Intro
|
| Hi everybody! Anette here. Welcome to Ask a Teacher, where I’ll answer some of your most common Norwegian questions. |
| The Question |
| The question for this lesson is… How do I know when vil means “want to” or “will?” |
| Explanation |
| This is a commonly asked question because vil translates to both “want to” and “will” in English. |
| When vil translates to “want to,” it’s used to show desire. When vil translates to “will” the speaker is involved, but doesn’t necessarily have control over the situation. |
| Here’s an example – Jeg vil vaske huset. In this sentence, it’s difficult to tell whether it means, “I want to clean the house,” or “I will clean the house.” |
| Let’s do some examples so you can learn how to use vil correctly. |
| When you're going to distinguish whether vil means “want” or “will” in a sentence, you have to take a look at the context. |
| Let’s say we’re deciding what to eat. If your friend asks your opinion, you could say, Jeg vil spise is meaning “I want to eat ice cream.” In this case, we know that vil means “want.” On the other hand, if your friend asks what you plan on eating for dessert you could say, Jeg vil spise is and it would mean, “I’m going to eat ice cream.” |
| If someone uses vil in context when it's obvious that they don't want to do something, it has the meaning of “will.” Nowadays, Norwegians often use the verb skal meaning “going to” instead of vil as in “will.” Jeg skal vaske bilen meaning, “I’m going to wash the car,” is much more common that Jeg vil vaske bilen. |
Outro
|
| How was this lesson? Pretty interesting, right? |
| Do you have any more questions? Leave them in the comments below and I’ll try to answer them! |
| Hade. Vi sees snart! “Bye. See you soon!” |
Comments
Hide