Nineteenth lesson

Pronoun that refers to one or more unspecified beings, objects, or place and Scandinavian mythology

In the nineteenth norwegianABC.com lesson, we are saying hello from a hotel room in Hurgada, where Jan has been sitting on the bed from midday with his head lowered because of the lost suitcase. Jan, cheer up! Today we will learn the use of ja and jo, noen and noe and the fun words – interjections. We will also learn interesting information about Scandinavian mythology. We are sure, this knowledge will surprise even the Norwegians. La oss begynne!

dictionary

Dictionary   

notes

Notes   

God kveld. Good evening. Yes, it is evening here. In the nineteenth norwegianABC.com lesson, we are saying hello from a hotel room in Hurgada, where Jan has been sitting on the bed from midday with his head lowered because of the lost suitcase. Jan, cheer up!

• - OK greit, da. God dag kjære elever! Hvordan går det med dere? Ikke så verst? Javel. Vi begynner. Hva sier du? Hvordan går det med meg? Nei... Jeg er skuffet.

    skuffet

  disappointed

  How can I not be disappointed, if they cannot find my big yellow suitcase with all the Norwegian goodies and presents to Lisa.
• - Vi skal prøve å muntre ham opp./Vi skal prøve å muntre ham opp. Let’s try to cheer him up together, OK? I will go and ask the hotel staff if they have found the suitcase.

Today we will learn the use of ja and jo, noen and noe and the fun words – interjections. We will also learn interesting information about Scandinavian mythology. We are sure, this knowledge will surprise even the Norwegians.

But at first we will have a listening exercise – lytteøvelse. Let’s practice.

Greit, vi begynner. En lytteøvelse. Lytt og gjenta.

Kj-lyden
Kjedelig, kjedelig
Kjeft, kjeft
Kjake, Kjake
Kjapp, kjapp
Kjede, kjede
Kjekk, kjekk

Fint! Dere er flinke med 'kj' – lyden

Skal vi prøve – y-lyden? Greit, vi begynner:
Lys, lys
Ynde, ynde
Yrke, yrke
Yte, yte
Ytelse, ytelse
Ytring, ytring

Supert! Nå er det kort o-lyd:
ung, ung
slump, slump
dump, dump
brum, brum
tung, tung

Lang o-lyd:
Sol, sol
stol stol
mor, mor
fole, fole
bord, bord
nord, nord
klor, klor

Hører du e eller i? – What vowel do you hear: e or i?

Se - e
Si - i

Pine - i
Pene - e

Leker - e
Liker - i

Lev - e
Liv - i

Ti - e
Te - i

Fred - e
Fri - i

Let’s quickly repeat the grammar of the previous lesson.

Ema will say the subjektsform of a pronoun and you will say objektsform, greit? Let’s start:

Jeg
You say – meg – me

Du
objektsform: deg

Han
objektsform: ham

Hun
objektsform: henne

Vi
objektsform: oss

Dere
objektsform: dere

De
objektsform: dem

You did good! Bra! If you are not sure yet, rewind to the previous lesson and repeat. By the way, as a teacher, I must remind you that independent work is very important: listen to Norwegian songs, radio, watch TV programmes, read newspapers online. It is great if your colleague or friend is also learning this language – improvise the situations, talk to each other, examine and ask each other new things and boast of new learnt words. And most important, listen to norwegianABC lessons as often as you can, because the Norwegian grammar presented in them is easy to understand and fun to listen to.

• - Ema, skal vi ikke møte Lisa i kveld?
• - Jo, jeg tror det.

Have you noticed? In Ema’s answer we heard jo, not ja. You would probably ask me why she did not answer: ja, jeg tror det.

A simple question, without a negation, for example:

Kommer Lisa i morgen? – Is Lisa coming tomorrow?

We will answer positively as follows:

Ja, jeg tror det. – Yes, I think so.

If there is a negation in the sentence, for example, the word, ikke, we will positively answer with jo instead of ja, for example:

Skal vi ikke ha fisk til middag i dag? – Shall we not eat fish for lunch today?

Jo. Jo. – Yes (i.e., we will eat fish for lunch).

Let’s practice. Attention, in this task, you will have to answer the question using ja or jo.

Kommer du ikke?
______ , jeg kommer snart.
Jo, jeg kommer snart.

Skal vi ha kjøtt til middag i dag?
______, det skal vi.
Ja, det skal vi.

Vil du ikke ha frokost?
______, gjerne.
Jo, gjerne. – Yes, gladly.

Vil du ha en pose?
______, gjerne.
Ja, gjerne.

I think it is clear when to use ja and jo, right? We have mastered one more rule of Norwegian grammar. Easy as pie.

Let’s do another one, OK? We will learn to use the indefinite pronouns NOEN and NOE. What are they called in Norwegian. Ema?

Ubestemte pronomener   noe og   noen.

Yes. They mean: something, someone, anyone, some and so on. They are very useful and we must learn them. You don’t think so? If we do not know ubestemte pronomener, how will we say ‘I will definitely do something fun in summer’? There is no other way to say it. Ubestemte pronomener enrich our language and in truth, if you learn them, your Norwegian will be more sophisticated. Attention, let’s listen to the rules.

NOEN

1. This indefinite pronoun is used to speak of live things and people:

  det er noen i huset – Someone is at home.
  kan noen høre meg? – Does anyone hear me?

2. NOEN is always used in plural:

  Katrine ser noen jenter – Katrine sees some girls.
  noen av bilene er gamle – Some of the cars are old.

3. NOEN is used with feminine and masculine nouns in questions and negative sentences.

Do not be afraid, it only sounds complicated. For example:
  har du noen idé? – Do you have any ideas?

I have asked a question. The word 'idea' is masculine, so we use noen. Enkelt? Yes, simple. Another example will be a negative sentence with a masculine noun as well:
  jeg har dessverre ikke noen sykkel – Unfortunately, I do not have any bike.

NOE

1. NOE is used when the pronoun does not have a direct reference, when we speak of something abstract:

  skal du gjøre noe hyggelig i sommer? – Are you going to do something fun in summer?
  det er ikke noe interessant på TV – There’s nothing interesting on TV.
Another good example to make it completely clear:
  noe er bedre enn ingenting – Something is better than nothing.

2. NOE is used with uncountable nouns.

Easy to remember, right?
  har du noe melk? – Do you have any milk?

3. NOE is used in singular questions and negative sentences with neuter nouns:

  jeg ser ikke noe eple på bordet – I see no apple on the table.
  har Lise noe sted å bo? – Does Lisa have any place to live?

Attention! NOE also means ‘a little’. BUT after a verb we must use 'litt', for example:
  jeg skal trene litt. – I will practice a little.

Students, if you feel you have not learnt these noe and noen rules, rewind the record and listen to them again, because now we will do some tasks. Are you saying you are scared?  Alright, before the exercise, let’s relax and listen to “Fakta om Norge”. Today we will tell you about the Scandinavian mythology.

It is the Scandinavian legends and myths about ancient heroes and gods, creation and destruction of the universe.

Scandinavian mythology is known from the fragments collected, written down and adapted by the medieval Christian scientists and therefore, original beliefs, views and practices cannot be described precisely. Most information is provided in the Poetic Edda, Prose Edda and Heimskringla written by Christian Snor Sturluson at the beginning of the 8th century, who considered the Scandinavian gods to be devils. Scandinavian mythology is very close to German mythology and the latter originates from Indo-European mythology.

It is known that Scandinavian mythology has developed slowly, the importance of gods and heroes has changed in different times and places. However, the cult of Odin has spread from West Germany to Scandinavia quite recently, when the myths were written down. Older deities of less importance (Ullr, the god of fertility Njörd and Heimdall) have lost popularity when Odin became more important. Odin was related to learning, wisdom, poetry, and magic.

Ancient Scandinavians believed in the spirit of a man, which was called fylgja and hamingja and corresponds to the Christian understanding of soul. Their cosmology is comprised of the world tree Yggdrasil and nine worlds on three levels, inhabited by gods, people, giants, dwarves, elves, and other creatures.

There are many gods in the Scandinavian mythology. The chief god Odin, his wife, goddess of home Frigg, god of thunder Thor, who protected the people and other gods from the giants and who was especially popular among Scandinavian peasants, Freyr, god of prosperity, his sister Freyja, goddess of fertility, and many other gods. The gods were divided into two competing camps: Æsir and Vanir. Odin was the leader of Æsir, which included at least 12 gods. All gods lived together in Asgard.

It is believed that many any ancient mythical heroes, some of which originated from real persons, have originated from gods, for example, Sigurd, the killer of dragons.

Scandinavian gods were served by priests called godars. The gods were worshipped in nature by glorifying the guardian trees, close to sacred wells or among sacred stones arranged in a certain order. Later on, wooden shrines were used, which housed the altars with carved images of gods. The most important shrine is in Gamla Uppsala, where animals and even people were sacrificed.

We have had a rest, right? Now let’s do a task, where will have to use noen or noe. This time, the task will be more difficult. Not only do we want you to say the indefinite pronoun you choose, but also why – to say the rule. Agreed? Let’s start.

1. Jeg har ______ bøker.
Jeg har noen bøker.
Why do we say noen?
Yes, because the noun in the sentence is plural – bøker. NOEN is always used with plural.

2. Du stiller ______ vanskelige spørsmål.
Du stiller noen vanskelige spørsmål (et spørsmål).
Why do we use noen? Yes, the same reason as in the last sentence – plural.

3. Har du ______ epler?
Jan Har du noen epler?
Why is noen the right answer? Because noen is used with masculine and feminine nouns in questions and negative sentences.

4. Attention, the next sentence will be negative.
Jeg vet ______ om det.
Jeg vet ikke noe om det.
Well, can you tell what rule is applicable here?
Noe will be used when the pronoun does not have a direct reference, when we speak of something abstract. If you have answered this way – great :)

5. This sentence will also be negative:
Ragnhild har ______hus.
Ragnhild har ikke noe hus.
What rule is applied in this sentence?
Noe is used in sentences with neuter nouns.

Supert! We have finished the task! Here is someone from the hotel staff! Maybe they have found my suitcase?

• - Ja, hei, hvor er kofferten min? hvor er kofferten min??! Hva sier du? Huttetu! Huttetu! – Yes, hello, where is my suitcase? Where is my suitcase??? What are you saying? It’s crazy! It’s crazy!

This fun and personally for me amusing word 'huttetu' is an interjection, which in Norwegian is: interjeksjon.

Interjection –   interjeksjon – is an uninflected part of speech, which expresses different feelings, for example: oh, ouch, wow, gosh.

They are said once or repeated. The interjections indicate gratefulness, anger, scolding, greeting and are different from nouns in that they do not name a feeling, but are just related to it. Interjeksjoner are used depending on the mood, which respectively shapes the intonation of the whole sentence and the meaning of the interjection itself. Therefore, the same sound in a respective context uttered in a certain intonation may mean resentment, offense, angry or nice wish, etc.

Three main categories of interjeksjoner:

1. Lydhermende ord – the words imitating sounds – onomatopoetic interjections, for example:
  ding-dong! – Tick-tock
  pang! – Bang!
  voff! – Woof!
  mjau! – Cats say it – Meow! Meow!

2. Exclamations:
  au! – Ouch!
  fy! – Yes, it is easy to guess that it is 'boo, what a shame'.
  æsj! – What do we say? 'Pooh' – most often to express disgust.
  akk! – In English we say 'oh' or 'gosh'. As I have mentioned before, the particular situation of its use depends on the context of the sentence. It may express surprise, frights, admiration, etc.
  hurra! – This must be remembered. In Norway, when watching sports or football on TV, it is a must-know. Hurra – hurray!
  fysj! – Fysj in English means something like 'fie', 'pew' – it expresses disgust, loathing.
  gudskjelov – it is an equivalent of our 'thank God'.
  prosit – Bless you.
  gosh – means 'gosh'.

3. The third group of interjeksjon includes the two words we know: ja, nei and another you may have heard of:
Tja, tja. – The English say ‘yeah’. As my grandmother used to say, it is a witty way to say ‘yes’.
It is interesting that these are the words for saying goodbye.
  farvel – Farewell
  adjø – Bye bye
'Hei', 'halo', which are already known to us and other words are attributed to interjections – interjeksjoner.

The interjections express strong feelings so logically, curse words are also interjections. We heard some of them in one of the previous lessons. But tsss, don’t tell anyone, alright?

Punctuation of interjections:

If an interjection stands alone in a sentence, we usually write an exclamation mark. For example, as after these words, which both mean 'hello':

Hei!

Heisann!

If an interjection is inserted in a sentence, we usually use a comma after it, and if it is at the end of a sentence – an exclamation mark. For example:

  fy, så lat du er! – Pew, what a sloth!

Fun, right? Interjeksoner makes our speech expressive like nothing else. And at the end of the lesson, Ema and I have nothing else to say but:

Hurra hurra for dere, dere er kjempeflinke! – Hurray to you, you are very smart and clever!

• - Ja, hurra hurra, og adjø. Vi snakkes neste gang.