"They are cooking tonight."

Translation: De lager mat i kveld.

[bekkspace]

Why is "de lager i kveld" wrong? Is it just a more common norwegian expression to say " they are cooking food tonight" instead of just "They are cooking tonight"?

[Regney]

If you leave out mat, the sentence just says, "They are making this evening/tonight."
"Cooking" is lager mat - making food. :0)

[bekkspace]

ahhh, so it refers to "making food". makes sense now, tusen takk! :D

[Zoidy287]

The correct answer was given as 'De kokkererer i kveld'.

Can anyone help me understand the word 'kokkererer'? We have not learned it yet so I do not understand how it comes to be formed like that - seems like rather too many 'er' on the end.

[grydolva]

kokkererer = kokkelerer. However I think Ingebj agree with me in the strangeness of kokkerere. Kokkelere is the version I'd prefer myself (I wrote them in the infinitive, add an r to get to present). These are just the acceptable answers however, the "correct" one is De lager mat i kveld. If you give Duolingo an answer that is different enough from the (usually) single correct answer, it will suggest stuff from the list of acceptable answers. We don't teach people kokkerere or kokkelere but they are allowed to enter as answers.

[Ingebj]

Here, like everywhere in the course, it is a good idea to learn the most standard translation first and leave the stranger words for later (to avoid spelling mistakes and so on), I do agree. Sometimes the allowed answers seem to be rather far from the standard translation (based on what I have seen in the discussions in the French and German courses mostly).

[Ingebj]

Are you sure it didn't say "kokkelerer"? Which would be a word we use to describe the act of cooking (usually a more elaborate meal, at least more than boiling an egg). Mostly it would not be used to describe what a professional chef does, but rather what you do at home as an "amateur chef".

[YougamiDai]

Why is "De lager i kveld" not right here? Food is not mentioned in the translation, so why is "mat" necessary

[grydolva]

Cooking = lager mat = kokkelerer

Making = lager

You can't say De lager i kveld under any circumstances, there has to be an item (noun) connected with lager.

[YougamiDai]

I see, I did not know that. Thank you very much!

[NessaNessaJoy]

What about "de lager mat til kveld"

[Deliciae]

That doesn't work.

"Til kvelds" or "til kvelden" are valid expressions using "til", but they would change the meaning (from cooking in the evening to cooking for the evening), and thus aren't appropriate translations here.

[Morgan1039]

Would it be incorrect to say "i natt"? How would it change the meaning? Is it simply because "i kveld" is more of a set phrase?

[Deliciae]

Not incorrect, but it would change the meaning to one that probably isn't intended.

In English, "tonight" is often used about the (late) evening. It may be dark outside, but it's not necessarily bedtime yet. In Norwegian, "i natt" would be understood as the part of the night when you're expected to be asleep rather than cooking.