"Frakken hans er grå."

Translation: His coat is gray.

[hanssagan]

'Jacket' and 'coat' are often interchangeable in English, but not in Norwegian?

[Deliciae]

No, a "frakk" or "kåpe" is longer than a "jakke".

[Tiny_Twinkletoes]

I wonder if 'frakk' is related to the English word 'frock.' Regardless, I think that will be my mnemonic henceforth. :-)

[uxSY4nUr]

frock (English), rock (Swedish), frac (French), Frack (German), frack (Swedish) and Фрак (Russian) appear to have a common root according to the Wiktionaries.

[NerissaKis]

I dare say, but "frock" in English is, now at least (and for at least the last 200 years) a woman's article of clothing, used more or less interchangeably with "dress" as a noun.

[uxSY4nUr]

Yes, the meaning of the words has diverged. The German Frack, Swedish frack and Russian Фрак all denote a tailcoat, whereas Nowegian frakk (like Swedish rock) is just a coat.

[Panthera4]

Which shade?

[Loekild]

50

[Ginko-the-grey]

18%

[Cameron694068]

isnt it spelt grey? except for the anatomy book. i think

[bronzdragon]

British English (and international English) tends to use 'grey', but American English uses mainly 'gray'. Neither is wrong in any case though.

Src: http://grammarist.com/spelling/gray-grey/

[Slatepaw]

Why is this "frakken" and not just "frakk"? Wouldn't this translate to "His the coat"?

[uxSY4nUr]

It is just a grammatical pattern in Norwegian: The definite form of the noun followed by the possessive pronoun.

[NerissaKis]

If "frakke" is Norwegian for a coat, what is the word for what is called in various European languages a "frac", i.e., a tail-coat ?

[uxSY4nUr]

snippkjole see https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livkjole