Eighth lesson

We're going to learn "det-sentences" - "det setninger", to talk about weather and clothes.

Hei alle sammen! God dag! Hvordan går det med dere? This is already the eighth lesson of NorwegianABC.com. Leksjon nummer åtte.

I'll say in advance, that our lesson is going to be really fun. We're going to learn ,,det-sentences” - ,,det setninger”, to talk about weather and clothes.

dictionary

Dictionary   

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Notes   

• - Hei alle sammen! God dag! Hvordan går det med dere? This is already the eighth lesson of NorwegianABC.com. Leksjon nummer åtte. Hei, Ema.
• - Hei, Jan. Hvordan har du det?
• - Takk, Ema, bare bra. Ema, du må hilse på Lise. / Ema, you must say hello to Lisa.

  å hilse på

to say hello

We say: Å hilse på + name. Å hilse på Lise. Jeg hilser på Lise – I'm saying hello to Lisa.

• - God dag, Lise. How wonderful that we'll have someone to help us today.
• - God dag, Ema. Hvordan har du det?
• - Takk, bare bra. Hva med deg? / Thank you, I'm doing fine. And how are you?
• - Takk, det går bare bra. Kan jeg hjelpe dere i dag?

Lisa is asking if she can help us today.

• - Ja, Lise, du kan sikkert hjelpe oss. / Yes, Lisa, sure you can help us.

I'll say in advance, that our lesson is going to be really fun. We're going to learn ,,det-sentences” - ,,det setninger”, to talk about weather and – hurrah hurrah – hurra hurra – clothes.

So, let's begin. Det – setninger . Det sentences. As we know from earlier lessons, “det” means “it”. We begin a sentence with this word when we want to say some new information. Let's say:

Det er Lise.

It is Lisa.

Det er epler, og det er bananer.

Those are apples, and those are bananas.

Det er en skulptur.

It's a sculpture.

Det er mange skulpturer i Frognerparken. Frognerparken is a world-famous park in Oslo, the capital of Norway. There we can find not only a plenitude of sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland, but also a complex of fountains, footbridges, lawns, and the biggest collection of roses in Norway. By the way, Norwegians are very happy when the sun shines, and you can often see them having lunch laying on the grass, or playing games outside. Frognerparken is visited by one to two million tourists from around the world each year. Maybe you were among them? If not, we hope you also get to visit someday.And now let's repeat the sentence together with Ema:

• - Det er mange skulpturer i Frognerparken.

What else can the word “det” be used for?

As we know, there should be a subject – et subjekt in Norwegian – in each case.

Sometimes the word “det” takes the place of the subject in a sentence, and the real subject – the subject which performs a particular action – is placed later in the sentence.

It's a very typical construction of a Norwegian sentence. For instance: Det kommer mange gjester.

Many guests are coming. Det kommer – are coming. Mange gjester is the real subject – the real working parts. Det takes the place of the subject in the beginning of the sentence.

Another example: Det stanser en bil utenfor. At first I'm going to translate the sentence, because there are some words we don't know yet:

  å stanse

to stop

  stanser

stops

  en bil

a car

  utenfor

outside

Det stanser en bil utenfor.

A car stops outside.

The real subject is “a car”, which stops. Det takes the place of the subject: Det stanser.

Just look around and make some det-sentences. Relax a bit. Begin in a simple way, let's say: that is a book. Yes, correct. We say: det er ei bok. Or: det er en bok. We know, that the word “book” can be either in masculine or in feminine gender. See if you can find more things. We can use people, things, or animals.Great! I am sure you did it perfectly! Gratulerer! Congratulations!

As we can see here, we introduce some new information with the word “det”.

If we want to make the sentence stronger, we can use the word “dette” - which means something like “exactly this or this”.

Det er Jan. Og dette er Lise.

That's Jan. And this is Lisa.

Det er banananer. Og dette er epler.

Those are bananas. And these are apples.

Now you make a similar sentence. Look around and name people or things using “det” and “dette”.

Veldig bra! You did a great job :) Let's continue.

In some sentences, the Norwegian language has no working subject, only “det'.

Det regner

it is raining

  å regne

to rain

Regner – a present tense form of this verb. Det – it. Det regner – it is raining.

Det regner i dag.

It is raining today.

• - Huff. Det regner i dag! Vi kan ikke sykle!

Lisa says that it is raining today – det regner i dag! Vi kan ikke sykle.

  å sykle

to ride a bicycle

Vi kan ikke sykle.

We can't ride bicycles.

Hm, indeed, rain is tapping on the window. So, let's learn some more new phrases about weather. Firstly, how do we ask what the weather is like?

  et vær

the weather

Hvordan er været?

What's the weather like?

Været – is a marking form of a noun „et vær”. We'll talk about it in upcoming lessons.

• - Hvordan er været?
• - Det regner.

How can we ask what the weather is like today?   i dag – today. Say it loudly and check:

• - Hvordan er været i dag?

Bra! Dere er flinke!

• - Det blåser.

Lisa says, ”It's windy.”

The weather is not so good today

It is raining and it is windy.

  det regner og det blåser.

The weather is bad.

  det er et stygt vær.

Do you remember our seventh lesson? Bad weather. Weather - et vær is a noun of neuter gender, so we add -t to the main form of the adjective stygg. Since stygg ends in a double consonant “gg”, we have to brush away one “g” before adding -t: et stygt vær. And how do we say:

The weather is great / nice today.

  i dag er det pent vær.

Yes, exactly, pent, weather – is a noun of neuter gender. So when mentioning it, we should use an adjective ending with a -t in the sentence. We said – great / nice weather – pent vær. We can also say: fint vær – good weather.

Pent vær

great / nice weather

Fint vær

good weather

And how do we say:

It is snowing.

  det snør.

It is thundering.

  det tordner.

And what other types of weather are there? Let's think... What did you say? There is lightning? It sounds like this in Norwegian:

There is lightning.

  det lyner.

And how do we say “There’s lightning, but there isn’t thunder?” Say it loudly, we'll check the answer with Jan:

There’s lightning, but there isn’t thunder.

Det lyner, men det tordner ikke.

Yes, exactly, we already know how to use “ikke”: Det lyner, men det tordner ikke.

Let's learn a nice saying about weather:

It is raining cats and dogs.

  det øsregner.

Hm, indeed, it's raining cats and dogs outside, and I'm getting cold:

  det er kaldt.

Cold / it's cold.

Mmm, it would be so nice if it was warm.   det er varmt – it's warm. But I'm cold, so I have to put on some warmer clothes. While I look for some warmer clothes, let's go to that interesting break. Do you remember what it's called? Yes - ,,Fakta om Norge“ – „Facts about Norway”. This time the topic is about boxing.  The sport was banned from Norwegian TV until the end of the eighties. Why, you ask? Because Bjartmar Gjerde, who was the Managing Director of national Norwegian TV, labeled it as immoral.

Brrr it is so cold here... I'm looking for some warm clothes.

Clothing

  et klesplagg

Clothes

  klær

Clothing

  et tøy

Clothes

  tøy

Let's play: I'll tell you a new word, its meaning, and the plural form. You repeat it together with Jan. Then you think of a sentence with this new word using the new information presentation model we have learned today: Det er... For instance:

1) Outerwear –   yttertøy . It's a noun in plural.

Think of a sentence. I'll help you. For instance:

Det er gammelt yttertøy.

That is some old outerwear.

Or

Det er gult yttertøy.

That is some yellow outerwear.

I'll say a sentence and then you say one, and we'll repeat and translate it together. Oh yes, we are going to work hard. Don't rush. Concentrate, and let's begin!

2) A dress –   en kjole -   kjoler

Did you manage to think of a sentence? We'll help you. Jan, kan du hjelpe oss litt?

Ja, det kan jeg gjøre.

Det er en pen kjole.

It's a beautiful dress.

Now it's your turn to think of a sentence with this new word:

3) Trousers –   ei en bukse – plural -   bukser

And this is Jan's sentence with the word “trousers”:

Dette er nye bukser.

These are new trousers.

4) A sweater –   en genser -   gensere

And this time I will think of a sentence: det er en varm genser. It's a warm sweater. Here it is, I have found a warm sweater, and now I am putting it on. Mmm. Det er en varm genser.

5) A skirt –   et skjørt –   skjørt. It's a noun of neuter gender, so its plural is equal to singular.

Det er et kort rødt skjørt.

It's a short, red skirt.

• - So you like short skirts,huh?

Seriously, it's a very good sentence. It even has two adjectives, which are properly combined with a noun of neuter gender, et skjørt – a skirt: kort og rødt. Bra!

Let's continue. We already have a dress, trousers, a sweater, and a skirt. What are we missing? Tights? Yes:

6) Tights:   en strømpe –   strømper.

Are you thinking of sentences with a new word? Don't be lazy, and what's most important, - don't hurry, relax a bit. If you feel that you are tired, drink some coffee or tea. Take a break, and then repeat it all over again, till you master the material.

Det er nye strømper.

Those are new tights.

Now it looks like we have already gotten dressed. No, I know what's missing here: a shirt and a cap!

7) Shirt –   ei en skjorte -   skjorter

It sounds similar to skirt: et skjørt. But a skirt –   et skjørt – is a shorter word.   ei en skjorte – shirt – is a longer word. Skirts are often short, and the word is short. So that's some good advice on how to differentiate these two similar words.

Now think of a sentence with this word. This is a sentence Jan has come up with:

Det er en hvit skjorte.

It's a white shirt.

8) T-shirt will be:   en T-skjorte -   T-skjorter

And now try to translate Ema's sentence:

Det er en blå T-skjorte.

It's a blue T-shirt.

9) A hat (without a brim) -   ei en lue -   luer

Think of a sentence with this word in it. Bra! And now let's translate Ema's sentence:

Det er en kul praktisk lue.

It's a cool, practical hat.

Praktisk

practical

Kul

cool

I'm curious what Lisa’s occupation is. Today one of our topics is introductory sentences. Unfortunately, Lisa still didn't say what she does for a living. And I didn't ask her, to be honest... So I'm going to correct this mistake. She's sitting on the sofa that Jan loves so much. Oh, her shoes are really nice.

I think we forgot to teach you this word – shoes! Hei Lisa. Så fine sko du har! Hi, Lisa. Your shoes are really nice! Så fine sko du har!

  en sko – a shoe. Notice: shoes - also   sko. A pair of shoes –  et par sko. Lisa's shoes are just wonderful – new and bright red.

• - Ja, takk. Det er nye sko. Det er et nytt par røde sko. / Yes, thanks. These are new shoes. It's a pair of new red shoes.
• - Ja, de er veldig fine. / Yes, they are really nice.

Hm, how can we ask her what her occupation is...

• - Lise... eehhh... Jeg er norsklærer. Og hva jobber du med? / Lisa, I teach Norwegian. And what do you do?
• - Jeg heter Lise Solheim. Jeg er kroppsøvingslærer. / My name is Lise Solheim. I'm a teacher of physical education.

  en lærer

a teacher

  en kroppsøvingslærer

a teacher of physical educationcool

  ei en kroppsøving

physical education

That's great, we both are teachers!

But what's Jan's relationship to Lisa? Is she his friend? Are they dating? Or maybe she is his cousin?

• - Lise, Ema, vi kan gå ut. Det regner ikke.

We can go outside: vi kan gå ut. Det regner ikke – it is not raining. Yes, the weather can change very quickly in Norway because of the prevalent seaside climate. It's great that the sun is already shining outside! Sola skinner.

  ei en sol

sun

  å skinne

to shine

  sola skinner

Sun is shining

• - Ja! Så fint! Det er pent vær! Vi kan sykle! / Yes! How wonderful that we have good weather! We can ride bicycles!
• - Lise, skal du sykle med nye røde sko? / Lisa, will you ride a bicycle with your new red shoes?
• - Ja. Jeg skal gjøre det. / Yes. I will.

We are going outside to ride our bicycles. I'm sure we'll have some fun adventures along the way. And you'll hear about them in upcoming norwegianABC.com lessons.

• - See you next time! Vi høres neste gang!
• - Ha det, vi høres neste gang.
• - Ha det godt! Vi snakkes!