Bygge grunnlaget

The preteritum tense, or the simple past tense, in Norwegian is used to express actions that were completed in the past. This tense is crucial for narrating past events or describing states that no longer exist. The preteritum form of a verb is usually made by adding a suffix: -t, -et, -te,
-de, -dde. However, there are some irregular verbs that don't follow this pattern.

Here are examples from the text that demonstrate the use of the preteritum tense:

"Jeg byttet ut Duolingo med en annen app som heter LingQ." (I switched Duolingo with another app called LingQ.) - Here, "byttet" is the preteritum form of "å bytte" (to switch). This verb in the past tense describes a completed action - the act of switching from one app to another.

"Jeg leste enkle historier på norsk for å lære språket." (I read simple stories in Norwegian to learn the language.) - In this sentence, "leste" is the preteritum form of "å lese" (to read). It describes the past action of reading Norwegian stories, which is an activity that has been completed.

"Jeg brukte LingQ-appen for å lytte og lese samtidig..." (I used the LingQ app to listen and read at the same time...) - "Brukte" is the preteritum form of "å bruke" (to use). This verb in the past tense indicates that the use of the LingQ app is an action that occurred in the past.

In Norwegian, definite and indefinite articles are used to indicate whether a noun is being referred to in a specific or a general sense, much like in English. "En" and "et" are the indefinite articles in Norwegian, equivalent to "a" or "an" in English. They are used when referring to a non-specific item or when mentioning something for the first time. Unlike English, which places the definite article “the” before a noun, Norwegian typically forms the definite article by adding a suffix to the end of the noun. These suffixes are "-en", "-et", "-a", or "-ene" for plural. The articles are integral in providing clarity about whether the speaker is referring to something specific or general.

The choice between "en" and "et" for the indefinite article depends on the noun’s gender: "en" for masculine and feminine nouns, and "et" for neuter nouns. The definite article suffixes vary depending on both the gender of the noun and whether it is singular or plural.

Examples from the text:

"Jeg fant en podcast..." (I found a podcast...) - Here, "en" is used before "podcast", indicating that it is a non-specific podcast, not previously mentioned.

"...historiene mens jeg laget mat..." (the stories while I was cooking) - In this sentence, "historiene" is the definite form of "historier" (stories). The "-ne" at the end of "historier" indicates that it refers to specific stories that the speaker listened to.

Adverbs of time in Norwegian are used to specify when an action occurs, its duration, or its frequency. These can be specific times (like days, dates, or times of day), relative times (like "now" or "later"), or frequencies (like "always" or "sometimes"). They can be placed at the beginning or end of a sentence, or immediately before or after the verb they modify, depending on what is most natural in the context. They are crucial for providing context about the timing of actions in a sentence.

Examples from the text:

• "Jeg lekte med norsk i tre måneder..." (I played with Norwegian for three months...) - "i tre måneder" (for three months) is an adverbial phrase of time indicating the duration over which the action took place.
• "Hver dag studerte jeg i 15-30 minutter med LingQ..." (Every day I studied for 15-30 minutes with LingQ...) - "Hver dag" (every day) is an adverb of frequency, indicating how often the action of studying occurred. "i 15-30 minutter" (for 15-30 minutes) indicates the duration of the studying sessions each time.
• "På under tre måneder fullførte jeg nybegynnerleksjonene på LingQ." (In less than three months, I completed the beginner lessons on LingQ.) - "På under tre måneder" (in less than three months) specifies the time frame within which the action of completing the lessons was achieved.