Tårnet i Babel

The definite form of nouns in Norwegian is a unique aspect of the language's grammar, distinctively marked by suffixes attached directly to the nouns. This contrasts with English, where definiteness is indicated by the separate article "the" placed before the noun. Norwegian integrates the definite article into the noun itself, which varies according to the noun's gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter) and number (singular or plural). This form of noun is used to refer to specific items that have been previously mentioned or are already known to the speaker and listener.

For masculine nouns, the suffix "-en" is added to the end of the noun to form the definite article, e.g. en stol (a chair) -> stolen (the chair).

Feminine nouns can take either "-a" or "-en" as the definite article suffix, depending on dialectals, e.g. en jente (a girl) -> jenten or jenta (the girl).

Neuter nouns receive the suffix "-et" to denote the definite form, e.g et hus (a house) -> huset.

Most plural nouns add "-ene" for the definite form, regardless of the original gender, e.g. bøker (books) -> bøkene (the books). Some nouns have irregular plural forms or do not change form in the plural, e.g. barn (children) -> barna (the children).

Examples from the text:

• "Men Gud så byen og tårnet og sa" (But God saw the city and the tower and said) - "byen" (the city) and "tårnet" (the tower) are examples of masculine and neuter nouns in their definite forms, respectively, indicating specific, previously mentioned structures.
• "De stoppet å bygge byen" (They stopped building the city) - Here, "byen" is again in the definite form, specifically referring to the city that they had planned to build, which was mentioned earlier.
• "Stedet ble kalt Babel fordi Gud forvirret språkene der" (The place was called Babel because God confused the languages there) - "Stedet" (the place) is a neuter noun used in its definite form to refer to the specific location where this event occurred. "språkene" (the languages) is a definite plural noun referring to the languages that were confused by God.

The plural form is used to indicate more than one of something and changes depending on whether the noun is in its definite or indefinite form, and whether it is masculine, feminine, or neuter. In Norwegian, plural nouns are formed in several ways, depending on the ending of the noun in its singular form. Regular nouns typically add "-er", "-r", or "-e" to form the indefinite plural. For definite plural nouns, "-ene" or "-a" is added. Some nouns have irregular plural forms, which do not follow the standard ending pattern, e.g. they are the same as their singular form.

Examples from the text:

• "Alle mennesker på jorden snakket det samme språket" (All the people on the earth spoke the same language.) - "mennesker" (people) is the indefinite plural form of "en menneske" (a person), showing that it refers to all people in general.
• "De sa: La oss lage teglstein og brenne dem!" (They said: Let's make bricks and burn them) - "teglstein" (bricks) in its plural form is irregular and does not change from its singular form, but the context shows it's used in plural as they are talking about making multiple bricks.
• "Gud gjorde at de snakket forskjellige språk og spredte dem over jorden" (God made them speak different languages and spread them across the earth) - "språk" is another noun where the singular and plural forms are identical, but it's understood as plural here because it refers to multiple languages.
• "Gud spredte menneskene over hele jorden" (God spread the people across the whole earth) - Here again, "menneskene" is used in the definite plural form to refer to the people, indicating a specific group that has been mentioned before.

Causal relations refer to the relationship between events where one event (the cause) leads to the outcome of another event (the effect). In the Norwegian language, causal relations are often signaled by conjunctions and adverbial phrases such as "fordi" (because), "så" (so), "derfor" (therefore), "slik at" (so that), and "på grunn av" (due to). These words and phrases help to clarify why something happened (the reason) and what happened as a result (the consequence).

Examples from the text:

• "Målet var å skape en felles identitet slik at de ikke ville bli spredt over hele jorden" (The goal was to create a common identity so that they would not be spread across the whole earth) - "slik at" (so that) indicates the causal relation between creating a common identity and their desire to prevent dispersal.
• "La oss gå ned og forvirre språket deres, slik at de ikke forstår hverandre lenger!" (Let us go down and confuse their language, so that they do not understand each other anymore!) - "slik at" (so that) directly links God's action of confusing their language to the intended effect of preventing mutual understanding.
• "Dermed spredte Gud dem fra dette stedet over hele jorden, og de stoppet byggingen av byen" (Thus, God spread them from this place over the whole earth, and they stopped the construction of the city) - "Dermed" (thus) signals the consequence of God confusing their languages, which is the dispersal of the people and the cessation of the city's construction.
• "Derfor ble stedet kalt Babel, for det var der Gud forvirret språkene til hele verden" (Therefore, the place was called Babel, because it was there that God confused the languages of the whole world) - "Derfor" (therefore) and "for" (because) indicate the causal relationship between God's action and the naming of the place as Babel.