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    Basic Sentence Structure: 1. There Must Be A Verb and A Subject

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    Fariya
    This document outlines the basic structure of sentences in Norwegian. It discusses that Norwegian sentences require a subject and verb, the verb is in second position, the subject is first or third, negation follows the verb, and adverbials are first or last. It also covers combining sentences and questions.

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    Basic Sentence Structure: 1. There Must Be A Verb and A Subject

    Uploaded by

    Fariya
    41 views3 pages
    This document outlines the basic structure of sentences in Norwegian. It discusses that Norwegian sentences require a subject and verb, the verb is in second position, the subject is first or third, negation follows the verb, and adverbials are first or last. It also covers combining sentences and questions.

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    Norsk setninger

    Original Title

    Sentences structure

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    This document outlines the basic structure of sentences in Norwegian. It discusses that Norwegian sentences require a subject and verb, the verb is in second position, the subject is first or third, negation follows the verb, and adverbials are first or last. It also covers combining sentences and questions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    41 views3 pages

    Basic Sentence Structure: 1. There Must Be A Verb and A Subject

    Uploaded by

    Fariya
    This document outlines the basic structure of sentences in Norwegian. It discusses that Norwegian sentences require a subject and verb, the verb is in second position, the subject is first or third, negation follows the verb, and adverbials are first or last. It also covers combining sentences and questions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE

    The main principles for the structure in Norwegian main clauses are as
    follows:

    1. There must be a verb and a subject


    In Norwegian, the verb can never be left out, not the verb å være (to be) either:

    Jeg er norsk. (I am Norwegian)


    Det er en mann. (It is a man)

    As the verb does not change in person or number in Norwegian, it does not
    tell us who is performing the action in the sentence, as it does in many other
    languages. Therefore, a Norwegian sentence should always have a subject
    telling us who is doing something:

    Han kommer fra Norge. (He comes from Norway)


    Nå bor han i Oslo. (Now he lives in Oslo)

    2. The verb is in the second position


    The verb must be the second element in a Norwegian main clause.

    Han snakker norsk nå. (He speaks Norwegian now)


    Tom og Lisa snakker norsk nå.
    Nå snakker han norsk.

    In the second sentence, «Tom og Lisa» is a complex subject: Who speak


    Norwegian? Tom and Lisa. It therefore counts as one element even if there are
    three words.

    3. The subject is in the first or third position


    If the sentence does not start with the subject, the subject follows directly after
    the verb. If the subject is not first, and there is more than one verb, the subject
    will split the verbs:

    Han snakker norsk nå.


    Nå snakker han norsk.
    Han kan snakke norsk nå.
    Nå kan han snakke norsk.

    grammatikk.com © Kjell H. Ullestad


    Basic sentence structure | 2

    4. The negation is behind the verb


    The negation «ikke» is positioned after the verb in Norwegian. If there is more
    than one verb, the negation will split them.

    Han snakker ikke norsk nå. (He doesn't speak Norwegian now)
    Nå snakker han ikke norsk.
    Han kan ikke snakke norsk.

    Notice that the negation follows after the subject in the second sentence. This
    is because the subject should be in the third position.

    A number of other adverbs, called setningsadverb, also take this position. You
    will find more information about this in the document Setningsadverb.

    5. Adverbials are first or last


    Adverbials tell you when, where, how or why something is done. They should
    be either first or last in the sentence.

    Sola skinner i Oslo nå. (The sun shines in Oslo now)


    Nå skinner sola i Oslo.
    I Oslo skinner sola nå.

    Notice that there can only be one adverbial in front of the verb, as the verb
    must be second in the sentence.

    Place is usually before time in the sentence.

    Combining sentences
    When we combine sentences with a conjunction like og (and) and men (but),
    the conjunction does not count as an element in the last sentence. This means
    that we start counting after the conjunction to find the right position of the
    verb and subject.

    1 2
    Han er norsk, og jeg er norsk.
    1 2 3
    Han kommer fra England, men nå bor han ikke i England.

    grammatikk.com © Kjell H. Ullestad


    Basic sentence structure | 3

    Questions
    Question words are counted as elements and should be followed directly by
    the verb:

    Hvor bor du? (Where do you live?)

    Questions for yes or no start with the verb:

    Bor du her? (Do you live here?)


    Bor han ikke i Oslo?

    grammatikk.com © Kjell H. Ullestad

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