Fifth lesson

We like shopping. Women perhaps are nodding their heads now and men..?

Today we're going to learn food products and plurals of nouns.

Please remember what you learnt last time. Listen to Jan and repeat all of it.

dictionary

Dictionary   

notes

Notes   

God dag, alle sammen! Hvordan går det med dere? Hello there, how are you getting along with norwegianABC.com? Well? Ema and I have no doubt that you already can brag about trying to speak Norwegian! Dere prøver å snakke norsk! Veldig bra! By the way, I forgot to greet Ema. Halo, Ema! Emaaa? Hvor er du? Where are you? Hvor er du?

Hm, strange. Perhaps she is still in a shop... You should remember that place we ended the fourth lesson – leksjon nummer fire. Let's go to look for her, as we won't do without Ema today. And while going to the shop, let's learn some new words:   en butikk. A grocery store:   en dagligvarebutikk. Oh, what a long word. Listen, I’ll say it slowly, and you repeat:   en dagligvarebutikk. In a shop we buy   å kjøpe. So here we are faced that special Norwegian syllable “kj” again, but we already know how to pronounce it correctly, right? Let's repeat together:   å kjøpe. The next word we have to learn when going to the shop is a verb   å handle. Vi liker å handle – we like shopping. Women perhaps are nodding their heads now, and men are raising their eyebrows

A shop

  en butikk

A grocery store

en dagligvarebutikk

To buy

å kjøpe

To do shopping

å handle

We like shopping

Vi liker å handle

• - Ema, Ema, hvor er du? Well, where has Ema gone?
• - Halo, Jan, jeg er her. Jeg er i en dagligvarebutikk.
• - Hei, Ema. Du er i en dagligvarebutikk – you are in a shop. Let's ask Ema, what is she doing here: We ask like this: Hva gjør du her?

At first we say an interrogative word: hva. In the second place, as you remember, is a verb – in this case, a verb „å gjøre“ - „to do“ in a form „gjør“, then - a personal pronoun „du“ and a local circumstance „her“. Hva gjør du her, Ema?

• - Jan, jeg handler. – I'm doing shopping. Jan, vil du bli med? Vil dere bli med?

Ema invites us to join. Å bli med – means “to join”. Vil du bli med - ,,vil” is a modal verb we learned in the third lesson – Vil dere bli med? – Do you want to join? I hope you're saying “yes” :)

Du er i en dagligvarebutikk

You are in a shop

Å gjøre

to do

Jeg handler

I'm doing shopping

Å bli med

to join

Vil dere bli med?

Do you want to join?

So let's go together with Ema and look at what she has bought already. I can see at a distance that a fully loaded shopping cart stands there. Let's get closer. Ema, hva skal du kjøpe? Ema, what will you buy? Remember, we have learned a modal verb “skal” in the third lesson. You see how useful it is? Hva skal du kjøpe, Ema?

• - Jan, jeg skal kjøpe ett brød.

Did you understand what Ema is going to buy? Ett brød – one loaf of bread. Jeg skal kjøpe ett brød.

Ett brød

one loaf of bread

• - Ja, og jeg skal kjøpe fem sjokoladeplater „Troika”.

Ema is a gourmet. She is going to buy five “Troika” chocolates, liked by most Norwegians. By the way, it's my favourite – chocolate bar also ei / en sjokoladeplate. Fem sjokoladeplater – five chocolate bars.

Ei / en sjokoladeplate

chocolate bar

Fem sjokoladeplater

five chocolate bars

Yes, today we are going to learn plurals of nouns. Without it we are lost, for sure. The plurals of nouns in Norwegian are made in quite a simple way. You can have a chocolate or another favourite sweet, if you have it somewhere near, and listen to the grammar rules. By the way, I can't help being happy – only with norwegianABC.com, you, Ema and I can learn in such a fun way!

So, in Norwegian, as we already know perfectly, there are three noun genders: feminine, masculine, and neuter. What do we do after hearing a Norwegian noun we don't know yet? We search on the internet dictionary or in a book, to see what gender the noun is. Another funny thing is that a noun in plural form is usually written in a dictionary. But let's learn to make it by ourselves. The dictionary is not going to be near all the time.

The plural of masculine and feminine gender nouns is made by adding an ending -er. For instance, in the same way as with the delicious term “chocolate bar”: en sjokoladeplate – sjokoladeplater.

Let's make a plural of another word. Look into Ema's shopping cart – well,what else is she going to buy? And here it is. Tomatoes. A tomato in Norwegian is „en tomat“, the plural will be – tomater – tomatoes. We just have to add an ending -er, because we know that this noun is of masculine gender. Tell us how many tomatoes Ema is going to buy.

A tomato

en tomat

Tomater

tomatoes

• - Jeg skal kjøpe tjueto tomater.

So we see what a precise person Ema is, as she has counted them all. And did you understand how many tomatoes she is going to buy?

Tjueto tomater

22 tomatoes

Veldig bra. If you said a wrong number, rewind the fourth lesson, and learn the numbers :) OK, now let's see how we are going to make plurals of nouns in neuter gender, that is nouns having an article „et“. In order to do this: count how many syllables a noun of neuter gender has:

1)If a noun of neuter gender is monosyllabic, for instance, et brød – bread, its plural remains the same - brød. Two units of bread will be „to brød“.

2)If a noun of neuter gender is polysyllabic, for instance, et eple – an apple, its plural will be made in the same way as making nouns of masculine and feminine gender – by adding an ending -er: epler. Five apples – fem epler.

Hm, and now you tell me, what is the plural of the word „en luft” – air? Be careful! :) It's impossible, because the word „air“ simply has no plural at all.

Such words like en melk – milk, en saft or en juice – juice, et vann – water and so on, also have no plural – these words describe uncountable things.

• - Jan, jeg skal kjøpe en agurk.
• - Did you understand? En agurk – a cucumber.
• - Nei, nei, Jan, jeg skal kjøpe fire agurker.

Ema probably is going to make salad, so she will by four cucumbers – fire agurker. En agurk – a cucumber, fire agurker – four cucumbers. We're doing fine in making plural, kjempebra, very good! What else is lacking in the salad? We have some cucumbers and tomatoes. Beans? Ei /en bønne – a bean. Bønner – beans. En bønne – bønner. Ema, skal vi kjøpe bønner?

En agurk

a cucumber

Fire agurker

four cucumbers

Ei /en bønne

a bean

Bønner

beans

• - Nei, vis skal kjøpe kjøtt.

Et kjøtt – meat. We won't make a plural with this noun, and do you know why? Yes, we can't count meat. But the meat will fit perfectly with the cucumbers, right, sant?

Et kjøtt

meat

Let's learn more varieties of meat:

Pork

et svinekjøtt

Chicken in Norwegian will be „hønsekjøtt”, but Norwegians don't use this word talking about customary “chicken”, they say et kyllingkjøtt – it means “chicken meat”.

Chicken meat

et kyllingkjøtt

Chicken

hønsekjøtt

Beef

et oksekjøtt or et storfekjøtt

Turkey meat

et kalkunkjøtt

OK, let's see what else Ema has in the cart. Oh...

A bunch of vegetables! We’ll say them all, and you repeat after us. Since today we're learning plurals, we say it all together:

A cabbage

en kål

Cabbages

kåler

en kål

kåler

A head of cabbage

en hodekål

Heads of cabbages

hodekåler

en hodekål

hodekåler

A carrot

en gulrot

Carrots

gulrøtter

en gulrot

gulrøtter

The plural of this noun, as with several others which we'll talk about a little bit later, is not made by following any rules. You just need to learn it by heart.

Broccoli

en brokkoli

Broccoli (plural)

brokollier

en brokoll

brokoller

Paprika

en paprika

Paprikas

paprikaer

en paprika

paprikaer

Attention, we can see that the plural of the international name to this vegetable is made not according to the rule, we don't say „papriker“, we just say „paprikaer“.

A potato

en potet

Potatoes

poteter

en potet

poteter

I like spicier meals, so let's see if Ema picked up some things which could complement et kjøtt – meat perfectly:

An onion

en løk

Onions

løker

A garlic

en hvitløk

Garlic (plural)

hvitløker

Ema has put a really large amount of vegetables - mange grønnsaker into her shopping cart. En grønnsak – a vegetable – grønnsaker – vegetables. Mange grønnsaker. You ask, what is „mange“?

En grønnsak

a vegetable

Grønnsaker

vegetables

In Norwegian there are two words meaning “many” and “much”: mange and mye. It's very simple to identify when we should use which word.

We say “mange” next to objects we can count, as we have just mentioned: mange grønnsaker.

Let's pay attention to pronunciation of “mange”: don't pronounce “ng”, say „mange“ – when saying “ng” our tongue should press the palate.

• - Mange, mange. We can count vegetables, so we say “mange”.

We use “mye” with the nouns we can't count, let's say: water, milk: „mye vann“, „mye melk“.

Pronunciation of “mye” is also special. Let's repeat it together:

• - Mye, mye. Mye vann, mye melk. Well, and how can we solve the fruit thing? Ema, skal du kjøpe frukter?

En frukt

a fruit

Frukter

fruit

• - Jeg skal kjøpe frukter. Jeg skal kjøpe en ananas. Nei, jeg skal kjøpe to ananaser.

En ananas

a pineapple

Ananaser

pineapples

Two pineapples

to ananaser

• - Og jeg skal kjøpe sju pærer.

A pear

ei/en pære

Pears

pærer

Well, and what does „sju pærer“ mean? Yes, that's right, seven pears, riktig – „right”. Ema is a pear lover :) Great, pærer er sunt. Sunt – healthy. Pærer er sunt.

Sju pærer

seven pears

Sunt

healthy

• - Ja, pærer er sunt. Frukter og grønnsaker er sunt.
• - Ja, veldig riktig! Eating fruit and vegetables is healthy.
• - Javel, jeg skal kjøpe tre bananer.

En banan

banana

Bananer

bananas

Tre bananer

three bananas

Mange bananer

many bananas

Do you remember how to name one of the most popular fruit in Norwegian? Think a bit. Et eple. How can we say – many apples? Apples, with no doubt, are countable, so we will say “mange”. Et eple is a noun in neuter gender, consisting of two syllables. We can make its plural by adding an ending -e. Yes, exactly: mange epler. Supert!

Well, well, and what else did Ema choose from fruit? Yes, I see a lemon:

En sitron

a lemon

Lemons

sitroner

I picked my favourite fruit also.

A mango

en mango

Mangoes

mangoer

Attention – we say “mangoer”, not “manger”.

Well, and what is this tiny, green and downy fruit at the very bottom of Ema's shopping cart? Yes, you have probably guessed:

A kiwi

en kiwi

Kiwis

kiwier

And now let's repeat the vegetables. Jan will say them in Norwegian – each name of a vegetable in a singular or plural form. You say it in English. After a pause you can check the correct answer with me. Ready? Put the chocolate aside for a while, if you're still eating it as I offered in the beginning of this lesson, so we can start:

en brokkoli

broccoli

hvitløker

garlic

poteter

potatoes

paprikaer og gulrøtter

paprikas and carrots

en løk og en hodekål

an onion and a head of cabbage

Veldig bra! You didn't get tired, did you? Let's continue, la oss fortsette. How are we going to manage the varieties of meat? I'll say each kind of meat in Norwegian and English, but pay attention, my combination may be incorrect. For instance, I'll say “pork” in Norwegian, and translate it as “chicken”. So you'll have to say if I translate it correctly, and if it’s not, you have to translate it the right way. Do you think that I am torturing you? :) Let's go:

• - Et kalkunkjøtt - turkey meat.
• - Yes, right: et kalkunkjøtt – turkey meat.
• - Et oksekjøtt - chicken meat.
• - No, wrong. Et oksekjøtt – beef.
• - Et svinekjøtt – pork.
• - Yes, right: et svinekjøtt – pork.
• - Et kyllingkjøtt – chicken meat.
• - Yes, right: et kyllingkjøtt – chicken.

Ech, the names of meat are not the easiest ones, but it will be great if we don't get lost in a Norwegian shop, and choose our favourite one, right?

Husker dere frukter? - And do you remember the fruit?

Å huske

to remember

We make a question: husker dere frukter? Husker dere frukter? So tell me, which fruit do you like? Hvilke frukter liker dere? In the second lesson we were learning about „hvilken, hvilket, hvilke“ and making questions. If this question sounds complicated, then listen to grammar rules in the second lesson again. Hvilke frukter liker dere? Which fruit do you like? Answer, we are waiting. Bra!

We have been learning quite well in this lesson. Uff. Maybe we can go to the cash desk with all of our products already. OK? A female cashier ei / en kassadame is sitting and smiling kindly to us. If a male cashier sat here, we would say: en kasserer. Halo, god dag.

A female cashier

ei / en kassadame

A male cashier

en kasserer

• - Jan, kad du hjelpe meg?
• - Ja, Ema, jeg skal hjelpe deg. Ema is asking for help. It isn't easy to pick so many products from the cart.
• - Hva koster mangoer, Ema?

Well, here we are near the cash desk already. Jan is helping me take the products out of the cart. We'll have to pay soon – å betale, to pay – å betale, and he is worried about how much it all costs! Hva koster? – How much does it cost? Jan is worried about how much my favourite mangoes cost, I've put eight of them into the cart – åtte mangoer cost. Vel vel.

To pay soon

å betale

To pay

å betale

How much does it cost?

Hva koster?

• - Ema, hva koster åtte mangoer?
• - Jan, åtte mangoer koster to hundre og femti kroner.
• - To hundre og femti kroner?
• - Ja, Jan. Er det dyrt? Is it expensive? Er det dyrt eller billig? Is it expensive or is it cheap?

Dyrt

expensive

Billig

cheap

• - Nei, det er billig. Vi kan kjøpe mangoer.
• - Greit. Jeg liker mangoer.
• - Javel. Hvor mye skal vi betale? How much will we have to pay? Skal vi se. Vi må betale ni hundre kroner. Ema, skal vi betale med kontanter?

Å betale med kontanter

to pay in cash

Å betale med kort

to pay by credit card

• - Ema, skal vi betale med kontanter eller skal vi betale med kort?
• - Ja, vi kan betale med kontanter. Værsågod, her er penger, ni hundre kroner. Here you are, this is the money, nine hundred crones. Værsågod, her er penger, ni hundre kroner. Plural of the noun “money” - penger.

Money

penger

• - Nei, Ema, takk, jeg kan betale. Jeg skal betale og du kan lage kveldsmat.
• - Jan says that he will pay, and I can make supper. :) ech, what a smart man.

Å lage mat

to make food

En frokost

breakfast

Å lage frokost

to make breakfast

En lunsj

lunch

Å lage lunsj

to make lunch

En middag

dinner (meal)

Å lage middag

to make dinner / meal

En kveldsmat

supper

Å lage kveldsmat

to make supper

And how do you say “to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper”?

To eat

å spise

To eat breakfast

å spise + frokost

And how do you say “to eat lunch”? Say it loudly, I'm waiting.

Bra! Å spise lunsj.

To eat dinner

å spise middag

To eat supper

å spise kveldsmat

Kjempebra! Very, very good!

Well, and I will have to: å lage kveldsmat – make supper, og å spise kveldsmat – and eat supper, sammen med Jan – together with Jan. Oh, he has already paid for the products, and is coming to us. Poor guy, he's bringing many bags.

A bag

en pose

Bags

poser

En pose

mange poser

Javel, ha det bra alle sammen! We're going home and will make a meal - vi går hjem og vi skal lage mat. Do not forget, that with norwegianABC.com you can learn while making your meal, or doing anything else anywhere – while driving, running, swimming, flying or lying! It's only important for you to be in a good mood and willing to learn beautiful and proper Norwegian language!

• - Jan and I are saying to you all, we will see you next time.
• - Ha det, vi høres neste gang!