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  1. 8
  2. Grammar

NoW 8 Grammar

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8 Grammar

8 Grammar


Possessives

VIDEO

sin - si - sitt - sine

In Chapter 7 you were introduced to the possessives - the different forms of min (my/mine), din (your/yours singular) and vår (our/ours) and hans (his), hennes (her/hers) and deres (your/yours plural + their/theirs).

There is, however, a reflexive form of hans/hennes (3. person singular) and deres (3. person plural: their/theirs). The reflexive form is used when the subject of the sentence owns the object, and the other form is used when the subject does not own the object:

Peter tok bilen sin. → Peters bil
Peter took his car.
Peter tok bilen hans. → Franks bil
Peter took his car.


The form, sin, agrees in gender and number with the owned noun, where sin is the masculine singular form, si the feminine singular, sitt the neuter singular form and sine the plural form (see table).

Owner Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
I faren min
my father
mora mi
my mother
huset mitt
my house
bøkene mine
my books
you faren din
your father
mora di
your mother
huset ditt
your house
bøkene dine
your books
he faren hans
his father
faren sin
his (own) father
mora hans
his mother
mora si
his (own) mother
huset hans
his house
huset sitt
his (own) house
bøkene hans
his books
bøkene sine
his (own) books
she

 

 

faren hennes
her father
faren sin
her (own) father
mora hennes
her mother
mora si
her (own) mother
huset hennes
her house
huset sitt
her (own) house
bøkene hennes
her books
bøkene sine
her (own) books
we faren vår
our father
mora vår
our mother
huset vårt
our house
bøkene våre
our books
you faren deres
your father
mora deres
your mother
huset deres
your house
bøkene deres
your books
they

 

 

faren deres
their father
faren sin
their (own) father
mora deres
their mother
mora si
their (own) mother
huset deres
their house
huset sitt
their (own) house
bøkene deres
their books
bøkene sine
their (own) books


Quizlet

Other examples:

Peter finner ikke mobiltelefonen sin.
Peter can not find his cell phone.
→ Peters mobiltelefon
Peter finner ikke mobiltelefonen hans.
Peter can not find his cell phone.
→ Kens mobiltelefon
Etterpå går Peter til rommet sitt.
Afterwards, Peter goes to his room.
→ Peters rom
Han (Peter) skriver en tekstmelding til mora si.
He writes a text message to his mother.
→ Peters mor
Han (Peter) har gledet seg til turen sammen med de nye vennene sine på norskkurset.
He has been looking forward to the trip with
his new friends from the Norwegian course.
→ Peters venner


Note that sin - si - sitt - sine can not be used in the subject:

Subject
Mobiltelefonen hans er ny.
His cell phone is new.
but:
Subject Object
Han finner ikke mobiltelefonen sin.
He can not find his cell phone.

Adjectives

Comparison

VIDEO


a) Main pattern

Normally the adjectives are compared in the following way:

Positive Comparative
(+ enn = than)
Superlative  
fin finere finest fine - finer - finest
kald kaldere kaldest cold - colder - coldest
varm varmere varmest warm - warmer - warmest


Examples:

Vinteren er kald i Trondheim.
The winter is cold in Trondheim.
Vinteren er kaldere på Oppdal enn i Trondheim.
The winter is colder in Oppdal than in Trondheim.
Vinteren er kaldest på Røros.
The winter is coldest in Røros.


b) Exceptions

1) Adjectives ending in -(l)ig and -som take only -st in the superlative form:

Positive Comparative (+ enn = than) Superlative
billig billigere  billigst cheap
hyggelig  hyggeligere hyggeligst nice
morsom  morsommere  morsomst amusing/funny

 
2) An -e disappears in the comparative and superlative form when the adjectives end in -el, -en and -er:

Positive Comparative (+ enn = than) Superlative
enkel enklere enklest simple
moden modnere modnest ripe, mature
vakker vakrere vakrest beautiful

 
3) Many adjectives ending in -sk and adjectives ending in -e are compared with mer (more) and mest (most).
Adjectives from the present perfect (example: berømt) and several long words and some foreign words are also compared in the same way:

Positive Comparative (+ enn = than) Superlative
praktisk mer praktisk mest praktisk  practical
moderne mer moderne mest moderne modern
berømt mer berømt  mest berømt famous
interessant mer interessant mest interessant interesting
absurd mer absurd mest absurd absurd


c) Some adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms:

Positive Comparative (+enn = than) Superlative
dårlig  verre verst bad
god/bra bedre best good
gammel eldre eldst old
ung yngre yngst young
stor større størst big
liten mindre minst small
lang lengre lengst long
tung tyngre tyngst heavy


 Example:

Ken er ung.
Ken is young.
Ken er yngre enn Peter.
Ken is younger than Peter.
Maria er yngst.
Maria is (the) youngest.


Note the following:

1) The comparative form is invariable. The gender of the noun and the number (singular or plural) does not matter:

Ken er yngre enn Peter.
Maria er yngre enn Ken.
Maria og Ken er yngre enn Peter.


2) When the superlative form is placed in front of a definite noun the adjectives end in -e. In addition, the definite articles den, det and de, which agree in gender and number with the noun, are required (see also Adjectives, the double definite construction, Chapter 6):

den yngste jenta
the youngest girl
det fineste huset
the nicest house
de beste bøkene
the best books


3) When the superlative form appears as predicate after verbs like å være (to be) we can use the indefinite or the definite form of the superlative:

Maria er yngst i klassen. Maria er den yngste i klassen.
Maria is (the) youngest in her class.


4) We use the superlative form when we compare two items:

Hvem er eldst/den eldste, Peter eller Ken?
Who is older/the older, Peter or Ken?
Hvilken jakke er billigst/den billigste, den røde eller den svarte?
Which jacket is cheaper/the cheaper, the red or the black one?
Hvilken by er størst/den største, Trondheim eller Oslo?
Which city is bigger/the bigger, Trondheim or Oslo?

Prepostions

Time expressions. A lot of time expressions are formed together with prepositions. Below you are presented with some of these expressions:

The preposition I is used:

a) in front of years, months, holidays and other expressions regarding time:

i 2009, i oktober, i jula (for/during Christmas),
(i) neste uke (next week), i kveld (tonight), i morgen (tomorrow).


b) in front of seasons. The season you refer to is a specific one, and the tense of the verb will indicate whether you refer to the present season, to the coming season or to the last season. Note that we use the indefinite form of the noun (the season):

Peter går på norskkurs i høst.
Peter takes a Norwegian course this autumn.
Ken skal studere psykologi i høst.
Ken is going to study psychology this autumn.
I høst dro studentene på hyttetur.
This autumn the students went on a cabin trip.


c) in front of periods of time:

Anna har bodd i Trondheim i tre måneder.
Anna has lived in Trondheim for three months.
Hun skal være her i to år.
She is going to stay here for two years.


The preposition OM is used:

a) in front of seasons and other periods of time when the periods are repeated.

Note the definite form of the noun:

Marinela liker å bade om sommeren.
Marinela likes to go for a swim in the summer.
Om kvelden ser Ken på TV.
In the evening, Ken watches TV.


b) to express future:

Studentene skal reise på tur om to dager.
The students are going for a trip in two days.
Kurset begynner om 15 minutter.
The course starts in 15 minutes.


The discontinuous preposition FOR – SIDEN:

We use the discontinuous preposition for - siden to express ago:

Anna kom til Trondheim for tre måneder siden.
Anna came to Trondheim three months ago.


The preposition PÅ:

Together with weekdays we use på:

Bussen drar klokka 16.00 på søndag.
The bus leaves at 4 pm on Sunday.
Maria er på Dragvoll på fredager.
Maria is at Dragvoll on Fridays.
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