Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

Intro

Michael: What are diminutives and how are they formed in Norwegian?
Inger: And are they commonly used?
Michael: At NorwegianClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Kristine Karlsen points out a cute kitten to her daughter, Karoline Karlsen. She says, "Look at the kitten!"
Kristine: Se på den kattungen!
Dialogue
Kristine: Se på den kattungen!
Karoline: Den er søt!
Michael: Once more with the English translation.
Kristine: Se på den kattungen!
Michael: "Look at the kitten!"
Karoline: Den er søt!
Michael: "How cute!"

Lesson focus

Michael: Did you notice how Kristine replaces the word,
Inger: katt
Michael: with
Inger: kattungen?
Michael: She attaches the suffix,
Inger: -ungen
Michael: to create what is called a diminutive, or
Inger: diminutiv.
Michael: A diminutive is a word that has been modified to convey the smallness of its root meaning. Diminutives are created by attaching certain suffixes to nouns, and in some cases, adjectives, and verbs.
[Recall 1]
Michael: Let’s take a closer look to understand this better. Do you remember how Kristine says, "Look at the kitten?"
[pause 4 seconds]
Inger as Kristine Karlsen: Se på den kattungen!
Michael: Here, Kristine attaches the suffix,
Inger: -ungen
Michael: to the root noun,
Inger: katt
Michael: which means "cat" in Norwegian. The suffix is derived from the word,
Inger: ung
Michael: which means "young," and is often attached to names of animal offspring. Another example would be
Inger: andunge
Michael: which means "duckling," or "young duck." Diminutives in Norwegian are also used in affectionate names. For instance, we have the name
Inger: Stina,
Michael: which is derived from the name
Inger: Kristina.
Michael: For males, we have names like
Inger: Olly
Michael: a diminutive of the name
Inger: Oliver.
Michael: As you can see, there are no rules on how to form diminutives for people’s names. Most of the time, it’s not simply to shorten the name but to make the name sound sweeter or cuter.
[Summary]
Michael: So far, we have learned that diminutives are words that have been modified to convey the smallness of their root meaning. In Norwegian, they are often used in the names of animal offspring, as well as for forming affectionate names for family members.
Cultural Expansion
Michael: What makes Norwegian diminutives unique is that they are formed not only by attaching suffixes but also prefixes to root words. In fact, most Norwegian diminutives are formed using prefixes. One such prefix is
Inger: mini-
Michael: such as in the word
Inger: minibuss
Michael: which means "mini lesson." Another one is
Inger: lille-
Michael: such as in the word
Inger: lille lørdag
Michael: which means "little Saturday," a term used to refer to midweek afterwork activities. Another common Norwegian diminutive prefix is
Inger: små-
Michael: such as in the word
Inger: småbarn
Michael: or "toddler." Finally, there’s the prefix,
Inger: ør-
Michael: which is used for words like
Inger: ørliten
Michael: which means "tiny" or "exceptionally small."

Outro

Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them!
Inger: Ha det!
Michael: See you soon!

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