Norwegian is a language spoken by over five million people, mainly in the Scandinavian regions but also in the United States and other countries. Due to its close ties to both English and German, native speakers of these tongues who want to learn a new language relatively quickly may find it an excellent choice.
Asking Questions in Norwegian
Due to their similarities, asking basic questions in Norwegian should be second nature to an English speaker. It is possible to turn a Norwegian statement into a question by switching the position of the subject and verb portions of a sentence, as per this example:
- Du har bil. - You have a car.
- Har du bil? - Do you have a car?
Asking Questions Using Intonation
As with many other languages, it is equally possible to make an outright statement, or even a single word, a question using intonation. By lifting the tone of one's voice at the end of a sentence, or adding a question mark when writing, statements in Norwegian can become questions just as they would in English.
- Min katt er grønn – My cat is green.
- Min katt er grønn? - My cat is green?
What, Where and When Questions
As in English, asking where, when something or someone is in Norwegian is fairly simple. Using the phrase “Hvor er …?” (literally “Where is …?”) followed by a location, item or person's name is a simple way of asking where something is. For example:
- Hvor er banken? - Where is the bank?
An alternative is to ask where to find something:
- Hvor finner jeg … ? - Where can I find … ?
Asking what something is follows a similarly English sentence structure:
- Hva er det? - What is that?
Asking when something will be is a little more problematic for those learning Norwegian. As opposed to hvor and hva (when at the start of a word, the “h” is silent), “when” comes in two forms: da, used when discussing things in the past, and nå, which is for discussion of the present and the future. However, this changes when asking questions.
To ask when something is, or to use “when” in any sort of question, the word to use is always nå. Even for questions about the past. Norwegian questions about the time of something then follow the same basic sentence structure explored above.
- Nå er lunsj? - When is lunch?
- Nå var lunsj? - When was lunch?
Asking the Time in Norwegian
As with all languages, there are some phrases that do not play by the rules. In Norwegian, asking the time is one of those phrases. While in English, one might ask “What is the time?”, in Norwegian it would be more common to ask “What is the clock?”, or even “How many is the clock?”.
- Hva er klokken? - What is the time? (Literally: What is the clock?)
- Hvor mange er klokken? - What is the time? (Literally: How many is the clock?)
Basic Norwegian questions are very similar to their English equivalents. Although some phrases differ, the structure of basic Norwegian grammar is sufficiently similar to English that in the majority of cases, getting one's point across should be simple.
Zoe Kirk-Robinson - Zoë Kirk-Robinson is a freelance writer/artist specialising in legal writing, internet technology and creative writing. She holds a ...
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