Learn about the past tense in Norwegian, focusing on irregular verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Filip: Hello! Hi, I am Filip. |
| Becky: And I’m Becky. Welcome back to NorwegianClass101.com. This is Lower Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 15 - Make Sure You See the Fjords in Norway! In this lesson we'll continue learning about the past tense. This time, we are concentrating on irregular verbs. |
| Filip: As you might remember from our previous lesson, conjugating for past tense can be a little difficult. |
| Becky: We talked about some common verb-endings last time, and this time we'll talk about the irregulars. |
| Filip: Our conversation continues from the previous lesson. Kjersti's parents want to know more about Kjersti and Espen’s vacation in Western Norway. So far, they’ve only managed to climb Galdhøpiggen, so we'll see what they might be planning for the rest of their stay. |
| Becky: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: I must say, that part of Norway is incredible! |
| Filip: Yes, the western part of Norway is truly a wonderful area. |
| Becky: Many of the main Norwegian tourist attractions are in the area, along with the city of Bergen. |
| Filip: Espen and Kjersti were going to the Geiranger fjord, one of the most famous fjords in Norway. Nearby there is also Jotunheimen, a mountain range most prominent for its huge glacier, and of course Galdhøpiggen. |
| Becky: Western Norway is full of tourist sites and national parks. |
| Filip: So places like Jostedalsbreen, Dovrefjell, and the Sogne fjord are all just a few hours drive by car. |
| Becky: And to get to all these places, the best way to go is either by foot or by car. There are also buses that travel between the most famous tourist spots. |
| Filip: And sightseeing ferries that can take you across the deep blue waters of the fjords. |
| Becky: There’s also an express ferry that travels along the coast from the southernmost point to far up north. |
| Filip: You can also access Bergen or Trondheim by air or rail, and from there rent a car, or take the bus for the last stretch to the national parks. |
| Becky: I really want to go back and visit again! But now, let’s move on to the vocab. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Filip: The first word is ‘Å rekke’. We’ll talk about this in the grammar section as well. But let’s just explain how it works since it has no direct equivalent in English. |
| Becky: In English, you’d say “to make it” or “to make it in time for”. But in Norwegian, this is covered by a single verb. |
| Filip: å rekke. |
| Becky: If you want to express that “you have time for” or “want to make something in time for...” then you should use this verb. Let’s look at some examples. |
| Filip: Rekker jeg toget, tror du? |
| Becky: “Do you think I’ll make it in time for the train?” |
| Filip: Jeg rakk ikke bussen |
| Becky: “I didn’t make it in time for the bus” |
| Filip: Du rekker å spise litt før vi drar |
| Becky: “You’ll have some time to eat before we go” |
| Filip: Ok, now the next word is ‘nok’. |
| Becky: It means “enough” and is mostly used like its English counterpart. But in some situations, it can also mean “probably”, and this can create some confusion. |
| Filip: Especially if you don’t know the context. But once you get used to it, it’s not as difficult to figure out the two meanings. |
| Becky: Norwegians hardly ever confuse the two, so don’t worry. Now let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll continue to learn about the past tense. |
| Filip: Specifically, the irregular verbs in past tense. And we’ll also take a quick look at some other past tense forms that are basically two verbs - one in past tense, or both in past tense. But these are quite advanced so we won’t go into them too much. |
| Becky: Ok, let’s get started. The main problem with irregular verbs in Norwegian is that there are so many of them. Conjugating them is hard too, since each verb changes shape, sometimes into something completely different. |
| Filip: Let’s look at some of the verbs from our dialogue, and how they were conjugated. |
| Filip: å skulle - skulle |
| Becky: “to go/have to” - “was going to/did have to” |
| Filip: å rekke - rakk |
| Becky: “to make it” - “made it” |
| Filip: å kunne - kunne |
| Becky: “to be able to” - “was able to” |
| Filip: å dra - dro |
| Becky: “to go” - “went” |
| Filip: As you may have noticed, two of the verbs didn’t change from their infinitive form, only the article was removed. |
| Becky: The other verbs changed quite a bit though, right? |
| Filip: Yes, but at least there are some verbs that end in ‘-nne’, ‘-lle’, ‘-dde’ and ‘-tte’ that will conjugate to the same verb ending in the past tense. Note that these verbs are irregular in another way though, because in present tense they tend to change a lot. For example, ‘å skulle’, ‘skal’, ‘skulle’. |
| Becky: “to have to”, “having to”, “had to”. |
| Filip: So let’s take a quick look at the verb combinations we talked about earlier. |
| Becky: Ok. There are verbs in Norwegian and English that combine to create phrases or expressions. In Norwegian, many of these combinations are considered to be conjugated forms. |
| Filip: In fact, there are three verbs that can be combined with just about any other verb to create special expressions. We’ll look at these verbs in the past tense. |
| Becky: Here are some examples. Now, you might actually recognise the last one. The last verb combination in present tense - present perfect participle is exactly the foundation for the present perfect tense. |
| Filip: Jeg kunne kjøre deg hjem om du vil? |
| Becky: "I could drive you home if you want?" |
| Filip: Han ville finne nøklene |
| Becky: "He wanted to find his keys" |
| Filip: De hadde kjørt seg fast |
| Becky: "They had gotten themselves stuck" |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. |
| Filip: Since Norwegian and English share the same roots, I think it won’t be too hard to understand that complex past tense, with some practice. |
| Becky: But just to be sure, make sure you check the lesson notes. |
| Filip: Takk for at dere hørte på, hade! |
| Becky: Thanks for listening, see you next time! |
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