Learn how to use jeg er, which is the Norwegian expression for "I am"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yura: Hi everyone, Yura here. Absolute Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 4 - Starting your Holiday in Norway. |
| Filip: Hei igjen, jeg er Filip. Hi everyone, I’m Filip. |
| Yura: In this lesson, we’ll take a closer look at the uses of "I am" in Norwegian. In this lesson we’ll introduce the main character for this series, Mark. |
| Yura: Mark is a businessman on his way to a vacation in Norway. We are meeting him on the flight to Norway where he is being quizzed about who he is by the flight attendant. |
| Filip: Okay! The flight attendant is a bit formal, but again, Norwegian isn't all that formal a language. |
| Yura: Yes, let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Flight attendant: Unnskyld, er du Kristian? |
| Mark: Nei, jeg er Mark. |
| Flight attendant: Å, beklager. har du pass Mark? |
| Mark: Ja (Showing passport). |
| Flight attendant: Takk. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Flight attendant: Unnskyld, er du Kristian? |
| Mark: Nei, jeg er Mark. |
| Flight attendant: Å, beklager. har du pass Mark? |
| Mark: Ja (Showing passport). |
| Flight attendant: Takk. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Flight attendant: Unnskyld, er du Kristian? |
| Yura: Excuse me, are you Kristian? |
| Mark: Nei, jeg er Mark. |
| Yura: No, I am Mark. |
| Flight attendant: Å, beklager. har du pass Mark? |
| Yura: Oh, I’m sorry. Do you have your passport Mark? |
| Mark: Ja (Showing passport). |
| Yura: Yeah. |
| Flight attendant: Takk. |
| Yur: Thank you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Yura: So Filip, do you apologize a lot in Norwegian? |
| Filip: Yes, we do. |
| Yura: Why's that? Are Norwegians easily offended? |
| Filip: Hmm, not really. We just apologize for politeness' sake. Like if you need to pass someone in your way, or want their attention. |
| Yura: Well, that seems normal enough. |
| Filip: True, and we use it in informal situations as well. Like when talking to friends or family. It may sound a little uptight, but that's not really the case. It's not always meant as a formality, more like something we just say to indicate that we need something. |
| Yura: Can you give us an example? |
| Filip: Well, if you need to grab something behind your friend, you say "unnskyld", but what you mean is "hey, move it a little, I need the screwdriver behind you", but that is a lot of effort, so we just shorten it to "unnskyld", and the other person will understand that you need something. |
| Yura: I see, but how can they know where to move? |
| Filip: We are good at using and reading body language, of course! |
| Yura: Ah, I see. So it's like you said in lesson 1, Norwegians keep it short and concise. |
| Filip: Exactly! |
| Yura: Okay. Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Yura: The first word we shall see is: |
| Filip: Unnskyld [natural native speed] |
| Yura: Excuse me, / I'm sorry |
| Filip: Unnskyld [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Filip: Unnskyld [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Filip: å være ('er') [natural native speed] |
| Yura: to be (present 'is', 'are') |
| Filip: å være ('er') [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Filip: å være ('er') [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Filip: du [natural native speed] |
| Yura: you |
| Filip: du [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Filip: du [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Filip: nei [natural native speed] |
| Yura: no |
| Filip: nei [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Filip: nei [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Filip: ja [natural native speed] |
| Yura: yes |
| Filip: ja [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Filip: ja [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Filip: å beklage [natural native speed] |
| Yura: to be sorry |
| Filip: å beklage [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Filip: å beklage [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Filip: å ha [natural native speed] |
| Yura: to have |
| Filip: å ha [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Filip: å ha [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Filip: pass [natural native speed] |
| Yura: passport |
| Filip: pass [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Filip: pass [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Yura: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Yura: We have two words here, that have the exact same meaning, and they can be used in the same situations. |
| Filip: That's right. The words are "unnskyld" and "beklager". |
| Yura: There is no difference between these two. The only reason why we use both is because it sounds better. It's the same as "sorry" and "excuse me", just that in Norwegian there is absolutely no difference in usage. |
| Filip: That makes it simple, doesn't it? |
| Yura: Yeah, you Norwegians sure like things simple! |
| Filip: Of course! So just know that you can use either one, and it’s perfectly fine. |
| Yura: Let’s hear them again, and have the listeners repeat. |
| Filip: unnskyld [pause] |
| Yura: and...? |
| Filip: beklager [pause] |
| Yura: Great, now onto the grammar point! |
Lesson focus |
| Yura: Okay, let's have a look at the grammar for this lesson. |
| Filip: Yes, the focus of this lesson is "jeg er" ("I am"). |
| Yura: So Filip, how is this used? |
| Filip: Well, you can use it in an introduction, like "Jeg er Ola."- "I’m Ola". But you can also use it to express a state of mind, like "Jeg er sulten." ("I am hungry"). |
| Yura: That can be useful in many situations. So this is kind of a simple form of that we learned in lesson one? |
| Filip: That's right. "Jeg er" is a simpler form of "jeg heter". It's a less formal way of introducing yourself. It's also used to confirm, in cases like our dialogue in this lesson. |
| Yura: All right, let's do a quick walk-through of this phrase and get the pronunciation right. |
| Filip: Jeg |
| Yura: Meaning "I", one more time slowly. |
| Filip: Jeg |
| Yura: Listeners please repeat after Filip. |
| Filip: Jeg |
| Yura: Then the next one. |
| Filip: Er |
| Yura: Meaning "am". Now slowly please. |
| Filip: Er |
| Yura: Listen and repeat. |
| Filip: Er |
| Yura: Nice, now both together, and with a name. |
| Filip: Jeg er Ola. |
| Yura: Now slowly please. |
| Filip: Jeg er Ola. |
| Yura: Repeat after Filip. |
| Filip: Jeg er Ola. |
| Yura: Alright, that's it. It's very simple, but also very useful. |
| Filip: That's right, after saying "jeg er", you can just add your name, or your current state of mind. |
| Yura: Yes. Now let's try the scenario in our dialogue. Filip, if you please. |
| Filip: Unnskyld, er du Kristian? |
| Yura:“Excuse me, are you Kristian?”. Ok, so someone has clearly mistaken you for someone. What do you say? |
| Filip: Jeg er Mark. |
| Yura:“I’m Mark”. The person who mistook you for someone will most likely apologize. |
| Filip: Å, beklager. |
| Yura:“Oh, I’m sorry”. No harm done, so let's reassure the person who mistook you for someone else. |
| Filip: Ikke noe problem. |
| Yura:“No problem”. Great! Now we know how to handle this situation. |
| Filip: This can actually be useful, since this commonly occurs at airports. |
| Yura: Ok everyone, well I think that’s going to do it for this lesson! Be sure to check out the lesson notes for more examples and explanations. |
| Filip: Thank you for listening, and good luck with your next challenge. Hade bra! |
| Yura: See you again soon! |
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