypt. - Ema asks if we want to come to Egypt. Have you noticed that I am using leddsetninger? Fint, good job :)

• - Ema, skal vi reise til Egypt? / Ema, will we go to Egypt?
• - Oh, this is an unexpected offer.
• - Ema, jeg vil reise til Egypt og besøke Lise. / I want to go to Egypt and visit Lisa.

Now say this sentence starting with: Jan says - Jan sier...

Let’s check: Jan sier at han vil reise til Egypt og besøke Lise. Supert! We're doing great!

Jeg skriver et postkort til Lise. – I’m writing a postcard to Lisa.

Jeg skriver at det er veldig kaldt i Norge nå. Vi fryser. – I’m writing that it is very cold in Norway at this time of year. We are freezing.

Og jeg skriver at jeg og Ema, vi skal til Egypt snart.

Hva? What? Jan writes that he and I, Ema, are going to Egypt soon. And why not? Hvorfor ikke?

• - Students, in the next lesson we will go on a trip! Vi skal til Egypt :) Ema, skal vi gå og pakke kofferten? – Ema, shall we go to pack our luggage?
• - Ja, Jan, det skal vi gjøre! Yes, let us do it!
• - Ha det bra alle sammen, vi ses i Egypt.
• - See you in lesson 13, bye, vi høres!