Dialogue

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In the previous lesson, we covered how to get on the subway. In Norway, a comfortable way to travel over long distances is to take the train, or tog in Nynorsk. Trains are convenient and faster than coaches. In Norway, railways were built to connect the major cities to Oslo, so the network is not particularly extensive. However, the Bergensbane, connecting Oslo and Bergen is one of the most beautiful railway journeys in the world, so it's well worth taking the train in Norway.
You’ll ask for tog (train) tickets at the ticket office at the train station. The phrase will sound something like this:
Ein billett til, followed by your destination and then takk.
Let’s say you want to go to Bergen.
“One ticket to Bergen, please.” In Norwegian, that’s
Ein billett til Bergen, takk.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Ein bil-lett til Ber-gen, takk.
Once more:
Ein billett til Bergen, takk.
If you're not traveling on your own, you will need to ask for two tickets, or maybe more. Here, we’ll also make it more specific, and ask for a train ticket.
“Two train tickets to Bergen, please,” is
To togbillettar til Bergen, takk.
(slow) To tog-bil-let-tar til Ber-gen, takk.
To togbilletar til Bergen, takk.
tog means “train.” Here, we’ve put it together with the word billett, to give “train ticket.”
As you can see, we take the plural form of billett and get billettar. Masculine plurals end in -ar. Since billett is masculine, we simply add -ar to the end.
To togbillettar til Bergen, takk.
If you want to buy more than two tickets, simply replace to with the number you need. Listen again to the previous lessons on counting for a refresher!
Normally, when you ask for a train ticket, you will get one for a standard class carriage. Let's look at how to ask for particular types of ticket, in case you'd like to travel with a bit more style!
For a ticket in a first-class carriage say
Ein komfortbillett, takk.
which means “One first-class ticket, please.”
(slow) Ein kom-fort-bil-lett, takk.
Ein komfortbillett, takk.
Komfort is a noun and literally means “comforts” as in “modern comforts” or “home comforts.” Komfort is the word used to describe what would be the first-class section in other countries.
(slow) Kom-fort
Komfort
Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time:
Ein komfortbillett, takk.
If you want to add your destination, which in this case is Bergen, then your phrase will sound like this:
Ein komfortbillett til Bergen, takk.
(slow) Ein kom-fort-bil-lett til Ber-gen, takk.
If a second class ticket is what you need, all you have to do is to replace komfort with ordinær. So “One second ticket class, please” will sound like this:
Ein ordinærbillett, takk.
(slow) Ein ordinærbillett, takk.
Ordinær means “ordinary” or “normal,” which gives an interesting window on the level of equality in Norwegian society.
(slow) Or-di-nær.
Ordinær
Let’s hear both phrases one more time so you could compare them easily.
Ein komfortbillett, takk.
Ein ordinærbillett, takk.
There might be cases when you will be asked “would you like to upgrade to first class?” In Nynorsk, that’s
Vil du oppgradere til komfort?
(slow) Vil du opp-gra-de-re til kom-fort?
Vil du oppgradere til komfort?
The first part, vil du?, is a useful phrase meaning “do you want to?” or “would you like to?” The first part, vil, means “want” and du means “you.”
(slow) Vil du?
Vil du?
Oppgradere means “upgrade.”
(slow) Opp-gra-de-re.
Oppgradere.
Finally, we have til komfort, which you should know means “to comfort” or “to first class.”
(slow) Til kom-fort.
Til komfort.
Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time:
(slow) Vil du opp-gra-de-re til kom-fort?
Vil du oppgradere til komfort?
In this case, your answer will be shorter.
Nei, takk. – No, thank you.
Ja, takk. – Yes, please.
If you're taking the train overnight, then you might like to book a sleeping compartment.
In Nynorsk that is
Ein billett med sovekupé, takk.
(slow) Ein bil-lett med so-ve-ku-pé, takk.
In this phrase ein billett means “one ticket” or “a ticket,” as you already know.
Med means “with.”
(slow) Med.
Med.
Next is, sovekupé, which literally means “sleeping compartment” or “sleeping berth.”
(slow) So-ve-ku-pé.
Sovekupé.
And lastly our familiar takk.
Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time:
Ein billett med sovekupé, takk.
Literally, this means “One ticket with sleeping compartment, please,” but we'll translate it as “One sleeper ticket, please.”

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