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While English speakers casually "put" things anywhere, Norwegians must choose between three specific verbs—å legge, å sette, and å putte—depending on an object's final position. This episode breaks down this unique linguistic feature with clear examples and memorable rules that will transform your understanding of Norwegian.

You'll discover the clever "creature with a head" technique that helps determine whether an object is "standing" or "lying"—even when it's not obvious. Find out why a plate is considered "standing" even when it appears flat on a table, and why objects can never "sit", only stand or be lying down.

This quirky feature of Norwegian offers more than just grammar knowledge—it provides a window into how language shapes perception.

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This podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Youtube, Deezer and Podcast Addict.

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Transcript available here: https://the-norwegian-puzzle.buzzsprout.com

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Questions? Feedback? Get in touch!

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Norway's Constitution Day transforms the entire country into a sea of red, white, and blue flags, joyous celebrations, and the rhythmic march of children's parades. Through this unique listening comprehension episode, you'll get to know "Syttende Mai" (May 17th) while strengthening your Norwegian language skills through carefully crafted repetition and translation.

What makes this episode particularly valuable is its three-part structure. First, you'll hear each Norwegian sentence followed by its English translation and then repeated in Norwegian. Next, the entire text is presented in standard Eastern Norwegian without translations to test your comprehension. Finally, you'll experience the same content in Bergen dialect (Bergensk), exposing you to regional pronunciation differences in an accessible way. The episode concludes with vocabulary practice focusing on some key terms.

Whether you're preparing for your first Syttende Mai celebration or looking to deepen your Norwegian language skills, this immersive listening experience offers both practical vocabulary and cultural understanding. Listen multiple times, challenge yourself to understand more with each repetition, and soon you'll be ready to join in with a hearty "Gratulerer med dagen!" when the big day arrives.

Support the show

Do you like the podcast? :)

Feel free to buy me a coffee :)

buymeacoffee.com/thenorwegianpuzzle

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This podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Youtube, Deezer and Podcast Addict.

....

Transcript available here: https://the-norwegian-puzzle.buzzsprout.com

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Questions? Feedback? Get in touch!

norskmedsilje@gmail.com

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Other places to find me:

www.norsk-med-silje.com

www.facebook.com/norskmedsilje

www.instagram.com/norskmedsilje

www.linkedin.com/in/silje-linn-moss

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Norwegian nouns operate within a three-gender system with unique rules for articles and definiteness that differ significantly from English. We explore how nouns transform when expressing "the" through suffixes rather than separate articles.

• Nouns are words that can have "a" or "the" placed before them in English.
• Norwegian has three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.
• The definite article ("the") is added as a suffix to the end of Norwegian nouns.
• Masculine nouns use "en" and add "-en" for definiteness (en kopp → koppen).
• Feminine nouns use "ei" and add "-a" for definiteness (ei bok → boka).
• Neuter nouns use "et" and add "-et" for definiteness (et hus → huset).
• All feminine nouns can alternatively be treated as masculine if preferred.
• Danish influence explains why feminine forms are considered less formal.
• Plural forms typically add "-er" and "-ene" regardless of gender.
• Short neuter nouns don't change form in the indefinite plural.
• Some nouns (particularly family words) have irregular plural forms.
• The demonstrative "den" (that) is different from the definite article "the".

You can find the transcript of this episode in the description, which might be helpful when following along with the Norwegian examples.

Support the show

Do you like the podcast? :)

Feel free to buy me a coffee :)

buymeacoffee.com/thenorwegianpuzzle

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This podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Youtube, Deezer and Podcast Addict.

....

Transcript available here: https://the-norwegian-puzzle.buzzsprout.com

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Questions? Feedback? Get in touch!

norskmedsilje@gmail.com

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Other places to find me:

www.norsk-med-silje.com

www.facebook.com/norskmedsilje

www.instagram.com/norskmedsilje

www.linkedin.com/in/silje-linn-moss