Question
Updated on
9 Jun 2021
- English (UK)
-
Norwegian (bokmal)
-
French (France)
Question about Norwegian (bokmal)
Please show me example sentences with verbs with ‘seg’, ‘deg’, and ‘meg’ at the end compared to verbs without it. I understand the difference between the three but I’m not sure when to add them to the end of a verb or how they change a sentence. . Tell me as many daily expressions as possible.
Please show me example sentences with verbs with ‘seg’, ‘deg’, and ‘meg’ at the end compared to verbs without it. I understand the difference between the three but I’m not sure when to add them to the end of a verb or how they change a sentence. . Tell me as many daily expressions as possible.
Answers
9 Jun 2021
Featured answer
- Norwegian (bokmal)
- Norwegian (nynorsk)
Such verbs are reflexive verbs (wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexive_verb). The closest equivalents in English are those which are followed by "myself", "yourself/-ves", "himself", "herself", "itself", "themself/-ves" and "ourself/-ves". They're however considerable more common and used for a broader spectrum of purposes.
There is often limited logic in which verbs are reflexive and what they mean. Pay attention to the verb form itself as it tends to have some relevance, but don't expect the meaning to be obvious. Like e.g. phrasal verbs (very common in both Norwegian and English), they often have to be learnt independently from the core verb form.
Below are some examples. Hopefully they'll help you understand a bit more about how these verbs are used. But this is not enough to be able to indentify when they should be used and what they mean. For that, expect to have to learn through practice and looking words up.
Examples:
Jeg forstår meg ikke på deg. = I don't get you. ("I don't understand myself on you.")
Jeg forter meg. = I hurry.
Jeg strekker meg. = I stretch.
Jeg brekker meg. = I throw up.
Kos deg! = Have a nice time!
Du må lære deg hele sangen. = You have to learn the whole song.
Forbered deg! = Prepare yourself!
Gjem deg! = Hide!
Han koser seg. = He enjoys himself. (He has a good time.)
Hun legger seg. = She goes to bed. (lit. "She puts herself to bed.", even more lit. "She lies (herself) down.")
Han måtte flytte seg for at de skulle få plass. = He had to move so that they'd have enough space.
Hun koker seg litt mer kaffe. = She makes (lit. boils) herself some more coffee.
Det er ikke lov å forflytte seg mer enn ett felt av gangen i dette spillet. = In this game it is not allowed to move more than one square at a time.
Det er ikke moro å måtte unnskylde seg. = It's no fun to have to excuse oneself. (Such as if you have to disturb someone elses meeting because you're looking for something.)
Det ordner seg. = It'll be fine. (lit. It'll organise itself.)
Det flasker seg. = It's working (itself) out. (idiomatic)
Vi kasta oss mot målet. = We jumped towards the goal. (lit. "We threw ourselves towards the goal.")
Vi kan ikke dy oss. = We can't resist.
Vi skjemmer oss. = We are embarrassed (about what we've done).
Vi fant oss et sted å sitte. = We found/chose (ourselves) somewhere we could sit.
Dere glemmer dere bort. = You're forgetting (something) (such as by old habit).
Dere kommer til å komme dere dit. = You're going to get there.
Dere vasker dere. = You clean/wash yourselves.
Dere kan se det for dere. = You can picture it.
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Read more comments
- Norwegian (bokmal)
- Norwegian (nynorsk)
Such verbs are reflexive verbs (wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexive_verb). The closest equivalents in English are those which are followed by "myself", "yourself/-ves", "himself", "herself", "itself", "themself/-ves" and "ourself/-ves". They're however considerable more common and used for a broader spectrum of purposes.
There is often limited logic in which verbs are reflexive and what they mean. Pay attention to the verb form itself as it tends to have some relevance, but don't expect the meaning to be obvious. Like e.g. phrasal verbs (very common in both Norwegian and English), they often have to be learnt independently from the core verb form.
Below are some examples. Hopefully they'll help you understand a bit more about how these verbs are used. But this is not enough to be able to indentify when they should be used and what they mean. For that, expect to have to learn through practice and looking words up.
Examples:
Jeg forstår meg ikke på deg. = I don't get you. ("I don't understand myself on you.")
Jeg forter meg. = I hurry.
Jeg strekker meg. = I stretch.
Jeg brekker meg. = I throw up.
Kos deg! = Have a nice time!
Du må lære deg hele sangen. = You have to learn the whole song.
Forbered deg! = Prepare yourself!
Gjem deg! = Hide!
Han koser seg. = He enjoys himself. (He has a good time.)
Hun legger seg. = She goes to bed. (lit. "She puts herself to bed.", even more lit. "She lies (herself) down.")
Han måtte flytte seg for at de skulle få plass. = He had to move so that they'd have enough space.
Hun koker seg litt mer kaffe. = She makes (lit. boils) herself some more coffee.
Det er ikke lov å forflytte seg mer enn ett felt av gangen i dette spillet. = In this game it is not allowed to move more than one square at a time.
Det er ikke moro å måtte unnskylde seg. = It's no fun to have to excuse oneself. (Such as if you have to disturb someone elses meeting because you're looking for something.)
Det ordner seg. = It'll be fine. (lit. It'll organise itself.)
Det flasker seg. = It's working (itself) out. (idiomatic)
Vi kasta oss mot målet. = We jumped towards the goal. (lit. "We threw ourselves towards the goal.")
Vi kan ikke dy oss. = We can't resist.
Vi skjemmer oss. = We are embarrassed (about what we've done).
Vi fant oss et sted å sitte. = We found/chose (ourselves) somewhere we could sit.
Dere glemmer dere bort. = You're forgetting (something) (such as by old habit).
Dere kommer til å komme dere dit. = You're going to get there.
Dere vasker dere. = You clean/wash yourselves.
Dere kan se det for dere. = You can picture it.
Highly-rated answerer
- English (UK)
- Norwegian (bokmal)
- Norwegian (nynorsk)
@ElsieKay That obviously depends. Sometimes making a mistake will yield an incorrect, irrelevant or nonsense answer that's easy to spot and figure out. Other times you will change the meaning to through such an error and will be misunderstood as such, or it will simply be difficult to reconstruct what you intended to say.
There are often simple, yet nuanced differences between reflexive and non-reflexive constructions. They can't necessarily be intuited, and each phrase may have multiple possible interpretations, but they are relatively easy in that you can tell the general meaning from which verb and pronoun is used. Here are some examples from my avove ones showing possible differences with and without the pronoun:
Jeg strekker (meg). = I stretch my body. / I stretch an object.
Jeg brekker (meg). = I throw up. / I break an object.
Kos (deg)! = Have a nice time! / Hugs and kisses!
Du må lære (deg) hele sangen. = You have to learn the whole song. / You have to teach the whole song.
Forbered (deg)! = Prepare yourself! / Prepare an object!
Gjem (deg)! = Hide! / Hide an object.
Han koser (seg): He enjoys himself. (He has a good time.) / He cuddles.
Han måtte flytte seg for at de skulle få plass. = He had to move so that they'd have enough space. (move: scoot over / move: find a new home)
Hun koker (seg) litt mer kaffe. = She prepares (herself) some more coffee.
Vi fant (oss) et sted å sitte. = We found/chose a place (for us) to sit.
Dere glemmer (dere) bort. = You're forgetting to do something you ultimate know you ought to do. / You're neglecting to consider some outside factor. [This one is nuanced and complicated, but the crux of it is that the pronoun references the people who forget themselves, and for that reason using it indicates that they are doing something wrong e.g. in terms of how they move their bodies, rather than forgetting about something external, such as something they have no control over.]
Dere vasker (dere). = You clean/wash (yourselves).
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